Photo by Sarah Finnegan.
Briarwood’s Alex Broughton (7) is one of five seniors who will be critical to Briarwood’s success on the pitch this season.
What’s obvious is that the Briarwood Christian School girls soccer team will have to look elsewhere to find the majority of its goals this season.
Sarah Adcock scored all six goals in the Class 4A-5A state championship game last spring. Along with her twin sister Maggie Adcock, the two provided an abundance of scoring on the way to the Lady Lions winning the ninth state title in program history. Maggie Adcock is now at Wofford, and Sarah Adcock is at Mercer.
“It was awesome,” Briarwood coach Ryan Leib said of last season. “It’s obviously more fun to win. We were a senior-heavy team, and that’s always an advantage.”
What’s not as obvious is how the Lady Lions will replace that lost production. The twins were the only two out of seven seniors to sign collegiately, but Leib joked that the University of Alabama intramural teams have received an influx of talent.
“We’ve got some good pieces to work with,” he said. “We’ve got a good senior class this year, five girls, all just fantastic kids. It’ll be an enjoyable group. We’ve got some good young players that’ll have to contribute a lot so we’ll have to see what they can do.”
Alex Broughton is one of those five seniors that will be tasked with leading the way for this year’s group. Caroline Duffee played in goal out of necessity last spring, but Leib said she is a “very good field player,” so her versatility will be put to use.
Peyton Feemster, Brantley Anderson and Rebecca Wolfe are the other seniors expected to play big roles. Leib also mentioned Carrie Kwarcinski and Ellie Sherrod as solid juniors that will be key players.
With such a strong senior class last year, many of those returning players were not required to shoulder heavy loads. This spring, that will change, and that should make for an interesting season for the Lady Lions.
“It’s exciting to me, because a lot of them were on the team last year but they didn’t have to do as much because there were seven seniors,” Leib said. “Now, they have to do it. They show you things that you didn’t know were there because they’ve never been in that position. Now, they have the chance.”
Aside from goal scoring, another facetBriarwood will have to replace is its mainmidfield trio.
Last season, seniors Anna Fay Frost, Grace Harris and Audrey Halpin secured that area of the field.
“Ninety-percent of the game is in the midfield and those players have to get it done,” Leib said. “We’re just going to have the find the right combination to get that done.”
Briarwood’s style of play is built on possessing the ball as much as possible, while at the same time keeping opposing teams on their toes at all times.
“We want to be dangerous,” Leib said. “If the team is trying to take away short, little possession passes, then we’ll go bigger and go where the space is.”
Leib believes that this year’s unit will work well together, and said, “we’re going to have to outwork people and be fit.”
If the Lady Lions can accomplish that, they may be able to return to Huntsville for thestate finals.
“If we’re committed to playing hard and focusing and doing what we’re trained to do, then I think we have a chance,” Leib said.