The women’s soccer team is starting out fresh by hiring junior varsity coach Julia Groth to be the new varsity head coach for the 2009-2010 season.

“It’s a lot more work, but it’s fun working with the girls because they are very well skilled,” said Groth, a former Warrior herself who graduated from Cleveland in 2002.

The team is coming off a first place finish in the PIL, but a disappointing loss in the second round of the playoffs against Churchill. They hope to do better this year.

Despite losing most of their seniors, the Warriors have some key players returning, including senior defender Hilary Nichols and central midfielder Lydia Anderson, who as a freshman was first team all state and co-most valuable player of the 5A PIL. Junior Emily Ngan, a transfer from Central Catholic, has also bolstered the central defense.

The Warriors started their 2009 season by playing Liberty. It was a rough-and-tumble game. Junior goalie Cassidy Bacon had a collision with a player on the other team and was taken to the hospital with neck and rib injuries. Liberty went on to win 1-0 on a successful penalty kick.

As the second game came along against Crescent Valley, the Warriors were not quite ready because of the number of starters sitting out due to injury. (The Warriors were missing four to five of their starters.) It was a well-fought game, but the Warriors fell short again, losing 3-1.

“We tried our best,” said Ngan.

The next two games, Cleveland got into the win column, beating West Albany 2-1 on two long goals by Kathrine Mullins, junior, and 1-0 over Corvallis on a goal by sophomore Adrienne Luba.

League play began Sept. 29 against Madison, but the results were not available as of press time.