LIMESTONE, Maine — The Penguins girls soccer team has a new-look roster in 2022 after having to replace nine players from last year’s team that went 2-6 during the regular season.
MSSM did win its play-in game against Lee Academy before losing in the next round of the playoffs to Penobscot Valley.
Second-year coach Lucas Hafford said he is still trying to piece together a starting lineup for the Penguins with practices beginning only two weeks ago, but he will depend mightily on senior Rianna Mattox, who earned All-Aroostook honors last year and will be back at midfield along with senior Trynitee Fallon, junior Rye Hughes, sophomore Luciana Chavez de Pas Solis and freshmen Mia Shaw and Aubrey Ainsworth.
The candidates at forward are seniors Lijia Yang and Shelby Carson, junior Ariella Searfoss and sophomores Eva Ociepka and Erin Dooley.
Senior Tanja Samardzic, juniors Saanvi Sadineni and Elizabeth Rethman, sophomores Quinn Daly and Samantha Butts and freshman Amanda Nicholson are fighting for roles on defense, while freshman Elena Wirth will begin the season as the starting goalkeeper.
The managers are junior Hazel Ragozzine and senior Anne Bostock.
“Our main focus has been conditioning, mixing in some game situations and scrimmaging, Hafford said, “and we’ve started to focus on some position-dedicated skill work.Our goals are to not have any significant injuries, to improve on last year’s win total, and to have as much fun as possible.”
