The West Geauga Wolverines Girls Soccer team has a lot to be positive about as they start the 2025 Soccer season. In fact, the Wolverines return top players from last season's team which started 10-3-1.
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The West Geauga Wolverines Girls Soccer team has a lot to be positive about as they start the 2025 Soccer season.
In fact, the Wolverines return top players from last season’s team which started 10-3-1.
Returning players include first team All-Ohioan, senior Adison Cook (Edinboro University commit; 46 points – 18 goals and 10 assists in 2024) as well as CVC All-Conference players including juniors Faelynn Beckrest (20 points – 8 goals, 4 assists), Ava Borz (15 points – 6 goals, 3 assists), Amelia Zaffiro (15 points – 5 goals, 5 assists), Lia Alvord, and Taylor Swaye.
Also returning is CVC All-Conference sophomore Lexi Bryan (10 points – 2 goals, 6 assists).
In addition, freshmen Cara Borz, Clara Horrigan, and Brooklyn Osolin have already made a big impact on the pitch.
With a plethora of returning all conference performers, All-Ohioan Adison Cook, and a talented freshman class, the Wolverines are off to a strong start in the 2025 season.
Indeed, in this past week’s victories over the Chardon Hilltoppers and the Madison Blue Streaks, the Wolverines out scored their opponents, 14-1.
While starting strong, the Wolverines have focused on communicating positively.
After every game, win or lose, the Wolverines have implemented a new post-game ritual where they focus on telling each other positive things that they saw occur during the match.
Subsequent to the post game cool down, the Wolverines head to their sideline where team members sit in a circle facing each other. Then, each Wolverine player provides team members with something positive that they observed during the game.
Senior captain Adison Cook said that West Geauga’s Head Coach, Lidia Rodin, did this with her team when she was a player.
Cook explained that Coach Rodin asked the team captains during the Summer what they thought about implementing this technique after games.
“Coach Rodin, she brought it up to us (and) she talked to us captains and asked us how we feel about it,” Cook said. “It was something she used to do with her team. Me, (and the other captains) Taylor (Swaye), and Ava (Borz) really thought it was a good idea to help keep morale on the team and uplift everyone.”
She continued: “The girls have so much fun doing it. It’s just like a way to show everyone that they’re part of the team and that what they do has a huge impact in helping us get where we want to be.”
Junior Faelynn Beckrest also said that the positive communication exercise helps improve team chemistry even if the outcome of a particular contest was not what the team may have wanted.
“Not all games are going to be positive, not all games are going to be the best outcome,” said Beckrest. “Sharing what we did do good, even though there’s bad, brings the team together.”
Beckrest added that the post-game communication exercise helps players stay focused on positive aspects during competitions.
“People will mess up, there’s going to be mess ups, there’s going to be silly mistakes, but just looking at the positives will help us all around,” said Beckrest. “It will help us be more productive in the games and will help our overall chemistry as a team.”
Freshman Cara Borz, who already has eight points and is tied for the team lead with four goals in the first three games of the season, said that she believes the emphasis on positive communication has been helpful.
“I think its helping a lot,” said Cara Borz. “I think we’re connecting a lot more passes than the first game (against NDCL).”
Beckrest added, “Our first game wasn’t the best game, but we came back, scored, won, so (staying positive) is helping.”
As Beckrest alluded to, the Wolverines lost their first game, 5-3, to the NDCL Lions on Aug. 15.
However, by staying positive, the Wolverines came back with dominating victories over the Chardon Hilltoppers, 7-1 on August 21st and the Madison Blue Streaks, 7-0 on August 23rd.
Leading the Wolverines in their victory over the Hilltoppers was Cook who had 8 points (3 goals, 2 assists). Also, scoring for the Wolverines were Ava Borz (2 goals), Cara Borz (1), and Brooklyn Osolin (1).
In addition, adding assists for the Wolverines against the Hilltoppers were Beckrest (3), Sarah Troyer (1) and Clara Horrigan (1).
In the Wolverines’ 7-0 victory over the Madison Blue Streaks on Aug. 23, scoring goals were Beckrest (2 goals), Cara Borz (2), Bryan (1), Horrigan (1), and Osolin (1).
Assist Leaders for the Wolverines in their contest with the Blue Streaks were Cook (3 assists), Bryan (1), Emily Fousek (1), Horrigan (1), and Molly McNamara (1).
