3/31/08

Dominion's Lady Knights Continue to Silence Doubters
by Aaron Nix

Before the '08 season's start, things did not look very desirable for the Dominion girl's soccer team.

Nothing seemed to go quite in their favor. Not only did they lose their leading All-State scorer, Russ-Stefancic, they lost 3 other very important seniors-Summerlin and Howard and Baker. One would think this loss would be enough of a setback. That person is dead wrong. The Lady Knights also lost their entire coach and assistant staff.

There was still a faint glimmer of hope in the minds of these Lady Knights in that they might get some fresh talent as the summer and year went on. However, the rush of talent did not come. A week before the season started, they doubted there would be a team at all. Days went on and more became interested. Meanwhile, the team grew and grew. There would be an active '08 season. However, of this roster, a little over half of the team had ever played at all. This presented a lot of pressure for the returning veterans. Junior captains, Summerlin (younger sister of recently graduated, Erin Summerlin) and Lamas, stood up to the challenge and put on the intensity the whole team couldn't help but play with. The rookies soon started to step up as well.

Before the start of the season, the Lady Knights-previously undefeated and unscored upon just a year earlier- were projected to be second to last in their region-maybe even worse. This Knights team refused to lay down. With their inexperienced team, they became 1-1 in the region and 2-3 overall. Most didn't expect them to win more than 2 games all season.

This '08 Lady Knights team has proven to silence their doubters time and time again and this season looks to be even more promising than they had hoped. As the season goes on, fans can not help but be energized by the electric atmosphere of a girls soccer game at Dominion.