STAC GIRLS SOCCER: OWEGO PREPARING TO DEFEND SECTIONAL TITLE (10 PHOTOS) (2024-09-01)

By TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
OWEGO — Coming up with an encore performance to the 2023 season will be a daunting task for the Owego girls soccer team, but the River Hawks come into the 2024 season determined to succeed.

Owego went 15-2 last year and won its second Section IV championship in three seasons, bowing out to eventual Class A state champion Rye.

Graduation claimed nine players, including all-state standout Erin McDonald, and Taylor Dalton and Cassie Doane, two players who complimented the record-setting scoring star nicely.

The River Hawks have solid numbers and a host of strong returning players.

“Numbers are really good,” coach Laurel Evans said. “We have more girls this year than we've had the last few years between both teams, varsity and JV.

The returning players bring plenty of experience back to the lineup.

“They've all played,” Evans said. “There might be two or three that have never played before, but they're all athletes, so they're picking it up really quick. Experience-wise, we've got another good chunk of seniors, and a very big junior class.”

Evans noted the graduates will be missed, “but we have Ashlyn (Dalton) coming back, who's a big help for us. We have Bella Silvestri, who's another big one that we still have this year. We still have Cadia Fain, who's a defensive threat, so we've still got a good chunk of girls left from last year. They're going to step up and they'll fill those gaps.

“We've got a good number of younger girls that have come up. Leah Clark and Keira Coppage will be good ones to fill those shoes as well so, hopefully, we'll fill those shoes and be as competitive as last year.”

Determining which players will fill the holes is a priority for Evans during preseason practices.

“We have done a lot of scrimmaging,” Evans said. “ We don't really know right now where people will play in positioning, so we have just been scrimmaging, trying to figure out different positions, different lineups, and what'll give us the best plan of attack for the season.”

One thing that should help is the off-season workouts.

“We did open fields all summer long and then two weeks before preseason I run a conditioning camp, so we had good numbers at that,” Evans said. “A lot of them were here to get in shape, and they ran a fitness test that they all have done really well with, so our off-season stuff hopefully will translate and give us some good success.”

The first test comes Friday when Owego heads to Susquehanna Valley.

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PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.

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