The girl’s soccer team has kicked off its season for the 2018-19 school year. The stakes are high as the majority of the players are first-year players. Matt Rund has been coaching for seven years total and has spent four of those years coaching at Meridian.

Kaitlyn Parker, senior, has played soccer for three years and is now the only senior on the team. “The best part about any sport is the friends you make along the way, it kind of forces you to get to know people,” Parker said.

She does not plan to carry her soccer career past high school but will play if needed. “I play mid-line most often, which is in the middle of all the action. I get to be offense and defense at the same time,” Parker said.

After the three years of soccer, she says the most learned lesson is teamwork. “You can’t get from one side of the field to the other without teamwork.”

Matt Rund, current Meridian soccer coach, started coaching youth soccer at the community soccer program in Moweaqua in 2012, then started as an assistant coach at Meridian in 2015. “I am most excited about the potential there is in the players on this year’s roster. Several players have shown moments of skill and game intelligence that have made me think where did that come from,” said Rund.

Rund says he focuses on building skill and being able to “quickly predict the outcome of every move.”.

“I hope the players take advantage of opportunities to continue improving this summer and fall both as a team and individually,” Rund said.

Mary Adams, senior, has played for three years but did not go out for the team this year. “My favorite thing about soccer was being around all those girls and just being able to play a game I love,” said Adams.

She doesn’t plan to carry on her soccer career either as she is currently training to be an EMT at Richland. “I played goalie most of the time. I feel like I played goalie most of the time because my reaction time was very good,” said Adams.

“Don’t think that if you have never played soccer or that it has been a long time since you’ve played organized soccer that you can’t come play for the HS team. We work with all the players to provide opportunities to improve their skills and game intelligence,” said Rund.