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Summit High School junior Olivia Lyman splits through a group of Grand Valley High School defenders on Friday, April 5, 2024, in Breckenridge. Lyman is expected to be one of the main senior leaders on the 2025 Summit girls soccer team.
Cody Jones/Summit Daily News
There is always a telltale sign that the spring sports season is about to begin at Summit High School.
After nearly a full winter season of Climax Molybdenum Field being covered in several feet of snow, plows form huge snow piles around Tiger Stadium, helping expose the green artificial turf that lays below.
While several late spring snow storms may still be on horizon, the spring sports teams at Summit are busily preparing for their upcoming seasons. The Summit girls soccer team will be the first spring sports program to get the season underway, hosting Salida High School in its season opener on Thursday, March 6.
Second-year head coach Makenzie Meade got a little slice of what to expect from her team throughout the spring when the team traveled to Buena Vista High School on Tuesday, March 4 for a scrimmage.
In the scrimmage, Summit fielded a team made up of players that recorded the most amount of practices over the last week and a half. With the start of the spring season falling during Summit’s winter break, many players missed practices last week for trips and vacations.
“It was kind of weird we had a break for the first week of practice, and I can’t make it mandatory,” Meade said. “About half the girls were gone. I took the half that were there all last week.”
Despite not fielding an entire varsity team, Summit played hard throughout the scrimmage and was able to give many freshman players a chance to play.
“We did lose 5-2, but I would say three or four of the girls that we had there had never played in a soccer game before,” Meade said. “I think it was a pretty good turnout for who we had. We played really hard, and you could tell they were listening — super coachable.”
In her first season at the helm of the program, Summit went 6-9 overall and 3-7 in 4A Western Slope league play. The record was not enough for the team to secure a spot in the Class 4A playoffs, but it did earn fifth overall in the league standings at the conclusion of the season.
Although Summit graduated a total of five seniors from its varsity roster last year, the team should have no trouble in filling in those spaces as seven rising seniors are expected to return this spring. Among the seven seniors are hardworking, talented players like Olivia Lyman, Delilah Staberg, Avery Eytel and Ella Kirschner.
The group of seniors are expected to be aided by rising juniors Jaime Yim Nadler, Annika Broecker and Penelope Wiethake. Nadler specifically was Summit’s second leading scorer last spring, averaging 0.3 goals per game and netting a total of three goals in 11 games played.
Wiethake and Broecker are the team’s top returners in terms of assists, averaging 0.3 and 0.2 assist per game, respectively.
Summit is expected to bounce between junior Rowan Connelly and freshman Emily Bresnahan for goaltending this season. Connelly played in a total of 13 games during her sophomore campaign, making 69 saves, recording two shutouts and only allowing five goals.
In terms of leadership, Meade will rely on the large group of senior players to usher in a new collection of freshman players who are expected to make the varsity roster.
“They are definitely a great group of leaders,” Meade said. “Our seniors are doing a really good job of bringing in the freshmen. We will have a good chunk of freshmen playing on varsity this year. It is nice to see them take them in and help them with their leadership skills.”
Summit will most likely be challenged again by its slate of highly competitive league games. Facing Eagle Valley, Battle Mountain, Steamboat Springs and Glenwood Springs up to two times each season, the Tigers will need to play their best every time they square off against a league opponent.
“I would say that the skill levels are pretty even with the teams that we play,” Meade said. “However, I would say it is the mental game that we are working on this year. We are working on what our mentality is on the road. We seem to struggle when we are on the road. We are really working on that positive belief and teamwork.”
Meade expects one of the team’s biggest strengths will be its leadership. With the expectation that everyone on the team can be a leader regardless of age or position, Summit is expected to have a well-organized and focused team this season.
Meade also expects the team’s defense and midfield to be a source of strength throughout the season.
Summit will begin the season with two-straight home games. The Tigers will host Salida on Thursday, March 6, and Rifle High School on Saturday, March 8.
“The biggest goal that we have in these first two games is the speed of play and our calm mentality,” Meade said. “In practice, we seem to be a little hyper and worked up, so we are really working on playing calm — being decisive with our choices.”
The game against Salida is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. with the game against Rifle slated for 11 a.m.
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