A TEAM ABOVE ALL

aTeam above

all

Nina Becaro | Photo

The Blue Dragon soccer team huddles together before playing their game. They won 3-1 against Cowley College on Oct. 19.

Blue Dragons celebrate sophomore night

Hailea Redinger | Reporter & Designer

Winning 14 games and only losing four this season, the Blue Dragon soccer team has been doing great.

The team’s success can be attributed to Head Coach Sammy Lane who has 17 consecutive winning seasons under his name. Lane has also just been named the Jayhawk West Coach of the Year for the eighth time.

“The season this year was one of the most enjoyable seasons I've had in the past five years,” Lane said.“We finished the year 14-4 and narrowly lost to Butler in the region six semifinals game.”

If Lane could describe this year’s team in one word he said it would be teamwork.

“I wanted to go to nationals but we were unlucky against Butler,” Julia Dias De Souza, Novo Hamburgo, Brazil, said. “We dominated the game but we weren't able to score. But that’s how soccer works. The beauty of the sport is the uncertainty.”

Diaz has been playing soccer since she was six and was one of many sophomores celebrated on sophomore night on Oct. 18. They each got a picture collage and a flower from their coaches.

In addition to the sophomore night, the Blue Dragons won 3-1 over the Cowley County Tigers. That night all the girls wore pink to show support to their Assistant coach Dave who lost his wife Jan to cancer.

“My favorite moment was seeing the look on my assistant coach’s face when all the girls arrived for the warm-up game on sophomore night wearing pink shirts with his name and his wife’s name on them,” said Lane. “We wore the shirts to remind Dave how much we were thinking of him and how much the girls really cared for him.”

‹Nina Becaro | Photo

Taking a picture on sophomore night is Assistant Coach Dave Thomas; Julia Dias De Souza, Novo Hamburgo, Brazil; and Head Coach Sammy Lane. All sophomores received a framed photo and flowers.

2022 SOCCER SEASON Scoreboard

Date Opponent Result Score Aug. 26 Western Nebraska CC W 3-2 Aug. 27 at Northeastern Junior College W 4-3 Aug. 31 at Kansas City Kansas CC W 3-1 Sept. 4 Western Wyoming CC W 1-0 Sept. 7 at Garden City CC W 5-0 Sept. 10 Neosho County CC W 2-0 Sept. 14 Dodge City CC W 6-0 Sept. 17 at Johnson County CC L 3-1 Sept. 21 at Cowley College W 2-1 Sept. 24 Coffeyville CC W 2-1 Oct. 1 at Butler CC L 3-0 Oct. 5 Barton CC W 2-0 Oct. 8 Garden City CC W 3-1 Oct. 12 at Dodge City CC W 6-0 Oct. 19 Cowley College W 3-1 Oct. 22 at Barton CC L 2-0 Oct. 30 Johnson County CC W 4-3 Nov. 3 Butler CC L 1-0

Results as of Nov. 17, 2022

Nina Becaro | Photo

Tracking the ball, Jayda Wyatt, Wichita, waits to make her move. As a freshman, Wyatt played as a forward on the team.