The SSA Savannah United 02 Girls Premier team has been together for one year and is growing as a confident, talented unit. According to Head coach Gary Wright, the recent age realignment brought together two groups of players who each played on very close teams since their beginning. “The common thread with the ladies is their love of the sport, competitive spirit, and desire to win,” Wright says. This competitive nature has resulted in a very tough defense that did not concede many goals, coupled with a dynamic offense.
The ladies began by playing a possession-style of soccer and were talented and smart enough to quickly adapt to a more direct counter-attacking style of play when needed. Wright says the team boasted the top defense and two leading scorers in Georgia’s Athena A division of soccer for the fall of 2016. With their stubborn will to win, the team improved their overall standing each
Back row, from left: Coach Gary Wright, Lexie Merry, Bailee Hildebrandt, Emma Beddow, Ariana Page, Mychael Fruits, Isabella Rivera, Lloya Stevens, and Coach David Shuman. Front row, from left: Dannika Midgley, Abigail Richardson, Sarah Hungerford, Niki Farizy, Ashlyn Fogarty, Libby Mattocks, Ella Higdon, and Megan Zeldenrust. Not pictured: Surrena Copeland and Murphy King
season and finished Athena A in a close second place. “The ladies set a goal of improving their skills individually and as a team with each practice and game, having a perfect season coupled with as many clean sheets for the season as well,” Wright says proudly. The team also made it to the final of the Disney Tournament over President’s weekend.
Their coaches, club director and head coach Wright, and assistant coach David Shuman, coached the girls to play through adversity and to push themselves to play harder than before. The team will be playing Region 3 Premier League in the fall of 2017, and also attending college Showcase events, including WAGS in October.