GAINESVILLE -- From the moment they set foot on the training pitch this winter, the Gainesville girls soccer team knew things were different -- even if those differences stemmed from continuity,
Coming into 2015, the Lady Red Elephants returned nine of 11 starters from their 2014 campaign, one that ended in a disappointing first round state playoff exit -- an outcome that sparked a postseason post-mortem that proved the launching pad for a meteoric 2015.
"At the end of last season we got together and we talked about what we wanted for this season. We brought back almost everyone from last season, and we wanted to challenge ourselves and see how good we could be," Lady Red Elephants coach Mark Wade said.
So far, the answer has been pretty impressive.
Currently 13-1 and riding a 10-game win streak, sixth-rankied Gainesville has dominated throughout the campaign, claiming the Region 8-AAAAA title and sewing up a No. 1 playoff seed back on April 2.
"We have had great success. A lot of times we’ve had these great matches, and the difference is real small, so to win as many as we have this year is just a testament to how hard the girls have worked," Wade said.
The Lady Red Elephants know that work is far from complete, however, and with just two regular season games remaining, they are now training their sites on the biggest prize of all.
"We want to keep our eye on the big goal, which would be getting to Macon and playing for a state title. That would be the ultimate," Wade said.
Certainly, the Lady Red Elephants believe they have that capabilty -- including two seniors that featured on Gainesville's 2012 squad that reached the Class AAA semifinals.
"I think it all comes down to how badly we want it," senior midfielder and captain Jazmin Penado said. "(Fellow senior) Liz (Fischer) and I were part of the 2012 team where we went to the Final Four, and we’re excited that this team is just as good -- maybe a little bit better. And if we put in 100 percent, 110 percent, we think we can do it."
"Oh yeah. We’re just well built this year, and I really think we’re going to win," Fischer added. "We’ve talked about winning state and we have the potential to do it."
Gainesville's regular season resume has engendered plenty of reason for optimism. It's not just that the Lady Red Elephants are winning, but how they are winning. Gainesville has outscored foes 92-9 this season -- after scoring 53 goals all of last campaign.
The improvement has come via a number of methods -- including a pair of deadly strikers in Fischer (25 goals, seven assists) and sophomore Alyssa Turner (26 goals, nine assists) -- and a set of midfielders more than happy to join the attack, including Penado (13 goals, eight assists), freshman Caroline Nabb (13 goals, two assists), junior Margaret Carpenter (six goals, 12 assists) and five other players that have registered goals or assists.
Yet it is the maturation of the Lady Red Elephants' defense -- led by starters Alden Turner (junior), Dallas Robson (junior), Kara England (junior) and Elizabeth Duncan (sophomore), along with goalkeeper Alondra Wedding -- that has perhaps proven the biggest difference.
"In 2014 we started the season with four new starters back there (in defense) and put us in a situation where we going to have to learn, and we knew we were going to make some mistakes," Wade said. "So last season we kind of held the midfield back a little bit and screened the defense and let them develop. This year, very early in the season, we decided we weren’t going to do that. We were going to let the midfield be true midfielders and get up in attack and help us and get our wings involved a lot more. So a lot of the defensive maturity helps us score and helps us get up there in attack."
It hasn't all been roses this season, however, and Gainesville did suffer a 3-1 defeat to current Class AAA No. 5 Lumpkin County back on March 3 -- a result that has actually proven helpful.
"I say this a lot and people look at me like I’m crazy, but I’m kinda glad that happened," Wade said of the defeat. "We got to sit down and watch that film, and there were a lot of things we were doing that we were getting away with early in the season, and to Lumpkin’s credit they didn’t let us get away with that. And while I think that match could have gone either way -- for a long period of time that was a really close match, and we had plenty of opportunities and things like that -- I’m kinda glad that result came out that way."
Since then Gainesville has been nearly untouchable, outscoring foes 69-4 while reeling off 10 straight victories.
That said, the Lady Red Elephants are far from coasting, preparing for a postseason that presents a different type of challenge, as unfamiliar foes square off in games that often produce unpredictable results.
"I always feel like the playoffs come down to that first match, because you’re meeting somebody that’s not from your region that probably doesn’t play the way you’re used to playing and is not used to playing your style," Wade said. "That’s the biggest adjustment is that first match because you’re getting someone from a different area of the state. After you’ve made that adjustment one time I think it’s easier to adjust after that. The competition obviously gets tougher as you go, but that initial adjustment to me is key. It’s a little bit of culture shock."
There have been relatively few shocks for a Gainesville squad that knows itself inside and out -- and is comfortable with its make-up.
"It’s fun, but we know when it’s time to be serious, and we know when it’s time to have fun," Penado said. "But overall we really get along really well. It’s not like last year where, or a couple of years ago, where there’s a group of people here, a group of people here. We’re all a team. We’re all family, so I think we enjoy it more."
There has been plenty to enjoy so far in 2015, and Gainesville hopes there will be plenty more yet to enjoy.
