Girls’ soccer: Following Fletcher’s lead

MONMOUTH — If there is one thing to keep in mind about the Monmouth Academy Mustangs it is this: the 2015 team that won a dozen games is long gone. Several key players have moved on and they took their talents and experience with them.

Even so, coach Gary Trafton is cautiously optimistic.

“I lost seven starters,” he said. “This year, we’re looking at starting four or five freshmen. They’re used to playing against 13-year-olds, and now they’ll be playing against 17- and 18-year-olds.

“We’re kind of young,” the coach said. “We know that. We have growing pains. But we want to be competitive and get back to the playoffs and see what happens from there.”

The Monmouth girls graduated some top talent last season, but one of the Mountain Valley Conference’s more dynamic players, Haley Fletcher, returns to lead the Mustangs. Trafton is certainly happy to have Fletcher back, but he’s not prepared to place the entire season on her shoulders.

“Haley works hard. She’s a big asset, but we can’t rely on one person. We’re trying to build some stuff around her,” the coach said. “She needs to get open and create space for herself. Other teams know that she’s out there and they’re going after her a lot harder. She’ll have to work harder to create opportunities for herself.”

Practicing on the field behind Monmouth Academy on a Thursday afternoon, Haley looks completely at ease. When asked about the challenges of the new season, she smiles. She knew this question was coming.

“I feel some pressure,” she said. “But I feel better when I’m under pressure. Not just me, the whole team.”

On the field, there’s not a lot of banter among the players. There are plenty of girls out there who have never before played together. Whether they can develop the kind of chemistry known to propel young teams to greatness remains to be seen.

“That’s kind of what I’m hoping,” Trafton said.

Chemistry aside, there will be periods of adjustments for the freshman players. Haley remembers those adjustments. She once had to make the leap from middle to high school herself.

“They need to get used to playing at the high school level pretty quick,” she said. “That’s not fair to them, maybe, but they can do it. I know they can.”

And it’s not as though Haley is playing on a team filled with strangers. Senior Izzy Lewis, a halfback, is also back. So are five juniors, including Tia Day, Emily Grandahl and Abby Allen.

“There are still a lot of us who have played together before,” Haley said. “I think we’re going to do good. I feel pretty confident about that.”

In the loss column, the Mustangs will be trying to fill the shoes of Sammy Grandahl, Maddie Bumann, Taylor Spadafora, Sidney Wilson, Mikayla Cameron, and Cheyenne Gray. Additionally, junior Hannah Anderson is expected to miss the season due to injury.

All of that with a strong Madison Bulldog team bearing down.

“We open up the season with Madison. We play them twice,” Trafton said. “It’s kind of turning into a rivalry.”

Here’s another thing to remember about the Mustangs: young team or not, they would really like to get back to the playoffs – last year, they missed a shot at the state final by just one goal after forcing Waynflete to overtime.

Even with Fletcher doing her part, will the freshman-heavy Mustangs have enough talent to keep up? Trafton things so. He sees promise in his returning players and in the likes of newcomers Audrey Fletcher, Jordan Gowell, Libby Clement and goalie Katie Harris.

“While we have big shoes to fill,” Trafton said, “our returning players and newcomers will hopefully help to continue the success we have had in the past few years. Stepping up and filling those holes will be key.”