Sophomores Valerie Patout of New Iberia and Marie-Louise Resweber of St. Martinville played together on Catholic High School teams that made it a habit to go deep into the state playoffs in Division III.
While many collegiate women’s soccer teams are in the middle of their own postseason, Patout and Resweber finished the team’s first-ever varsity schedule Oct. 24 at 2-15-1, then took a moment to reflect on the past and the future of the Saints. Despite the losses, there are good memories, even in one of the defeats that underscored the lack of numbers on the team.
|
Advertisement
|
The Saints started with 10 players but due to injuries to two players in the first half played the second half with seven field players and a goalkeeper and “they (St. Mary’s Belles) didn’t even score,” Patout said.
One hundred and seventy-three fans attended that intra-city match and all of them, regardless their allegiance, were on their feet and cheering the second half effort by the Saints.
“Our athletic director (Nathan Walker) was even crying he was so proud of us,” Patout said. “Even with numbers down, we played hard. We played with heart.”
First-year head coach Carlos Reynolds appreciated the effort then and throughout a trying campaign. He credited Patout and Resweber.
“They’re able to show people what we want from this team,’” Reynolds said. “They’re a big part of the beginning of this program and they’re excellent students.”
Reynolds, 47, inherited the student-athletes and friends who played under former CHS head coach Stella Arabie. Arabie’s teams were skilled, solid and played with confidence, with a swagger born from countless key victories.
As college freshmen, Patout, the daughter of Ric Patout and Ginger Patout, and Resweber, the daughter of Eugene and Cecilia Resweber, and their teammates played a club schedule, a trial season, so to speak.
This season the Saints played varsity competition in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference in the NAIA. They went from 10 matches last season to 18 in 2009.
“We started in August and played to the end of October. It was a longer season,” Resweber said. “It was good, a lot different this year than last year. It was varsity.”
Patout, who played mostly sweeper in high school, played midfield most of the time this past season and scored a goal. Toward the end of some matches, she would switch with the sweeper to give that highly talented player a chance to move up, she said.
“It was one of our trick plays and they’d never see that coming,” she said.
Resweber played stopper, where she played in high school.
“Marie’s a great defender, a great stopper for us,” Reynolds said. “One thing she did really well was play the outside trap. In order to do that, you need a lot of communication. Marie is one of the players doing that constantly.”
“That’s she’s good at, I might add,” Patout said, praising her teammate’s skills as a defender who can get a counterattack going.
“Val’s more in the creative part of a game as a midfielder. She’s very creative and can handle the ball well. She’s a strong part of our offense,” their coach said.
Resweber, who plans to major in communications and minor in global perspective, said she and her teammate from home are thankful they learned the basics in high school. She was talking about all the repetitions, the touches, the little things that some people might regard as boring but without which the solid plays, the gamebreakers, don’t happen.
“Coach Stella Arabie and the coaches taught us the basics,” she said.
“It’s surprising how much even in college that helps,” Patout said.
Arabie also taught them more than soccer, Resweber said. The coach taught them life lessons and to behave like a family, which they are trying to share with their collegiate teammates.
“The main thing I learned from Coach Stella ... she wanted the family aspect. Soccer’s like a second family,” Patout said.
“Besides the basics -- respect, not only of teammates but coaches and other players,” Resweber said.
Arabie’s teachings are being passed along daily and it showed this season with a small roster downsized even more by fresh injuries and old injuries.
“We came together as a team. We got along like sisters,” Resweber said.
Their familiarity with one another on the soccer pitch goes back to their days in a program at Willow Wood in the Iberia Parish Recreation Department and from seventh grade through their senior years at CHS.
Other Saints can see that when they are paired against each other in drills.
“We always know what the other is going to do,” Patout said.
Reynolds agreed and said, “Those two, you can see they played together for years as they moved up the field. You could tell they were looking for each other.
Obviously, Reynolds has what could be called two player/coaches on and off the field. They believe in him as he and they all work their way through a tough situation.
The Teche Area soccer players felt his disappointment when so many recruits never showed up before the season began. As a result, the numbers were down, way down.
“It’s a lot harder to find players to come play with us. Hopefully, for next year, we’ll have good things to come. Coach Carlos, he knows a lot of good players,” Patout said. “We have a good number of players who will be a solid foundation for our program.”
Carlos has impressed them, they said.
“He played on the Panamaniam National Team. He knows what tactics are all about, he loves the sport and he loves the team,” Resweber said. “Coach Raymond has been instrumental in getting this program started and dediced so much time. He and Coach Mohammad (assistant coach Mohammad Fatti) put in their time. They see so much potential in us. They push us to play hard.”
Conditioning and workout plans have been taken to another level, they said.
After the last match, they prepared for winter (they’ve got “snow boots”) and the rest of the semester at Holy Cross College.
“Val lives down the hall in the same building,” Resweber said.
Patout, who soon will declare her major as elementary education, quickly chimed in and said, “So we don’t get tired of each other. It’s good to know you’re not alone and you have someone to travel with when you go home.”
Speaking of home, Reynolds got a taste of Cajun cuisine before and after the season when the young women’s respective fathers visited and served dishes native to Acadiana. Both the women’s and men’s teams enjoyed the food first from Eugene Resweber, a chicken and sausage gumbo, and then for the regular-season finale by Ric Patout, who made corn and crab bisque.
“I’m telling you, that was one of the highlights of the season,” Reynolds said.
With Patout and Resweber, plus some highly prized recruits coming in, there are sure to be more highlights to come.
Comments