Team Unity is the Key to Winning
Eighteen-year-old senior Ali Mayo believes that the strength of the First Colonial girls’ varsity soccer team lies in the individual contributions of its members. “At the beginning of the season, we made a pact with each other that we would be a contender in every game we played,” she explains. “So all of us bring the best individual skills we can to the field and give one hundred ten per cent when we’re competing.”
As far as individual initiative and talent are concerned, Mayo is no exception. As a center forward, she has clearly mastered the distributive skills necessary to keep the Patriots ahead of their opponents. That is, she is able to place the ball exactly where it needs to be on the field to optimize the opportunity for First Colonial to score. Often, that placement is in the net.
But her physical ability is only one part of Mayo’s success. She explains that decision-making on the field takes patience and preparation if it is to be executed properly. “I really like drills in practice where I get to decide whether to hold the ball or to turn and shoot,” she explains. Repeating this technique has served Mayo well; last season she received the Coaches Award at First Colonial and was named to the second All-Beach District team.
One of Mayo’s teammates who shares in her affinity for the front line is eighteen-year-old senior Angela Martin. As the fastest sprinter on the team, Martin is able to deftly penetrate opponents’ defensive lines. She is such an asset to the team, however, because she exhibits speed while remaining in control of the ball. In fact, her ability to whiz past defenders, ball in feet, has earned her the epithet “Crazy Legs.”
Martin explains that much of the 2006 has been spent not only on practicing the techniques required to be effective on the field, but on bolstering the team’s cohesiveness. “This year we really focused on coming together and getting all of the team members involved, including the freshmen we have” she says. Unity, Martin notes, is key to winning matches.
As for the skills on which the Patriots have focused, Martin lists assertiveness as one of the most important. “Winning balls in the air and being more aggressive is something that has helped to win games,” she explains. “Overall, our size this season is smaller than some other teams, but we don’t let that stop us.”
An exception to First Colonial’s relatively smaller size, and a big part of the cadre of senior leadership, is senior Michelle Madey. At 5’8” Madey is among the taller team members, which allows her to be more dominant in the air than other players. Like Mayo and Martin, Madey is not only quick, but capable of dribbling around opponents she faces as well. Most characteristic of Madey is her versatility; she takes the field both in offensive and defensive positions.
Coach Joe Tucei believes that the attributes that these young ladies and all of their teammates bring to the Patriots’ squad are what allow them to remain competitive in the Beach District. “This district is one of the toughest in the state,” he explains. “But this is a pretty experienced team.”
Tucei, in his fifteenth year coaching soccer with First Colonial, explains that the strategy for being successful in this district is straightforward. “We want to make it difficult for other teams by applying constant pressure to them. Our goal is to be a hard team to play.”
Familiarity with all the different situations the young ladies might encounter in a game is an important part of meeting that goal, according to Tucei. While First Colonial’s practices necessarily include the technical elements of the game, Tucei makes sure that the Patriots get a heavy dose of strategic and stylistic training, the linchpins of soccer.
Tucei is encouraged by the attitude of the young ladies that filter through the soccer program at First Colonial. “As long as they compete, play hard and give all of their effort, that’s all I can ask of them. Many of them come back after they have graduated and say that they had a great time as part of this program. I enjoy that.”
