Welcome to a new segment of the Sports section called TIME OUT! Here in timeout, coaches from our very own Eagles teams will be covered and interviewed based off their experience as a coach, team progress, and how they are trying to make the name of the game FUN! (Due to the time of publication, record changes have occurred. Lady Eagles take first win away at Milwaukee, 4-0 Sept. 14.)

Our first coach to join us in TIME OUT is Coach Ed Young of the Lady Eagles soccer team! Not only is he the first coach of the soccer Lady Eagles, but he is also a respected coach at Princeton High School. Hmm, how about that? Coach Young has been coaching there for seventeen seasons and is ecstatic to be able to coach at two different schools. As he embraces his new role as the Lady Eagles coach, he will be able to scout out young women in the high school level. As his experience is vast, his duty as a coach and community leader in the coaching world, he is able to connect coaches and players within the area in his Princeton Camps. How resourceful!

The Eagles recently played Joliet the second of this month in a close game where they fell in a hard battle 0-2. This is also followed by another close 0-2 fall on the ninth and a major fall on the eleventh (0-10). “We’ve made some changes in our lineup. Gathering information as far as player tendencies, personalities and style of play.” Coach Young expresses about their 9/2 game against Joliet. His efforts to determine what positions work best for his team seem to work best when he decided to place them in different positions. The Eagles were able to adapt to a position they had not played before.

Knowing how well Soccer is played, Coach Young believes Defense is the name of the game. “The objective is to score a goal. To defend against that and prevent the chances of scoring is more valuable. Especially with a new team—new program, I would put emphasis on defending. Be patient, impose and wait for the opportunities to come to you”. Based on patience and the pressure of defense, the other team will open up and make mistakes which will provide a clear opportunity to score. “It’s fun to score goals but it takes WORK to play defense”.

Despite Mary Sims (Goal Keeper) and Bryana Moreno (Forward) being key aggressive players, Coach Young believes that Hannah Meyers (Defense), who started off as a Wing, has progressed as a Center-back with more responsibility. Marisol “Mo” Rios (Sweeper) has been mentioned as someone who has the skill to push the ball forward even from the far back.

The Eagles may have lost their game that night, however Coach Young was very proud of them. “We started the game one member down but that first half—definitely our best half that we’ve played ever”. The Eagles fought hard, soaring against a dominant team, making Coach Young proud of their first half performance. Unfortunately in the second half they lost Marisol to injury and were then short by two.

The Eagles have not had the best of luck in injuries. With Taylor Starkey now returned from the Disabled List, and Alicyn Olson taking her place with a severe concussion. Concussions are no light things. Concussions are serious with extreme side effects. It can combat against memory, speech, awareness and much more. It can even have long lasting side effects and cause problems in the future that deteriorate health. It has been two weeks since Alicyn’s injury. She is unable to compete or be in the classroom at the moment. “She’s more worried about us!” Hannah laughs out loud. “I love you guys, I will always be there for you” Faby Cruz reads a text from Alicyn. “She’s so sweet” Guadalupe adds, “She fights her condition just to be out here with us”. This is your team missing you and from the IV LEADER, we wish you well. God Bless.