The life of a women’s soccer coach at Gavilan isn’t always
easy.
The life of a women’s soccer coach at Gavilan isn’t always easy.
Marty Behler’s team is 0-3. All four of her returning players didn’t have enough credits to play this year. The team had to pull out of its season-opening tournament because too many players couldn’t get off work.
And although the Rams’ home field has never looked better, it’s still visited by gophers and a Gav player sprained her ankle on one of the holes just yesterday.
No matter.
Behler, who took over an embarrassing program before the start of the last season, refuses to look at anything but the positives.
“This year I’m just trying to take it all in stride,” she said. “I just keep reminding myself that this was never a one-year project.
“There was much pretty much no program before last year.”
This season the team is using brand new soccer balls and wearing brand new uniforms and sweatsuits.
And while the all-freshmen Rams aren’t winning – not yet at least – they are markedly better than they were when practice began back last month.
“A lot of these girls were just beginning soccer when we started,” said sweeper Allison Filice. “Every game we’ve improved as a team, though. We’re working together well.”
Filice, a freshman who played soccer at San Benito High, joins fellow ex-Baler Monica Munoz and Gilroy High alums Yvette Jimenez and Katie Bloomquist as a few of the players with some experience in the sport.
Most of their novice teammates have caught on quickly, though.
Hollister native Jenaya Guerrero “didn’t even know to kick a ball this summer,” forward Monica Vazquez said.
Now she’s a key contributor in the Rams’ midfield.
“There’s a lot of girls like that,” Vasquez said.
Nevertheless, there’s still not a lot of girls – a few have joined in the last week or so, but the number still hovers around 13 or 14.
It means players like Filice and defender Anna Gatherer, who both sat out Wednesday’s practice with minor injuries, are having to tough it out in games like today’s 4pm home match with Hartnell College.
“These girls are fighters,” Behler said. “They’ve got a lot of fire … a lot of heart.”
And like there coach, they’ve got a lot of optimism, too.
“We’re losing and you’d think it wouldn’t be all that much fun,” Gatherer said. “But we’re still having fun. We’re still smiling.
“No matter what, we’re going to take the positives out of this.”
