Senior Keegan Crain looks up to pass to sophomore Natalie Brown.

Sophomore constructs indoor coed soccer team all by herself

Without the guidance of a coach or any practices, sophomore Natalie Brown has a competitive recreational indoor soccer team on her hands.

Brown, who has been playing soccer recreationally since she was 5 and competitively since she was 8, got the idea to create the team from her brother, who played on a similar indoor team in high school.

The coed recreational team has 10 Country Day students and two Sacramento Waldorf students.

But more are encouraged to join, Brown said. “I would love to have more players,” Brown said.

“It would really help when some people aren’t able to show up.”

There are eight games in the seven-week season, which ends April 19. The team plays at the indoor soccer arena ISA 2000 (4670 Aldona Ln., No. 7).

Brown’s father, Kevin, is the required adult supervisor, but is not coaching.

On the ISA 2000 website, Brown put $100 down to reserve a spot in the upcoming spring league. In the first week of February, she officially registered her team when she paid an additional $450.

Each other member of the team is paying $40. Brown plans to make up her deficit by having a bake sale later in the spring at school.

To form the Cavaliers, Brown recruited by sending out emails to Country Day’s boys’ and girls’ soccer teams. She was able to get nine players from the soccer teams to play. Brown also recruited some of her friends at Waldorf.

The team won its first game (11-4) on Feb. 22 against That Team after a tough start.

They were caught off guard at the beginning, Brown said. They weren’t able to warm up before their first game because they didn’t arrive early enough.

“At first everyone was thrown out there,” Brown said. “After five minutes we got into a rhythm of passing and started to play well.”

The Cavaliers lost their second game against SWC, 9-5, on March 1.

Multiple players were absent from the game and left the team without any subs, Brown said.

The team had its third game, on March 8, cancelled. The fourth game was on March 15, but results were not available at press time.

The games allow the players to get more experience and stay in shape during the girls’ soccer season.

“Since we’re not playing for a league, it’s fine to just go out and have fun playing with classmates,” sophomore Elizabeth Brownridge said.

Seniors Keegan Crain and Erik Morfin joined so they could play with each other one last time before going to college, Crain said.

“Everyone works really well together on the field,” Crain said. “And we have some really great players.”

This is sophomore Catherine Ryan’s first time playing on a indoor soccer team. However, Ryan has played outdoor soccer since she was in sixth grade.

“I really like indoor soccer because it has less players. So you get more time on the ball,” Ryan said.

Indoor soccer is very different from outdoor soccer. Its games are 45 minutes long rather than 90, and there are six players on the field instead of 11.

The rules also call for two girls to be on the field at all times for each team. This prevents teams from not using girls in games. Also, a goal scored by a girl is worth two points, not one.

“It’s a good rule,” Morfin said. “It’s coed. Girls should be on the field at all times.”

Brown plans to make the team a school club when she finds the time. She talked to Brooke Wells, head of high school, to find a potential adviser, and he recommended assistant technology director Michael Cvetich, ’05.

Cvetich played soccer when he attended Country Day and in his first year of college. Cvetich said he might be interested once he learns the duties of the position.

In the meantime four games remain for the Cavaliers to play as a team.

“I like that I get to play with people that I get to play with in fall soccer,” freshman Theo Kaufman said. “We play well together because we know each other’s tendencies.”

Previously published in the print edition on March 17, 2015.

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