WOODBURY ー The Nonnewaug girls soccer team claimed a 4-3 win against Terryville on Sept. 4, starting the season off on a great note.

Senior captain Katie Farrell is happy with the way the girls played the game even after a rocky start.

“Obviously being down within 30 seconds of the game starting was super upsetting,” said Farrell, “but as soon as they scored, our team immediately locked in and got serious, which I’m really proud of. I’m super happy with everyone who played from Ellie [McDonald] man-marking their top player to Hailey [Goldman] making some plays. I think it’s gonna stay as a highlight for our entire season.”

Coach Adam Brutting, the first-year head coach, was a little nervous at the start but had faith in his team.

“The opposing team scored 27 seconds into the game, so that was nerve-racking, and I thought in my head, ‘Oh, let’s see who we are,’” says Brutting. “Some teams could put their heads down and be down on themselves and let that be a snowball effect and have the other team dominate them, but we did not do that. We stood up to the challenge and battled them back.”

The first half was back and forth with ties at 1-1, 2-2, and 3-3.

Goldman, a junior, scored two of the four goals and had one assist.

“Going into the game, I was very mentally and physically prepared because I didn’t wanna walk off losing to Terryville on my own home turf again like the year prior,” Goldman said. “Even though when we went out, they ended up scoring in the first 40 seconds of the game, but we took that as a sign not to just give up and just let them have it. It was a sign that fine we let that happen but it won’t happen that easy again.”

Brutting looks forward to the rest of the season and hopes for his team to succeed while having a good time.

“I want the girls to work hard and learn some new things about soccer, win some games, be successful and have fun,” Brutting said. “If we do those things, I think we can consider the season a success and we will be able to look back on it and feel really good about the whole thing and be really proud about all the work we did.”