After having much success over the past couple of seasons, winning two MAPL titles in three years, Peddie’s girls varsity soccer team has been struggling to get their first win. Not scoring a goal until the game against Pingry School on September 26, the team has dropped their first five games. But head coach Matthew Roach was quick to point out that winning isn’t everything.

“Since I’ve been coaching Peddie girls soccer, we’ve never measured success in terms of wins and losses. In soccer, the results are often not indicative of how the game went because you never know when a ball is going to go in or when it’s not. So we always measure success in terms of how we play and how we are improving, and in that sense it’s been easy because that’s the way we approach every season. What we’re really looking at is how we can improve the way we’re playing each game and each practice, and what do we really need to work on,” Roach said.

Of course it’s not a great start, but there is still lots of soccer left to be played this season. Roach explained that the team is very young, with lots of freshmen and sophomores on the squad. He also revealed that the team hasn’t played a game yet where they have been fully healthy, so the team hasn’t been able to utilize all their talent.

“They have great, great chemistry, they love spending time with each other off the field which I think really helps them on the field. They are hardworking, they are committed, and they serious about soccer. They love Peddie girls soccer,” Roach said.

Someone who really loves Peddie Girls Soccer is senior Kelsie Sirak. She has been on the varsity team all four years at Peddie, and is now the captain of the team.

“It’s a great feeling to have been with a team for the past four years and now to finally have everyone look up to you, not only because you are a senior but also because you’re a captain and you’ve been named by the coach to be a leader on the team,” Sirak said.

She acknowledged that the team has been struggling.

“It stinks to lose, but even though we’ve lost there has definitely been a progression. This past Saturday against Pingry, we played our best game of the season, and I made a comment after the game that if we play like that against any team we can easily compete with them and beat them. If we just keep improving, we can do it,” she said.

Looking forward, Roach said the team still has hopes for the season.

“We want to play our best soccer in October, we’d love to win the MAPL, we’d love to make a run in the state tournament, and of course we want to win on Blair Day,” Roach said.