It’s been a steady incline for the Holtville girls soccer team, all because of one adjustment — communication.
The Bulldogs have been on the winning side of things in five of their last six games, and currently are riding a three-game win streak after taking down Wetumpka 4-1 last Thursday. It has not just been the win column piling up, the goals have too.
Holtville has scored five or more goals in three of its last six games while pitching three shutouts in the process. The main difference for the squad during this stretch has been the communication from the girls, according to coach John Stark.
“We really challenged ourselves after spring break,” Stark said. “We had a really good game going into spring break, we came out, we looked like a completely different team. Last time we were out here, communication was an issue. We resolved that in the last three games, we've scored as many goals as we had coming into the last three games. So we really challenged the girls to communicate, work together.”
It’s not just Stark who’s noticed an improvement in their communication — the players have too.
“I think we did a lot better communication-wise,” senior Anna Stark said. “I think that's been something that we've been trying to work on a lot. We’ve really gelled as a team, instead of 11 players playing, we’ve really played together, as one.”
The improvement in the communication department has not done nothing but helped the team excel, especially with their offensive output. They’ve been able to build a chemistry amongst each other that was not present at the beginning of the season.
“We had such a good chemistry team last year,” senior Grace White said. “We all worked together, and we didn't really lose a lot of people, so it was kind of hard to see us fall apart and not have the chemistry that we had last year. But it was just like it clicked. Like it showed how much communication mattered. Because, you have to know where everyone is, one person can't see the entire field. It takes everybody to see the field.”
Stark also commented on how the communication has been able to build the team’s chemistry during this winning stretch they are on.
“It's the chemistry,” Stark said about the win streak. “The girls are learning from one another; they're learning the positions; they're learning what we want them to do. And I think if you hear from them, they'll probably say the same thing.”
Holtville is about to hit a three game stretch of just area opponents, and will look to continue to build their chemistry with one another to continue its winning ways.
