The Salida High School Girls Soccer Team has had a very successful season. The three captains of the girls soccer team have worked very hard to get their team to this place. The girls on the soccer team anonymously voted to decide this year’s captains: seniors Isabel (Izzy) Hughes, Megan Devenport, and Trinity Bertolino, who were all excited to have leadership.
“Leadership is something I hold close to my heart, and I’m very passionate about it. I wanted to be a captain because I wanted to uplift my team, and I wanted to listen to my team,” Hughes said.
The three soccer captains have had differing experiences with soccer throughout their lives. Devenport, a centre back, has been playing soccer for a long time; she’s been playing soccer steadily since she was around four years old. Bertolino started in her freshman year of high school, starting as a field player and transitioning into being a Varsity goalie her junior year. Hughes, a striker forward, started playing in seventh grade.
“I started soccer because I wanted something new, and I was god awful—words cannot describe how bad I was because I didn’t grow up playing ball sports. It wasn’t instinctual for me. […] I think the skills caught up last year, my junior year,” Hughes said.
Devenport’s main goals related both to her personal conduct on the team and the team’s performance in their games.
“I wanted to be the best role model I could be for the younger girls, and I wanted to see how far we could go since this is my last year playing soccer,” Devenport said.
While Hughes also wanted to go as far as possible into playoffs and championships, she also wanted to make the soccer team a fun and positive experience for all involved. She also wanted to measure success not just by the outcomes of their games.
“On a smaller day to day scale, just giving 110 percent every day. Also just friendships. The girls soccer team is notorious for being intense, but I wanted to rebrand it to be a place of positivity and making sure people are stoked to be there every day,” Hughes said.
Bertolino’s goals were to go out and enjoy the season, and to not get too caught up in mistakes that occur. She feels that she did achieve this by adopting a more positive mindset.
“I had a change of mindset going into it [this season]. Like it’s my senior year, I should play for the people that have always supported me and play for my team, and it helped me change my mindset to be more confident and calm. I played pretty good—I had some crazy saves, which was fun,” Bertolino said.
The girls have all enjoyed being reliable players this year. Hughes remarked that they’d tied at least five games, which is more than they have in previous years. As well as having a great season in terms of their games, the girls soccer team has also had a great season in terms of the friendships within the team.
“I think it’s [the season] definitely been a lot of fun. We all just get along, there’s no beef or anything like that, and Slay [Coach Heidi Slaymaker] is a really good coach, and our games have been going really well,” Devenport said.
While they’ve had a very successful season, it didn’t come without its challenges. On a team level, Hughes remarked that they ran into challenges considering the age distribution of their team. A lot of the girls were playing together for the first time. However, Hughes believes that this allowed their teamwork and friendships within the team to really excel. Devenport, Hughes and Bertolino all said that, on a personal level, they’ve faced challenges with self criticism and the mental block of soccer.
Bertolino said, “last year I was really really hard on myself, and I did not think I was good enough but this season that has changed. Being in a position where […] it feels like if someone scores a goal it’s all your fault is very mentally draining, so that’s been a huge challenge.”
They have all had wonderful memories throughout their years on the soccer team. Devenport has really enjoyed spending time with her team, specifically citing bus rides and meals after games with her teammates. Hughes also enjoyed spending time with her teammates both on and off the field. Hughes said that some of her favorite memories were celebrating with her team after people scored goals and listening to music on the bus with her teammates. Bertolino claimed bus rides with her team as one of her favorite parts of soccer as well, especially because she’s made a lot of close relationships through the sport. She also noted that she loved seeing sunsets while on the bus rides.
“I always love music, and when we’re going to our away games, we have a massive speaker and we drown the bus. Shakira is one of our favorites; we also like Pitbull. On the field, when we score, I love running up to someone after they score and when I score a goal knowing that my team is stoked for me so just the positivity and good vibes everyone has,” Hughes said.
Next year, all three captains are going to college. Devenport is going to Colorado Mesa University, specifically stating their Rodeo Team as a deciding factor on where to go, and she wants to study Veterinary medicine. Hughes is going to the University of Colorado-Boulder to study Broadcast Journalism and Leadership (through the Presidential Leadership Class. Bertolino is going to Liberty University to study teaching English as a second language.
Devenport, Hughes, and Bertolino have all given their all for the past four years in order to make the girls soccer team as successful as it could be. While they didn’t progress past playoffs, they performed very well. While none of them are continuing on to play soccer officially, they have all really enjoyed playing these past few years. They all especially emphasized how much they’ve taken away from the team, especially through the friendships and bonds they created. All three of them advised anyone thinking of trying out for soccer to just give it a shot because they all really value their time and the lessons they’ve learned throughout being on the soccer team.