Expectations 

By Cassie Parker

Athletics is one thing Wheatland-Chili takes pride in, especially girls' soccer. The W-C Girls' Varsity Soccer Team made its first of three consecutive trips to the NYSPHSAA final four in 2015, the year of senior captains Taylor Clar, Taylor Seilheimer, Taylor Ghysel, and Megan Nolan. They made it again in 2016 under the leadership of Elise Williamson, Abby Hogan, and Morgan Franklin, and most recently in this past fall season of 2017 with captains Allyssa Seilheimer, Hannah Callaghan, and Abbey Callaghan. The loss in state finals in 2015 paved the way for greater determination and dedication to advance and win the next year. But the championship in 2016 produced a type of intense pressure on the team: high expectations. At the end of the season, the players had produced what was expected, but the ride along the way was what really solidified the team.  

As the 2017 season began, we continually talked about what it meant to be a great team, not just one that wins but one who other teams aspire to be like. The strength the group had together was something one wouldn't believe from the surface. More than half the time, the drive to succeed at practice and in games was because we knew each other's capabilities, and our unusually high standards weren't being met. A majority of teams have rough patches, tough games, and defeats. It's easy to love the wins, but how a group takes and responds to defeats and the unexpected is what can make an outstanding team. What the community, school district, and fans expected from us made it harder to accept defeat. But that's what kept us from expecting any game to be handed to us. What made us resilient, though, was the want to never let the people who wanted to see us be defeated get that wish. Continually every year, the desire to beat the Wheatland-Chili Girls’ Varsity Team got bigger. Some teams would tell players from our team that they expected to lose, that they expected us to be significantly better. We were state champions; could any less be expected of us? 

Expectations are a type of pressure with which we had to deal. But as the season continued, many of us used it as motivation. We learned to embrace it, making us that much more competitive. This then led us to the state final four again in 2017. Going to the state tournament is an experience like no other. The teammates you spend the school day and then another two hours at practice later become your roommates, and the continual involvement with those on the team is something you cherish afterwards.  

Winning makes this experience even better. First off, those on the winning team get to stay at a hotel for two nights. This alone is such a fun experience! And then, there’s the final game as well. Realizing after you've won that all the hours and hard work you've put in for so long has finally payed off is a feeling like no other. The Wheatland-Chili Girls’ Varsity Soccer Team winning states may be old news, but the feelings will never fade. And next year, the new team will have to learn to embrace high expectations as well in order to make the fall sports’ season the best season of the year.