South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

‘Good nucleus’ of Lindbergh players return for girls’ soccer team season

Last season was a disappointing one for the girls’ soccer team at Lindbergh High School.

The Flyers racked up a record of 9-13-2, in which they went 3-3-1 in Suburban West Conference play. Yet they return a solid core of players this year and Flyers head coach Mark Giesing is hoping that his players have learned a lot during the past year.

“We have a lot of kids returning from last year,” Giesing told the Call. “We feel like we have a good nucleus of kids coming back this season.”

Junior forward Bridget Holmes returns this season after leading the Flyers with six goals and one assist last season. Holmes moves to forward after playing at the midfielder position during the 2003 campaign.

“Bridget’s going to be converted into a forward for us this year,” Giesing said. “We moved her to forward because of her tremendous speed and the great shot she has.”

A solid scoring threat to complement Holmes is sophomore forward Allison Ubriacho. Last season Ubriacho scored five goals for the Flyers.

“Allison will be one of two strikers this season,” Giesing said. “She started on the freshman team as the goalie and we moved her up to the varsity team by the middle of the year. We just couldn’t keep her off the field with her hard and aggressive play.”

Another sophomore who will see time at the forward slot is Alex Placke, who registered one goal for the Flyers last year.

“Alex is a similar player to Allison,” Giesing said. “She’s a strong player with good speed and a strong shot.”

Junior midfielder Mary Catherine Richmond returns to the Flyers after scoring three goals last season. As a freshman, Richmond scored two goals and one assist for five points.

“Mary Catherine is ideal for the wing midfielder position,” Giesing said. “What we like about her is that she has a good vision of the field and an excellent leg.”

Senior defender Becky Christ will be one of the cornerstones of the Flyers’ defense this year after racking up three goals and five assists last year as a midfielder.

“Becky’s going to be moved into the central defender role,” Giesing said. “She’s just a really calm leader that can keep us all together.”

At goalkeeper for her second season is sophomore Haley Fox, who posted a record of 2-9 overall and a 1.23 goals-against average.

Those kind of statistics would indicate that Fox didn’t have a problem stopping shots, but rather the Flyers had difficulties in scoring goals.

“Where this team struggled last year was in our offense,” Giesing said. “Haley’s played a big chunk of last season because Claire Ward broke her finger. She’s got a little bit more maturity and confidence this year.”

The Flyers open up the season Monday, March 22, as they play host to Parkway North in the first round of the Suburban West-South Conference crossover tournament. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start.

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