One game at a time for Trojans in 2010

SACO — It will be difficult to improve upon the season the Thornton Academy girls soccer team had in 2009.

In fact, the only way to improve upon last season would be to overcome the one hurdle the Golden Trojans couldn’t jump.

Winning a state championship.

While Thornton had its greatest season in school history, the Trojans fell just short of the ultimate prize, losing 3-1 in the Maine Class A State Championship to Brunswick.

While the ultimate goal for Thornton is to overcome the state championship hurdle, you won’t hear the statement come from the lips of the Thornton players, or from head coach Chris Kohl. The Trojans are taking a simpler approach to the 2010 season. Just win one game at a time.

“Last year our mantra was one game at a time,” Thornton head coach Chris Kohl said. “So it’s an easy transition in that sort of sense because all we’re doing is preparing for our first game. The goal is to be ready for Sanford on [Sept. 8], and then go onto the next game, and the next game. Another reporter asked us if we got over the loss from the state game, but that was 10 months ago. Our goal right now is to pursue another championship, another Western Maine, and hopefully get to the state game, but that’s so far off. Our goal is just to improve every day and get to the playoffs.”

Thornton lost six seniors from last season’s squad, including Ellie Arsenault, the leader and spark plug of the Trojans. However, Thornton returns 12 players from the 2009 squad. The Trojans five captains, Danielle Daigle, Christie Roberts, Sam LeBlanc, Kaitlyn Hall and Jackie Costello all contributed in last season’s success. Thornton will also return its starting goalie from last season, Sydney Proctor, as well as Lauren Titus on defense.

The captains are also buying into the one game at a time motto.

“Since I’ve been on the team, he’s said one game at a time,” Hall said. “Once one game is done we forget about it and move on to the next one. That seems like the best strategy for us. If something happens in a game, you don’t want to bring that to the next game, have negative energy.”

Kohl said the Trojans will also feature some talented youth into the lineup, which will mix with the experience of the older players.

“We’re blending some youth with our experience,” Kohl said. “We don’t open until [Sept. 8], so we’ve got a little bit of time to work on some things and get ourselves going. Our younger players are great athletes and great soccer players, so it’s been nice to see those kids working really hard and integrating into the team.”

“We definitely want to have the same bond we had last year, because we were really tight,” Daigle said. “This year, we have a couple new people, but I think it will be fine.”

The path to another state title game will not be easy. Thornton starts the season on Sept. 8 against an improved Sanford squad. They will also need to take on the usually difficult Cumberland County squads, including Gorham, whom Thornton had never beaten in Kohl’s tenure until last season.

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