Effingham County Girls Soccer Preview
Fresh Faces, Big Dreams: Effingham County Girls Soccer Aim for Playoffs with Young Guns
The Effingham County girls soccer squad is so young, that along with a conventional and strong leader in senior goalkeeper Dayanara Figueroa, striker Brooks Burnsed – a sophomore -- is another team captain.
It’s working, they said.
“We have really good team chemistry,” Figueroa said at the inaugural Optim Orthopedics/Prep Sports Report Soccer Media Day on Saturday, Feb. 3. “We’re really good friends. We’re bonding.”
Burnsed, who scored six goals in 12 games as a freshmen, added: “Everyone works together. Even if you’re thrown in a spot you’re not good at playing, everyone’s able to come together and figure out what we need to fix.”
Head coach Kim Johnson witnessed the squad jelling together from the first day of practice.
“They led those freshmen out,” she said of Figueroa and Burnsed. “It seemed like all of those freshmen were listening. They said jump, they jumped. It was a really good jell. It seems like they all get along. I think with that, we’re going to go really far in our season as a young team.”
The team is mostly freshmen, with 12 listed on the MaxPreps.com website, along with three each of seniors, sophomores and juniors.
Figueroa noted that the ninth-graders are very small compared to the 18-year-olds they will be competing against, and they have to get used to playing at a higher level. Fortunately, they’re talented, she said.
Assistant coach Kalin Martin believes it’s a matter of building their confidence, realizing that they’re good enough to compete with the older players.
Communication is a key, and Martin sees that as one of the team’s strengths. She also likes that they listen to the coaches and have tightened the gap in the center of the field, which was an issue for the Rebels last season.
Turning the crop of youngsters into impactful players will be critical to making Effingham County a playoff team.
“The goal for this year is to go to the playoffs,” said Johnson, who sees the program with this infusion of youth building into a dynamic team for the next four years. “I believe we can do it. I am confident these (two players) I have here (Figueroa and Burnsed) and our freshmen can pull it off.”
Effingham County Boys Soccer Preview
Effingham County Boys Channel Intensity for Winning Goal
For some programs that are perennial title contenders, hosting a game in the state playoffs would be a modest goal.
The Effingham County boys squad hasn’t played at home in Springfield in the postseason since 2015, coach Austin Czachowski said.
So it’s a pretty big goal and one that becomes more realistic as Czachowski has seen the program developing soccer talent.
“For the first time in my coaching time at Effingham, we have an entire soccer team that is soccer players,” Czachowski said at the inaugural Optim Orthopedics/Prep Sports Report Soccer Media Day on Saturday, Feb. 3.
“In the past, I’ve had to pull from other sports, whether it is basketball or football or whatever,” the coach continued. “But now, it is a soccer team. We have all soccer players. That, I’m excited about. I think that’s one of the things that is going to help us out the most, just having guys that are knowledgeable about the game, that actually know how to play soccer.”
Czachowski described past Rebels squads with a core of soccer players – some who may play year-round on club teams – helping the novice student-athletes trying to give soccer a shot. Maybe they love soccer, maybe they don’t.
Sophomore left wing Diego Escobar is a soccer player, and he sees that desire to play and win in his teammates, too.
“I’d say the strength (of the team) is our passion for the game,” Escobar said. “Going 100, 120 percent, doing everything we can to play the game.”
That passion has to be channeled productively.
Goalkeeper Michael Deien, a junior in his third season on the squad, said, “The chemistry is a lot better than it was two years ago, a year ago.”
Deien said a team weakness has been “being hotheaded sometimes. That’s part of the game. It’s going to happen.”
Escobar noted a game during his freshman season of 2023 when the Rebels let emotions get the best of them and they trailed, only to keep the intensity without the hotheadedness and rally to win the game.
A team goal, Czachowski said, is to win in everything it does.
“As far as expectations, I don’t really want to look too far into the future,” he said. “It’s just one game at a time with them. If you’re looking too far ahead, you’re going to stumble and fall. It’s one step at a time.”
PHOTO Credit: Optim Orthopedics marketing Department
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