By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

LISBON – Soleil Mathieu wasn’t so sure about it at first.

When her coach pitched the idea of playing on a year-round travel soccer team, Mathieu wondered whether it would suit her.

“I was a little uneasy at first,” she said. “I said I don’t know if I’ll be able to play or make the team.”’

That didn’t turn out to be a problem for the Lisbon senior. Mathieu ended up starting for the Coastal Stars and enters this season having reaped the benefits.

“The girls that you play with are amazing,” said Mathieu. “If you’re not at your A-game the whole time, you’re going to be slacking. So it pushed me to do as much as I could and as hard as I could.”

The team played in tournaments in a variety of states and won a tournament in Virginia. Mathieu also played summer soccer with teams from Lisbon and Freeport. It gave her the chance to keep her game fine-tuned.

“I had a lot more soccer,” said Mathieu. “Playing year-round, it helps you out so much. You don’t have that time where you lose your touch. Your touch is there all year round, and you just keep improving.”

Mathieu was a Western Maine Class C All-Star last year for the Greyhounds, which went 8-5-1 before losing in the regional quarterfinals. After her experiences with the travel team, she and her Greyhounds hope to take their game to new heights.

“I’m hoping that her game is going to be even higher this year,” said Lisbon coach Claude Rioux. “It’s just going to be her stepping up as a leader on and off the field, along with the other seniors doing the same thing.”

Mathieu has been a starter since her freshman season. Her first year, she split time in goal with her sister Dominique when her other sister, Gabrielle, was injured. She’s established herself in the midfield the last two seasons, earning all-star status last year.

She credits her evolvement to her teammates. As the players around her have improved, so has she.

“They pushed me to be better,” said Mathieu. “They feed me, and I feed them. If they’re having a good game, I feed off them. If I’m having a good game, they feed off me.”

Mathieu was the player in the middle that often made things happen for the Greyhounds last year. With fellow four-year starter Vickery Rendall at sweeper anchoring the defense, Mathieu often was able to get the ball fed to her and move the Greyounds into transition quickly.

“We’d like to see that spread out a little bit more,” said Rioux. “We’ll see whether it happens or not.”

Mathieu and Rendall have four other seniors around them – Saige Purser and Rachelle Henry up front, Candice Avery on defense and Angie Estes in the midfield. With a promising group of freshmen and 10 players that started last year, the Greyhounds look promising.

“Our freshmen group is really good,” said Mathieu. “It keeps getting better and better and better. We should do better than we did last year. It’s something to look forward to for me.”

One of the newcomers, Samanatha Purcell, is taking over in goal. Gabrielle Mathieu left that job open after graduating and going to Husson. Dominique Mathieu is at Springfield. So Soleil is playing without having one of her sisters by her side.

“It’s a lot different because normally I go to them for support,” said Mathieu, who hopes to study nursing next year and play soccer. “They came to me and we were always talking to each other.”

Mathieu enters this season with plenty of confidence and excitement after her experiences over the last year.

“I know the game a lot more,” she said. “We’re playing a different formation then Coastal. So with girls as skilled as they are, you feed a lot off them and you learn a lot from the coaches they have. They were all-around amazing, and they just taught me so much.”