Long Beach girls’ soccer is rolling with an upperclassmen-heavy lineup after a 7-3-2 season that culminated in a 4-0 loss to Calhoun in the second round of the playoffs, so coach Ashley Gervasi has a lot to look forward to.
“We’ve got a group that are mostly upperclassmen, players that have been playing together for quite a few seasons now, their experience these past few days have shown so we’re looking forward to that,” Gervasi said as the calendar flipped to September.
Starting hot is Ava Kolb, who’s returning from injury; paired up with Jaymes Lind, Long Beach is expecting a tough one-two combo from the four-year starters.
“[Kolb] a senior, she’s had big seasons in the past with Long Beach so she’s excited to have a comeback in her senior season,” Gervasi said. “Jaymes will be, along with Ava, a huge priority impact player for us. She had 4 goals and 1 assist last year as a center-midfielder, she’s a no-quit player. Her leadership is amazing, you would think she’s a senior the way she presents herself and how she helps the girls on the field.”
With the two noted seniors will be Alexandra Backlin, one of the senior captains (the other being Kolb), and Gervais noted the crux of Backlin’s contributions as off-the-field, despite being a strong player in her own right.
“Her biggest impact is that leadership role and she does such a great job,” Gervasi said of Backliln. “She always wants the team to come together and have fun while being competitive. We always speak about that, like how do we have fun and be productive, and Alex is such a perfect example of that.”
On the flip side of the returners, is the battle of the goalies: it’s between Vanessa Leddy and Maia Rossi to decide the new starting keeper. The two aren’t new to the roster, but since Long beach graduated it’s previous starter, there’s an open position in the cage.
“There’s no starter yet but we will have a new keeper this year I just don’t know who yet, it’s too soon,” Gervasi said. “It’s going to be exciting, being a former goalkeeper I’m looking forward to seeing them battle it out and see who wins that starting role.”
That begs the question – if you’re rolling with the same team but want different results, what’s different between last year’s and this year’s rosters? The answer lies in the sophomore class; last year, they dubbed themselves the “Fabulous Five.” Consisting of Kaitlin Kelly, Maeve Lind, Julia Russo, Simaiyah Wardana and Maya Kallelis, their cohesion to each other was almost tangible, functioning with the communication of seasoned veterans.
“I wouldn’t say it’s one specific player so I’m looking forward to seeing how they grow from last year to this year, and I think they’re going to be very challenging for teams all together as a pact,” Gervasi said. “They’re all different positions on the field so starting from the back to the front, you’re hitting all of them, defenders, midfielders and forwards within those 5 kids so it’s amazing to watch them play together.”
The biggest asset, Gervasi said, is the team’s togetherness.
“We always have a sense of unity, that’s going to be our strength this year, bringing back these ‘freshman five’ from last year and the upperclassmen that are already there, our goal is to be competitive and show the talent that Long Beach has on the soccer field,” she said.
