For the first time in Niles West history, girls varsity soccer was named conference champions after winning their game against Maine East on May 5.
The team started conference with an unexpected loss by Vernon Hills. However, the girls worked hard after that loss to prove themselves with drills during practice to improve their shooting.
“The loss made it much more difficult for us to win out the rest,” Head Coach Arturo Villamil said. “We actually played a really good game but unfortunately weren’t able to put the ball in the back of the net, so one of the things we did was work on getting the ball in the back of the net. We practiced a lot of attacking, a lot of scoring.”
After the Vernon Hills game, the girls went undefeated for the rest of their conference games. Junior Harper Rettell believes this success was a result of the chemistry and joy that the team has built over the past two years.
“I think it’s just our chemistry, we all really enjoy playing together and once we hit our flow, it’s just nonstop,” Rettell said. “We’ve been playing together for two years, and I feel like we’ve all hit our major points and major goals to get to the way we are right now. We all work as a team, one unit.”
Winning conference was rewarding for the team, and senior Claire Georgees shared how this historic win showed off not only the team’s hard work throughout the season, but also the support the coaches provided the girls.
“After winning conference and hearing about our team being the first in Niles West history to win, it felt like all of our hard work during practice and the season was really worth something, and I felt very proud of my team,” Georgees said. “To get conference, our coaches were a huge part of gaining that title as they were the ones that pushed us to get better every day.”
With the success that the team has brought this year, they will be moving up to the CSL north conference next year to face harder teams.
“Our goal for next year is to keep our reputation from this year,” Rettell said. “We want to keep our chemistry alive and teach the underclassmen that are coming up to the way that we work and the way that the team flows.”
