For the past two years, the Leesville Varsity Women’s soccer team has won the State Championship. Coach Riggs, the JV soccer coach, wants to establish this prestigious standard for the JV team as well, producing players that will be well prepared to defend the Varsity team’s title.
On April 14, the Leesville JV girls’ perfect record was disturbed, losing to Wakefield.
Meredith “Scrappy” Hicks, sophomore, said, “When we lost we really disappointed Coach Riggs. At practice the next day we had to run sprints and hills for the entire time. We played this tournament where the loser had to run even more sprints. It was awful.”
Kelsey Hounshell, sophomore, agreed, “The running practice was extremely hard. We kind of deserved it, though. When we played Wakefield our touches were off and we didn’t really show up. We needed a hard practice to kick us into gear.”
Rigg’s tough love strategy paid off, and on Friday, April 16 the JV girls defeated Pinecrest.
“Before the game against Pinecrest, Coach Riggs just told us to play our best. She said she didn’t care if we won or lost—we just had to work as hard as we could,” said Hounshell. “We had to represent the name on our chests.”
The JV girls’ hard work and determination was demonstrated again on Monday, April 19, when they defeated Sanderson 8-0.
Lauren Kohan, freshman, scored her first goal in the Sanderson game, motivated by Riggs’s high expectations.
“The Leesville soccer program has a legacy,” said Riggs. “We’re expected to play at a certain level, and I want my players to uphold that.”
