Many students attend football games, cheering on the Trojan players and hoping for a win. However, a sport many students do not know much about are the soccer teams. The soccer season starts before football season, and the Varsity girls and boys soccer teams have already played a few games. This year, both teams have been scoring win after win.

So far, the GHS Varsity girls soccer team has played 6 games; each time scoring a win. Girls coach Paul Dowell said, “This year’s team is doing well- we are off to a (5-1) start. For the past three years that I have been here, we have improved each year. A big part of the success of the team goes to our returning players.” On the team there is, as Dowell said, “a very talented senior class, a handful of hardworking juniors, sprinkled with 1 sophomore and 3 very talented freshmen.”

Co-captain and senior Amy Bortnick said that for the four years that she has been on the team, they have become a “close and strong team,” and that they are “trying hard to be undefeated.” So far, so good! The next girls game is tonight at 7 o’clock. The Churchill Bulldogs are coming to GHS to challenge the Lady Trojans. Come out to support the team.

The Varsity boys team is also doing well, with a 5-2 record, and boys coach Keith Bauer stated that, “The team has started the season playing together better than last year.” Bauer also said that, “We are a very young team with 5 sophomores on Varsity. The team is young but very exciting. We had over 80 kids try out for Varsity and JV soccer. There were many kids with good skills who didn’t make the team.”

Co-captain and junior Brian Heffner revealed that he hopes the team “goes far in the playoffs,” and that more people, “come out and watch because soccer isn’t boring.” Heffner added that the team is not going to shave until they have lost a game, so GHS students might be seeing a scruffier-looking team around school this year.

Both teams practice Monday through Friday, and the captains have to assist in practice. Bortnick said that she, “has to keep the team in order, and on time, help do warm-ups, and organize team dinners and events.” She explains that the “best part about being captain is the ‘respect’ (the word of the year!) from the team.”

Heffner said that he also has to help do warm-ups, and his job as co-captain includes, “motivating the team, being a role model and working hard.” The best part of being captain for Heffner is, “the ladies, and being recognized and looked up to.”