Last season, the Crawfordsville girls’ soccer team posted a winning record for the first time since 2014. A 9-7 record and 5-2 mark in the Sagamore Conference gave the Athenians their best season in almost a decade in coach Alex Ehrlich’s second season.
And now with eight returning juniors and seniors, Crawfordsville is looking to build on the recent success.
“We have several returners that have played a lot of soccer, that know the game well, and can communicate what needs to be done on the pitch during a game,” Ehrlich said.
Senior Riley Gardner and junior Caroline Novak are the top two returners for the Athenians. Gardner recorded 11 goals and 11 assists in 2023, while Novak chipped in eight goals and 11 assists. Zari Freeze found the back of the net eight teams last season and returns for her senior campaign. Crawfordsville also returns seniors Caedence Brown and Makenzie Lawton, and juniors Bea Swick, Molly Pierce, and Laila Torres.
Despite the 9-7 mark in 2023, the Athenians were outscored 48-38, but Ehrlich believes an offensive improvement is coming with so many returning weapons.
“It is my expectation that we are going to possess the ball better than we ever have,” he said. “I also expect that we will find the back of the net more this year.”
Freshman Alea Seward is also expected to make an immediate impact in 2024.
Ehrlich does hope to see an improvement in his teams’ training and intensity in both games and practices.
“We want to maintain a high level of intensity for the entirety of each and every game,” he said. “We are working to take responsibility for their training. This group of girls enjoy having fun. Sometimes so much fun they forget the purpose of the drills we run. We had a talk the other day about game-like intensity and that the girls are responsible for creating that intensity.”
Crawfordsville opens the season at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 20 at Faith Christian.
