- April 19, 2024
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The Pirates' Victoria Wilcox dribbles the ball in a preseason match. Photo by Ray Boone
Matanzas coach Pawel Slusarz gives his team directions during a preseason match. Photo by Ray Boone
The Pirates' Victoria Wilcox dribbles the ball in a preseason match. Photo by Ray Boone
Matanzas coach Pawel Slusarz gives his team directions during a preseason match. Photo by Ray Boone
The Pirates' Jeannette Mosher dribbles the ball in a preseason match. Photo by Ray Boone
The Pirates' Abigail Denino steals the ball away from an opposing player. Photo by Ray Boone
The Pirates' Victoria Wilcox dribbles the ball in a preseason match. Photo by Ray Boone
After a season in which Matanzas’ girls soccer team went 9-12 and graduated some of their top players, the Pirates’ Pawel Slusarz said his team will have to focus on the mental aspect of the game entering his second season as the head coach.
“That’s the biggest thing,” Slusarz said. “Hopefully with a new group, we can fix that.”
The Pirates had high expectations last season but suffered a 6-0 loss to Ponte Vedra in the district semifinal on Jan. 28. In addition, the Pirates graduated one of the school’s best goal scorers in team captain Alyssia Paiz, who topped 100 goals for her career last season.
Slusarz isn’t expecting to replace someone of her abilities anytime soon.
“It’s tough,” he said. “We all know that she was a scoring machine. It takes time to find a replacement like that. Without someone like that this year, we need to play more as a team, more as a group. We cannot count on one player to score those goals for us. Finding someone who can put the ball in the back of the net will be one of our biggest challenges.”
Some of the players Slusarz expects to step up in 2019-20? Junior midfielder Emily Hatten, who missed the majority of last season with an injury; junior midfielder Mia Almeida, who transferred back to Matanzas after a year at St. Joseph’s Academy in St. Augustine; and sophomore midfielder Victoria Wilcox.
Wilcox believes the team has grown closer together since last season.
“Although, we’re probably going to improve a lot throughout this season and be better next season, I think that even though we won’t be as skilled as last season,” she said. “The biggest thing will be growing as a team to be better next season.”
The Pirates have goals for this season: to finish the year with a winning record and to make the district final. But they don’t have expectations.
“We want to make every single one of these girls a better player,” Slusarz said.
Almeida added: “This is a building year.”
