The Lady Jaguars soccer team needed Friday’s game. Summit tied against Crowley 1-1 and sit in second place in District 16-4A, but coach Kirby Davis was glad to see his team play in a tough game.
It was a physical game that pushed the Lady Jaguars to their limits. For that, Davis is thankful that his team responded and raised its intensity. With the playoffs coming up, Davis knows Summit will be faced with more physical and intense games.“Crowley is a rough team,” Davis said. “Everyone kind of got more emotionally involved, especially the girls that hadn’t been on varsity so much. That game Friday was a real good game on how a playoff game will feel and the emotions you go through.”Davis doesn’t expect a district title but he hopes his team will be prepared for a deep playoff run. After Friday, Davis knows his team is ready for that challenge.“They experienced a close game with the ups and downs and pushing and the no-calls,” Davis said. “It was fun. A lot of those girls we hadn’t played a game like that this year. They were fired up, saw some emotion from them.“They’ve always cared and always fought back. But I haven’t seen that level of play out of them before.”Summit will have to make their run without one of their best players. Senior center midfielder Megan Breese has a broken foot that will sideline her for the rest of the season.Coming back from an ACL injury, Breese played for half the season before going down with the injury. As Summit’s center midfielder, Breese was a huge cog in the Jaguar’s scheme.She helped control the offense and pace the defense. Breese was also a captain on the team.Senior midfielder Ariel Urquides has replaced Breese as the center mid.“Megan was a calming influence,” Davis said. “We’ve struggled with possessing the ball and we’re making every game close even when they shouldn’t be.”Injuries aren’t anything new for Summit. Almost all of Davis’ players have been in the training room so far this season. His other captain, senior forward Mackenzie Maserang, has also missed more than a handful of games.Davis doesn’t want to use that as an excuse, however. After all, he said, every team is dealing with injuries.“Nobody is going to feel sorry for us,” he said.On the plus side, Davis is impressed with several of his players who have consistently stayed on the field — hurt or not — to propel Summit to where they are right now.One such player is senior outside defender Katia Moreno. Moreno played on junior varsity in her previous three seasons and got accumulated to the varsity level very quickly.Davis said once he gave Moreno a shot as an outside defender early in the season he hasn’t been able to take her off the field since.“She’s been a lock-down outside defender,” he said. “She’s super-coachable. She’s been huge. Just a great kid. She’s been very surprising in a pleasant way.”Joining Moreno on the backline has been senior Katie LeBlanc. Davis described her as a warrior, saying she can barely walk but hasn’t missed a game yet.Junior forward and captain Justine Abella has handled the scoring with 35 goals. With the district title out of reach, Davis said he wants to find time for her to grab some rest down the stretch.That goes for all his players. Davis wants his team to be as fresh as possible going into the playoffs.He knows his team will have to change some of its ways as well. One certain problem he hopes changes his how Summit has been finishing lately.“We’ve had our chances in every game,” Davis said. “We missed a [penalty kick] in a game we tied and missed three breakaways against Crowley on Friday. When the playoffs come around and you get less chances, it makes them more important.”Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
