Losing two of their top players, the girls varsity soccer team is trying to build off of the success from last year without them.
Senior Gracie DeVasto and junior Natalie Kesselring are both multi-year varsity starters who got re-injured over the offseason after suffering similar injuries in the past.
“The first time (I got injured) I was landing for a head ball during a game and my knee buckled and bent inward,” DeVasto said. “And then the second time. I was turning during an indoor game and it tore.”
Kesselring tore her meniscus, similar to DeVasto, who tore not only her meniscus, but her ACL as well.
“My freshman year I turned the wrong way and heard a pop in my knee,” Kesselring said. “This Jan., in my club’s first practice back, I tore my meniscus the second time.”
DeVasto was also sidelined last year by a previous injury, which turns out to be the same as the current one. She started on varsity as a freshman and as a sophomore, scoring a team leading 12 goals her sophomore season.
DeVasto believes she will miss most “the bonds that you form with all of the girls by being able to play with them.”
Kesselring is disappointed that she cannot play this year as well.
“The worst part about being out for the season is knowing that instead of four years of playing soccer for Parkway Central I get to play only three,” Kesselring said.
Although the two won’t be able to contribute to the teams success on the field, they think they can contribute in other ways.
“I think my absence will be similar to when we didn’t have Gracie last year,” Kesselring said. “The team will miss a player on the field but others will step up to make the team better and stronger.”
Senior teammate Erin Friesen thinks both DeVasto and Kesselring are instrumental in assisting the team.
“It’s difficult and its definitely different (them not playing),” Friesen said. “They are still around a lot and they come to all of the practices. They are still there and bring us up in spirit. With all of the talent coming in this year we have learned to cope without them but it’s definitely different.”
DeVasto and Kesselring don’t only help the team in morale, according to Friesen.
“They give us clues and hints on the sideline, they can call out a pass like ‘look behind you’,” Friesen said.
Kesselring agrees that they can help teammates with advice from the sideline.
“Between Gracie and I, we are going to be able to view the game from an entirely different viewpoint being on the sidelines,” Kesselring said. “This gives us an advantage because we have seen the game from both on and off the field. We see things that players on the field don’t.”
