After the three seasons post COVID resulting in low numbers turning out for girls’ soccer, Trenton was finally able to get enough players to have a JV team in 2023. It was a team full of girls looking to stay active but have never really played soccer before. 2023 was a fun season of development that saw the JV team only win 2 games and score a handful of goals.  When tryouts came around for the spring 2024 season, the coaching staff was not sure if the experience last season would have enough of a positive impact to see those young, curious athletes return in 2024.  The coaches were pleasantly surprised to see that 10 of the 14 on last year’s JV roster had returned for the 2024 season. While 1 of those players would get the call up to Varsity this year, the other 9 athletes helped create a solid foundation for this year’s team to build on. With the help of 4 incoming freshmen and 2 new sophomores that wanted to give soccer a try a roster of 15 student-athletes developed.

The JV team finished with an impressive record of 7 wins, 2 losses, and 3 ties which nearly quadruples the win total achieved by this group in 2023. For the most part, the team is still a roster full of players that have soccer experience of 2 years or less. On paper, the expectation would not have been very high, but the willingness to learn and the effort put in by this team allowed them to exceed expectations. From where the JV team started in March, with having to go back to the basics for a few players and building on the foundations laid last season for the remaining, to where the team finished in just two months’ time was an incredible achievement that the JV soccer players should be proud of. Last season, the team finished with 16 goals for and 23 goals against. This season, the JV team vastly improved in both of those stats scoring 24 goals and cutting the goals against by over half and only conceding 11 goals. The JV girls put in the effort every day and showed up to training and games pushing themselves to be better than they were the day before. The Trojans were battle tested right at the beginning of the season when they were handed their 1st loss by Carlson who seems to always have a strong JV program. The JV team then ran into a tough Huron league foe, Riverview, they battled to a 1-1 tie. After the first week of games, the team made adjustments and focused on the items needing improvement at the practices in the days that followed. From there, the JV girls’ soccer team would complete the first round of league play with the only blemish to their league record being the loss to Carlson and ties to Woodhaven and Edsel Ford. 

An indicator that can be used to help measure the improvement of the team throughout the season is through the results and performances against the teams that appear on the schedule on multiple occasions. The gauge the team used for this factor came in the final week during the DRL playoff portion of the schedule. The Trojans would play the two teams in the league they had tied in previous matches which were Woodhaven 0-0 and Edsel Ford 2-2 and try to improve on those results. In the first game against Woodhaven, Trenton controlled possession of the game and kept pressure on the Warriors’ defense for nearly all 70 minutes, but simply could not get a shot passed the Woodhaven keeper as she made over 20 saves to keep Trenton off the scoreboard. The second time going head-to-head against the Warriors, the Trojan offense would prevail and saw goals come from Junior Hannah Carr (assist to Sophomore Evelyn Tucker) and Sophomore McKenzie Clark (assist to Carr) to earn a 2-0 victory over the cross-town rivals. Sophomore Ava Hook played a great game in goal to earn the shutout. The celebration of the victory over the Warriors would be short-lived as the Trojans now had one more mountain to climb when the Thunderbirds from Edsel Ford would come to Trenton just two days later. 

During the first contest against Edsel Ford, the Trojans would let a 2-0 first half lead slip away in the second half to walk away with the 2-2 tie. The anticipation to get another shot at the Thunderbirds would have to wait until the final game of the JV team’s 2024 season. Hoping to end the season on a high note and avenge the tie from a few weeks before, the team wanted to get the win. Unfortunately, the Trojans came out very flat in the first half, unable to get on the scoreboard and ended up conceding a goal to trail 1-0 into halftime. The JV girls had put in so much time and effort up to this point in the season that it was not possible for them to end their 2024 campaign in such a disappointing fashion. After a halftime break reset and a passionate speech from coach to get the girls motivated, the team came out in the second half ready to battle. The Trojans would find themselves pressuring the Thunderbirds to get back into the game and would find the equalizer on a shot from Freshman Trinity Kelly with approximately 20 minutes remaining in the contest. Not content with a tie, Trenton would continue to pressure the Edsel Ford back line and earned a penalty kick in the final minute of the game. Sophomore center back, Juliana Hanna, would step up and bury the shot over the keeper to give us the game-winning goal as the clock ran out. Freshman Alexis Lopez would earn the victory in goal after making many incredible saves. 

This would prove to be an almost perfect ending to the JV soccer team’s story this season because it demonstrates the growth, commitment, and determination put in by the 15 individuals on the JV roster. At the end of the season, the coaching staff could not be prouder of the soccer players and team that they have all evolved into during the spring 2024 season. 

Congratulations to all of the incredible achievements by the 15 players on the JV Roster in the 2024 season —

Freshmen – Alexis Lopez (3 shutouts; 89% save percentage), Alaine Gregory (3 goals), Mariah Montes (1 goal; 3 assists), Trinity Kelly (4 goals; 3 assists)
Sophomores – Ava Holman (2 assists), Jessalyn Keathley (12 games played), Avalon Francis (1 goal), Payton Kinney (12 games started), Ava Hook (4 shutouts; 82% save percentage), Evelyn Tucker (6 assists), McKenzie Clark (10 goals; 4 assists), Juliana Hanna (1 goal; 1 assist)
Juniors – Hannah Carr (4 goals; 2 assists), Claire Caldwell (1 assist), Reya Johnson (12 games started)