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28 | March 26, 2020 | The wilmette beacon SPORTS
wilmettebeacondaily.com
girls soccer preview
Regina excited for upcoming season
Michael Wojtychiw
Sports Editor
Regina is coming off of
one of its more successful
seasons, one where it won
a conference title and have
the Girls Catholic Athletic
Conference’s White Division
Player of the Year.
Despite falling short in
the regional final to Willows,
the Panthers season
was seen as a success and
one that was only going to
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help lead to better things
in 2020. And it was looking
that way. Regina lost
only two seniors, each
had seen some time in the
starting lineup, so bringing
back pretty much the
entire lineup is something
that excites the third-year
coach even if she doesn’t
know when the season
will start thanks to the
coronavirus pandemic
postponing school and
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This year’s squad features
six seniors, five of
whom Bak says will be
for-sure starters when the
season starts.
“My role has shifted
dramatically from not being
able to do as much as I
could last year,” said Bak,
who is eight months pregnant.
“What having that
leadership does for us is it
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promotes the same culture
that Regina does where
everybody is a leader and
everybody has a role and
everybody has a responsibility
to each other.
“They know Regina
prides itself on the leaders
that it helps cultivate and
develop throughout the
four years of school there
and just try to do the same.
Giving them opportunity
to coach, to set up drills to
lead culturally, to lead in
demos, to lead and keeping
things at game speed.
We’re there for guidance
and counsel but we really
do rely heavily on them to
set the tone, set the pace,
set the energy for everybody
else.”
Two of the key senior
leaders will be Kathleen
Rabbitt and Lilly Rausch,
who were key forces offensively
to the Panther
attack last season. Te two
both had double-digit
goals and combined to
score over 25 goals on the
season.
Rausch, who earned
the conference’s Player of
the Year honor, also was
named to 22nd Century
Media’s Team 22 First
Team and earned All-
Sectional honors. To say
it was a breakout year for
the now-senior would be
an understatement.
Despite winning numerous
honors and winning
conference, Bak doesn’t
feel as if her team feels
any pressure coming into
the season.
“I think the girls thrive
in the excitement of the
opportunity that’s in front
of them,” she said. “They
get really energized by
doing everything they can
to hold onto that conference
title, especially in the
Posted to WilmetteBeaconDaily.com 3 days ago
REGINA 2020 GIRLS SOCCER ROSTER
Margaret Clancy Meghan Martens
Kendall Maloney Nora Clancy
Kirka Kallioras
Grace Kelly
Danielle Morales Anelise Leahy
Bella Nunez
Kathleen Rabbitt
Eva Nehring
Lilly Rausch
Muriel Reese
Grace Steffen
Mary Storino
*Madeline Lunt
Sophia Watson
*Marie Maranto
Maura Heneghan
Vicky Mando
*Latrisha Taylor
Maeve Newton
*Christina Sopkikotis
Laura Strenk
*Layla Hajdarovic
Kate Stieve
*Anais Martinez
Lexi Facchini
*Ashlyn Foley
Maeve Gibbons *Jane Keenan
Madison Maloney * Practice Player
community that they felt
together should preserve
it and, and go fight for it.”
This year’s squad will
be a bit different than
most, especially for Regina,
as the squad includes
32 players. Twenty-four
players and eight practice
players.
“We’re super excited
because last year we just
carried 23 or 24 so it was a
humongous growth for us
year over year,” Bak said.
“I think the practice
player, in our minds, is
going to be somebody
who is present with us every
day. They won’t travel
with us, but they’ll be at
every home game, every
practice. And their challenge
and an opportunity
in front of them is really
to learn from the upperclass
girls and some of the
high-performing freshmen
that we have. So that
next year when we graduate
six seniors, all of a
sudden kind of the flood
gates open if they stick
with it and really commit
to getting better.”
Bak will be looking
for four of the team’s
six freshmen to step up,
namely Eva Nehring, Muriel
Reese, Mary Storino
and Sophia Watson. Those
four will join players like
three-sport star Laura Strenk
as more sparkplugs
to the offense, while
Vicky Mando returns as
the team’s starting goalie.
For the first time, at
least in Bak’s tenure, the
Panthers will head out of
state to play in a tournament.
The team is scheduled
to play in a tournament
in Waukesha, Wis.
at the Laura Moynihan
Tournament.
“It’s a great opportunity
and exposure for the
girls,” Bak said. “We have
such an exciting group
that we thought it would
be good for exposure, to
different teams and different
squads.
“The teams that we’re
playing would be about
the same size, maybe a
little bit bigger than Regina.
A number of Catholic
schools would be there.
And I think we just really
wanted the experience for
the kids to do an overnight
together thinking again
about the special kind of
bond that they all have.”
Full story at WilmetteBeaconDaily.com.