The final whistle is set to blow for many of our soccer players as they take the field for the last time in their collegiate careers.
They will hang up their jerseys, put away their cleats, and Coach Earls will look for new players. The rest of the team are stuck filling in the gaps left behind.
Many of these girls have been playing their whole lives, while others picked up a ball for the first time not too long ago. Out of 20 fillies, five are seniors, making up a considerable number of those who have experience and lead the team.
Their final night on the pitch is an emotional one; lacing up cleats for the last time is a reminder of hard work, victories, defeats, and, most
importantly, bonds created through sweat.
Whitner Bobo, captain of the team, said, “I love getting players involved. I love to assist them. I want a girl to score a goal; it’s the best feeling ever.” If that answer doesn’t show what kind of team captain Bobo is, I don’t know what it would.
Despite being given her leadership position on the team, in high school, Bobo wasn’t really given a role. Reduced to tears, she thanked Coach Earls for taking a chance on her.
Bobo also mentioned Molly Parker, the only other four-year player to play for ABAC, and how they made history as the first player to play their entire college career with ABAC.
When interviewing Parker, she was very warm and inviting, smiling the whole time. Through laughter, Parker said she “might actually run after this” in response to how soccer has changed her life.
She also said she has become “a lot more confident in herself” and the kind of player she is.
While Parker takes confidence from soccer, Ryvers Holloway said she is taking away the fact that “it made me more independent… it’s also kind of helped with time management and to be able to stay focused with my goals in life.”
Similarly to Holloway, Eva Fernandez has learned to keep her head up after losing, saying, “We had to deal with a lot over the past two seasons that we’ve been in NAIA, and I just think we as a team were able to keep our head up for a lot of it.”
Fernandez makes it a point to praise Coach Earls for letting the girls use the field to relieve stress.
While Fernandez keeps the mindset of looking at things differently, Taylor Underwood keeps the love of the game with her. Having scored three out of the four goals during her final game, Underwood has been lacing up her cleats for close to 13 years.
When asked what she hopes will come out of the team, Underwood said, “I hope they continue to build on what we have already accomplished and continue to learn and get better.”
Underwood said that after this journey, she has “plans to go to Pennsylvania school and leave Georgia.”
Though bittersweet, our senior Fillies’ legacy will live on long after graduation.
PHOTOS | ANTHONY BAISDEN