As winter comes to an end and spring comes around, a new wave of school sports begins. One of the biggest names of these sports being, soccer.

Edmond Memorial High School has been prominent for their achievements in soccer throughout the years, and as the season began for the girls, success is expected.

“We have been lifting weights since the start of the first semester and started our official practices in December,” senior team captain Avery Baker said. 

The girls did a lot of work to prepare for the season, and through this preparation they’ve been able to find a great team chemistry on the field. 

“It’s very fun being on the high school team. It’s a lot different than being on a club team because of the diversity of players on the team,” Senior team captain Layla Mayberry said. “We have a huge mix of girls from everywhere but we all work very well together.”

Not only is being on the team a lot of fun, it requires a great deal of responsibility. 

“Being on the team has taught me a lot of discipline and how to be a leader. I’ve faced many obstacles throughout my four years on the team, but I’ve learned how to persevere and stay positive through everything,” Mayberry said. 

Byron Gutierrez was hired last year as the head coach. He has plenty of experience with soccer, playing all throughout high school and in college at Oklahoma Baptist University.

“This team is special to me, we were able to make it to the playoffs last year which was a great experience for all of us,” Gutierrez said. “It’s been even better this year, growing together and understanding what we expect and want to accomplish as a team.”

Gutierrez not only has experience playing the sport, but he also has experience coaching it. 

“This is my 5th year as a high school coach,” Gutierrez said. “Being a coach has taught me how I can serve the people around me. I’ve realized being a head coach is not about me, but about the people I teach and am able to coach.”

Even though the girls sit at a 2-2 record in the regular season so far, they have big goals to finish out their season. 

“Last year was the first time in a while that we made the state tournament. One of our big goals this year is to make it back and go a lot farther than we did last year,” said Baker. 

The girls soccer team made it to the playoffs for the first time in four years last season. Unfortunately they fell short in the first round, but they don’t plan on stopping there. Districts are now underway and the girls next game is at Norman Apr. 8 at six p.m, check out the schedule for the rest of the season. 

Contact Jaden  Scamehorn at [email protected]