As the Lisle Girls’ Soccer season kicks off in mid-March, they have been forced to reshape the team environment since last year. Having a new coach, a new goalie, and five new starters has set the stage for vital adaptations.
“It’s a shift. It’s going to be different.” Assistant varsity coach and junior varsity head coach Elena Pivek said when asked about the team’s adjustments.
The girls’ team is being led by Coach Jamie Clemmons this year after being coached by Coach Patrick Graff the last few years.
Coach Pivek says they are similar in terms of “doing whatever they feel like they can to help support the team,” but that Coach Clemmons comes with 20 years of coaching and has “seen just about everything.”
According to MaxPreps, Coach Graff led the girls to win regionals in 2024 with an overall season record of 13-5 and a conference record of 6-1, placing them in second in the conference.
Even with a lot to live up to, Coach Pivek has no doubt that “the girls will be able to adapt and learn [Coach Clemmons’] new coaching style.”
The Lions lost another core leader in the previous goalie, Kiley Ebert. As a starting goalie for three years, she was the glue of the team. She was highly skilled, with 8/13 wins of last season being shutouts, meaning the other team didn’t score.
Despite losing this huge role in the team, Coach Pivek doesn’t think the team will have a problem filling the space. She shares that multiple players are “really motivated to learn and get better at that position,” and there are three possible players in rotation to see who works best with the team.
Since last year, the team has also lost five major starting players and even more substitute players.
“We’re gonna always lose girls, but we always have new players coming in,” Coach Pivek notes.
So far, two of those positions have been taken over by freshmen, and the rest by returning juniors. Coach Pivek emphasizes that “we have some really great freshmen that are excited to be a part of the team.”
She also states that there are “returning players who are ready to step in bigger ways and have more playing time and take on more leadership roles this year.”
This is evident in that the new captains are last year’s leading goal scorer, Jordan Rodriguez, and senior Ally Doering, who led the team last year in assists. There is much confidence that they will help guide the team to work together to fill the gaps from last year.
The girls are hoping to maintain or improve their second-place standing in conference this year, and they will work hard to win regionals for the second consecutive year.