The Westlake Girls’ Soccer team season has come to a bittersweet end. At their last playoff game on Saturday (October 28), the girls played their hardest, going into overtime, but sadly lost. Some players that really stood out at the game were sophomores Sami Jablonski, who took a lot of chances to score a goal, and Lydia Choban, who also played really well. Junior Maisy Bogart, a varsity soccer player at WHS, states, “I’ll miss this season. I’ll remember this season the rest of my life. We played hard. I don’t think we’ll be this good next year.” She also says the team gave it their all, going further than they had ever gone in all her three years playing for Westlake.

Some really excellent players that have shown their talent on the field are seniors Alise Emser and Peyton Rimko in defense, junior Leah Jolliffe as a midfielder, and sophomore Sami Jablonski in offense. The varsity team is mostly seniors. Bogart says she’ll “miss the seniors. I loved all of them. I loved playing with all of them. I’ll miss going to camp with them and having team dinners.” She goes on to say the seniors are great role models and they led the whole team through a great season.

On the JV soccer team, there are freshmen who have demonstrated their huge talent. Bogart gives advice to the underclassmen soccer players, “Work hard. Do your best. Love the game. And have fun.”

Leading up to the end of the season, the girls had to practice everyday from summer to fall. Their practices ranged from 1hr to 2hrs. They lifted in the morning, too. Both JV and varsity had difficult practices. Bogart notes that the transition from JV to varsity wasn’t too hard, there was just more running and harder workouts in varsity practices. She explains how Mr. Jones, the varsity team’s coach, is a tough coach because makes them work hard, but he also makes them want to win.

In reflection over the 2017 season, Bogart says their best games were against Medina and Brunswick because even though they were tough teams, Westlake matched their strength and played well. Bogart says throughout her soccer experience, “I’ve loved playing soccer. We’re a really close team. It’s always a good time.”