Losing players to graduation is a big part of the high school sports scene from year to year.
Naturally, some years are worse than others.
Graduation has hit the Woodrow Wilson girls soccer team like a tidal wave losing Cassidy Agnor, Nevaiah Simmons, Meredith Hall, Ama Ackon-Annan, Kyndall Dooley, Taylor Scott and Katelyn Hamb.
“We graduated seven or eight seniors that were starters which leaves a really big hole in the team,” head coach Julie Agnor said. “The juniors that are now moving up to seniors, I only have four of them and only two were starters. We are definitely in what would be referred to as a rebuilding season this year.”
Seniors Izzy Umberger and Lexi Scott will anchor the team having played for the Flying Eagles since they were freshmen.
From there however, the roster is a bit of a mystery as to who will fill the pitch for Woodrow Wilson.
“The group that graduated played together for years, since they were kids. Really only a few of the returners were in that group. The faces that are here, I just really don’t know them and they are very new to me,” Agnor said. “I had a lot more freshman come out than I thought were coming out and I had a home-schooler that has joined the team. I also have a private school student that has joined us. Hopefully they are going to add a lot to the team.”
Following a tumultuous 2023 campaign, junior Mia Seiter is back in goal and should prove to be a key player for Woodrow Wilson while the team finds its way, especially early in the season.
“Mia has embraced the goal keeping position this year. It was a struggle last year,” Agnor said. “She hated it and did not want to do it. She came to me earlier this year and said she was going to embrace it this year and own it. That is what we need her to do.”
During Seiter’s freshman year, the Flying Eagles had three-starter Ally Arthur between the pipes.
“I played anything that Julie needed me to play,” Seiter said about her freshman season. “Wherever she needed me to play I was up for the challenge. Whatever she needed me to do, I was going to do it.”
Arthur’s graduation created a vacancy that Agnor was convinced Seiter could fill and fill it well.
“We needed Mia to step up and play keeper last year. We would have multiple conversations, kind of to the point that she was the best for that position,” Agnor said. “If she wasn’t willing to give it her all, we were going to have to dig deep and find somebody who would.”
Having started her soccer career playing with Legacy FC and in recreational leagues, Seiter knew the game, but at had never played the keeper position.
“I was a little nervous because I hadn’t really trained to be in the goal. It was just something that I was good at,” Seiter said. “Over time I learned that the move was for the team and not for me. I needed to do what was better for the team, so I stuck it out.”
Reluctance gave way to comfort in the new role and later some success as the year progressed.
“She just decided that she was going to be that goal keeper. I am really proud of her. We had some real struggles last year, but she is really focused and ready to do her job,” Agnor said. “She has definitely improved. The biggest road block was she didn’t want to own it. It was just a mental thing. Her physical ability is there. It was the mental block that defeated her. I feel like she has removed that mental block.”
Moving Seiter to goal keeper was really not a tough decision in Agnor’s mind.
“I really think that is her position. She can run, she can jump and she can see the field. She is vocal in the back. She directs traffic and she is strong,” Agnor said. “She is learning to let the bad things go which is tough because you feel like the goals are your fault. I think we are going to overcome that hill.”
Seiter talked about her mindset heading into her junior season as opposed to a year ago.
“I am confident in my ability and I am confident in my team. I know I have trained a lot and I have been working every single day to be better,” Seiter said. “I think this really is my position. I have grown as a player and as a person. The team has grown as a family and this is where I needed to be. I think I have shown that to everybody.”
Defense may the key for the Flying Eagles with scoring likely to be a struggle with an inexperienced roster.
“We have had some struggles scoring in the preseason, but we hope some of the freshman coming in are ready to shoot. Carly Fisher plays in the midfield, but she is more of a distance shooter,” Agnor explained. “It will take a lot of patience on my part and a lot of trial and error as we go. In my mind, I see what I want to see. I just hope it just looks the same on the field.”
Woodrow Wilson opens the season Aug. 22 hosting Riverside at Paul Cline Stadium. The first sectional clash of the year is Aug. 29 in Fairlea before a home date with Princeton on Sept. 5. The Flying Eagles travel to Oak Hill on Sept. 10.
“It is definitely a tough road. Everybody lost some players,” Agnor said. “I don’t know if the 2005 group was just a large class of athletes, but it hit every sport at Woodrow. When the 2024 class graduated, they took a lot of talent with them.”
