By John Torisiello
FVT Correspondent
Despite being a tad disappointed with his team’s won-loss record, Simsbury girls soccer coach Jim Bayer believes his team was peaking as the regular season wound down.
“I knew we would be good and I am actually somewhat disappointed with our record. But I see things coming together now and we have still have had a successful season.”
He added, “The team has come together extremely well. Our record could be better but we have been competitive in every game and are starting to put the pieces together just in time for the post season.”
Simsbury was 9-5-3 heading into its final regular season game against Farmington Wednesday (after press time) at Tunxis Meade Field.
Said Bayer, “Our last game of the year with Farmington at their place is always a good game. We lost the first game with them this season, 1-0, and we’re looking to even the series up but we know it will be a competitive, physical game and could come down to one team or the other capitalizing on an opportunity. They are a good team.”
The coach likes his own team’s makeup.
“This group has done everything that has been asked of it. They work hard at getting better every week.”
Bayer said ties against Northwest Catholic and Hall were probably Simsbury’s best performances even though they were not victories.
“They were both very close games and we had chances to win, the scores were indicative of how close the games were.”
On his team’s attributes, Bayer said, “Probably our best characteristic is depth at every position. Sydney Shudginis, our senior striker, is having a great second half of the season with eight goals in the last seven games and goals in seven of those eight games. Our defense has been outstanding all season long with seniors Kelly McAlpine and Megan Hanshaw as our center backs. I am really happy with the play of junior Katherine Zwick who is versatile and poised.”
After the game with Farmington, Bayer said his team will prepare for the post-season.
“We have had a number of key players with injuries that are just starting to get healthy. Dani Sullivan with a concussion and broken nose, Caroline Murphy with a knee injury, Rhyan Jadovich with a sprained ankle, Niki Kowalski, who was out sometime with a thigh muscle injury, all of these players are close to being ready and should be available for post-season play. In the meantime other players stepped up and gained valuable experience.”
