HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS' SOCCER: A FIRST FOR THE SPARTANS AS THEY PLAY FIRST GAME IN PROGRAM HISTORY (24 PHOTOS) (2024-09-04)

By Brian Fees
Southern Tier Sports Report
ELMIRA HEIGHTS — For Edison’s players there were plenty of butterflies as they took the field for the first girls soccer game in program history.

However, those butterflies were hard to notice early as the Spartans kept the game scoreless for the first 19 minutes against a Trumansburg team that’s been to back-to-back sectional finals.

“It was so much fun,” Edison junior Hannah Lasko said. “We haven’t ever had a program, so we never really knew how much fun it was going to be. But, after the first week of practice and first game it was a lot of fun to play with these team.

“When we first got on the turf a lot of butterflies in my stomach, pretty intense, but it was a really good feeling. We had no idea going into it how the other girls were. We have never played tehse teams before, so we just had to learn piece by piece what was going to happen.”

An Edison team that has just one player who had ever played travel soccer — Alexis Mosher — showed Trumansburg they were ready to play early. Eventually the experience of Trumansburg, and some tired legs for the Spartans, led to a 10-0 final score in the Trumansburg win.

“They didn’t shy away,” Edison coach Kevin Weber said of the start of the game. “They came out firing. They weren’t scared or anything like that. They came out and did the best they could and they absolutely battled. I think tired legs and things like that happened as the game continued on, and they are a very quality program, returning most of their girls from the last couple of years where they have done very well.

“They were able to kind of determine the game as it continued on, but we continued to battle and they learned a lot as the game went on. We have one girl who had travel experience. Everyone else it was CVSA or gym class, so besides playing in gym, obviously it’s a lot different out here. So, the 80 minutes of experiences, how the game works, how the free kicks work, how the field feels and the positions and the different possibilities in that first game is the best experience we could have hoped for.”

For the girls there were a mix of excitement and nerves in the game.

“A good mix of excitement and nerves,” Weber said. “They were very nervous, they felt a lot of pressure coming out as the first team to ever play on this field and for the program and the history of the (school) district. But, they were excited. I think they did the best they could and battled hard. They played themselves into the game right away.

“We were testing where people went in, trying to get people in the right positions. Tired legs with the short preseason, we had to work really hard that first week so a couple girls just nursing things and we know we have a long season ahead of us, so it wasn’t about tonight, coming out and trying to keep the score at this, or keep it at that. It was a learning experience, come out, battle the best we can and come off with our heads hung high with a good learning experience we can take forward to the future and the rest of the season.”

For the players being part of the first Edison team is special.

“It’s a really big honor to be a part of it,” Lasko said. “To be the first to be able to say I was on the varsity girls team is really nice.”

Having soccer at Edison is special.

“A long time coming, exciting for me,” Weber said. “I have coached a long time and I followed my dad around as he coached before me for a long time. This is my first time coaching within a program where I’m at the school I teach at so I see the girls in the hallway and kind of feel a little bit of that extra pride. Being here for 15 years as a teacher and now being able to represent ourselves on the soccer field with the sport I love, it’s a great feeling.”

Weber previously coached Corning Community College’s women’s team for a year and for six seasons he was a co-head coach at Notre Dame with his dad — Steve Weber.

Steve Weber, who is Kevin’s assistant this year, is one of the winningest coaches in state history and a member of the state’s coaching Hall of Fame.

“When your assistant coach is a member of the New York State Coaches Hall of Fameme, you’d have to think your program is in good hands. It’s great being ack out with him, and having his knowledge and working with our goalies and helping me out and having the comfort level of having that person you are comfortable with and talking about the game and seeing the game together and making the adjustments and planning for how we continue to get better.”

Kaylynn Darby had six saves for Edison and Mattie Brush had five saves.

For Edison, this team is the start, and the modified program gives the Spartans a future as well.

“Our modified program is in great hands with Shane Devlin and they have a lot of strong girls,” Weber said. “We have a program that can continue to build. It’s easy to say we are looking to the future, and the next few years, but for this team it’s building for tomorrow and building for this weekend when we go to the Union Springs Tournament, and just continuing to get better and learn the game and enjoy the game.”
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PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES

PHOTO GALLERY BY BRIAN FEES.


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