Boys Soccer Team ends the Season on Bittersweet note

YC Soccer team says Goodbye to their only Senior

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Lajla Raske

Senior Brycen Williams gets ready to kick the ball in his last soccer game.

Lajla Raske, News Editor

Practice. Generally when we think of a sports practice it includes working on skills for a sport, however this year, there is a factor included in that, which is wearing masks all throughout both the practices and games. Despite these challenges YC’s boys soccer still brought success this year. However despite the challenges, including the soccer team saying goodbye to their only senior on the team, YC soccer coach Jon Briggs described the team as cheerful, thankful, and hard-working throughout the season.

Senior Brycen Williams, the only senior on the team this year talks about the season as a senior. 

“It was sad to know that this was the last chance to play with my team, but it was definitely a good one to end with.” 

Williams also talks about his future in soccer as the oldest one on the team.

“I don’t know what I want to do in the future yet. I am going to Chemeketa to expose myself to life after high school to hopefully figure out what I can do.” Williams said. “I’ll try out for the soccer team, but if that doesn’t go anywhere, then I’ll continue to play with friends every now and then.”

 Briggs talks about what it was like getting back on the field for this season, including the challenges that came with it as a coach.

saying goodbye is always hard, but to see him where he is at today… is what coaching is all about.

— YC Soccer Coach, Jon Briggs

“First, we are all glad to be out playing and thankful to everyone who put time and effort into making sure a season happened.” Briggs said, “The obvious differences this season brought was mask wearing, cleaning protocols and checking with the team every day for COVID symptoms. The team responded well to the challenge[s], put the work in and represented the school and community well.”

Briggs also said that one of the positives for this year has been seeing how they can compete against anyone and do well. He also talks about the impact Williams had on the team.

“Brycen was the team captain and always carried out his responsibilities. Being one every day is hard to do, but [it is] an expectation that we have of our captains and Brycen was able to do that,” said Briggs. “The culture of our team is do the right things, Brycen did the right things all 4 years, led by example. Brycen is calm under pressure and that calms everyone down.  Everyone respected Brycen and Brycen respected everyone and that made the team better.”

However, with all these positives of having Williams as a team captain, Briggs talks about what it was like saying goodbye to the boys’ soccer team senior.

Saying goodbye to Brycen was a double edged sword. He has been a key part of the soccer team for four years and saying goodbye is always hard, but to see him where he is at today and the person he is, is what coaching is all about.“

Briggs says that the team did well this year and is looking forward to next year’s season. 

       “The future looks bright,” says Briggs.