These eight are great

Ask any high school coach in any sport about his or her team’s potential and at some point the answer will address the seniors.

How far a team progresses during a season many times is decided by the seniors.

To that end, Coeur d’Alene High girls soccer coach Tarragh Carr is blessed with a large crop of seniors who are determined to get the Vikings back to state after a disappointing end to the 2005 season.

There’s no doubt that the heart and soul of the 2006 Vikings are the seniors. There are eight of them: Carmen Reyes, Megan O’Rourke, Courtney Walker, Jessica Smalley, Tara Roetter, Nicole Myers, Liz Brown-Dymkoski and Caitlin Fuller.

“I don’t have eight seniors. I have eight leaders,” Carr said. “This is a senior class that this community needs to support, respect and appreciate while they have them. When this senior class leaves, it will be a lesser community. They’re incredible students and warm-hearted people. It’s a privilege to work with them.”

Four of the seniors – Reyes, Smalley, Roetter and Myers – have played together since U-11 club soccer. Most of them were together by the following year.

Of the eight, the backbone of the team is four defenders – Reyes, O’Rourke, Walker and Smalley.

In 12 games, the Inland Empire League-leading Vikings (7-3-1 overall, 5-1-0 league) have allowed just six goals – three of those in 1-0 losses. They’ve limited opponents to an average of four shots per game.

Although Walker leads the Vikings in scoring (five goals) and has played midfield at times to jump-start the offense, there’s no doubt which position she’d rather play. She uses her opportunities on offense to help her on defense.

“It gives you a perspective on how the offense has to play and helps you as a defender because you know what they want to do,” Walker said.

Reyes, too, has spent some time up top, but she’d much rather be in the back where the Vikings defenders have been an impenetrable wall.

“I’m all over defense,” Reyes said. “I just love the idea of stopping people from scoring – from denying someone else a chance to score. For me, it’s a thrill.”

Reyes plays opposite Smalley. In between are O’Rourke and Walker.

O’Rourke said the defenders have a chemistry that goes beyond communication.

“We’ve played together so long we know where each other are going to be,” O’Rourke said. “We have the same style of play, and we work off each other.” Quarterbacking the middle of the field is Roetter, the lone four-year starter.

“She is probably one of the most composed, mature players I’ve seen in the game in a long time,” Carr said of Roetter.

Roetter said she likes the team’s blend of experience and youth.

“We just have a variety of good players in each position and we have bench players who can step up,” Roetter said. “We don’t have any weak spots.”

Lake City downed CdA 1-0 in the Region I championship last year on a penalty kick, forcing the Vikings to try to earn a state berth in a play-in match. Unfortunately for CdA, there it ran into defending state champ Eagle, and the Mustangs, who would go on and defend their title, blanked CdA 5-0.

“It was pretty disappointing,” Roetter said of not getting to state. “The other thing that makes it hard is we’re close to some of the girls on (Lake City’s) team from club soccer.”

The seniors expect a better ending this year.

“If we play to the level we can, we can play with the Boise teams,” Roetter said.

Fuller, a midfielder, also starts after battling back from stomach problems that sidelined her for the second half of the season last year. Brown-Dymkoski (midfielder/goalie) and Myers usually come off the bench, and both graciously accept their roles.Such positive attitudes are why Carr smiles when talking about her seniors.

“This is the best senior class Coeur d’Alene has seen in a number of years,” Carr said.