Cailla Prisco
Sports Editor
Junior and captain Nicole De Almeida is a key member of the defensive team for the Owls and started every game in the 2018 season, including one shutout game.
Captaining a young and inexperienced team as a junior was a task that De Almeida was ready to confront.
“It was definitely a great but challenging experience. I loved being someone that the team looked to when they needed something, whether it was help with something on or off the field. It definitely had its challenges, trying to keep people positive and motivated during some of the tougher games,” said De Almedia.
Senior Taylor Bisallion praised her teammate because of her active duties as a captain and coming into her own as a leader.
“Nicole has definitely become more vocal as a player on the team. Last year it was very overwhelming having 12 seniors on the team and kind of hard to get your input in. This year she definitely got a better chance to voice her opinions and insight,” said Bisallian.
De Almeida said that she loved leading the team and would, “hope to be a captain next year too.”
De Almeida plays the center back position, leading the defensive side of things. She said it gave her, “a whole view of the field and command the field.”
When asked about differences of leadership roles from last season to this season, she said small things have changed.
“I think the biggest difference was I had more of a voice off of the field this year as well at practice and even afterwards,” said De Almeida.
This season was the first year in 20 years that the women’s soccer team did not make the LEC playoffs. The team added 12 new first-years to their roster and only had 3 returning seniors, so the team did not have a large and seasoned upperclassmen group taking the field every game.
De Almeida said that this year was a “learning year” for the women’s soccer team.
“It was different because with so many newcomers, we were a very young team, where these past two years it was a majority of older players. A lot of the season was more getting to know one another and a lot of learning,” said De Almeida.
Bisallian agreed with De Almeida, stating that it was hard to learn on the field with so many new faces.
“I think the biggest difficulty this season was being able to work as one team. The talent was there, but with so many lost seniors, and other teammates due to injury, it was hard to find the right mesh,” said Bisallian.
Cailla Prisco can be contacted
at cprisco@kscequinox.com
