New soccer program must begin first year as JV squad
By Mike Ramczyk
Sports Editor
For years, there weren’t enough interested girls at Catholic Central High School to form a girls soccer program in the spring.
And when there weren’t enough girls, even if a few wanted to play, it was a case of tough luck.
Since Burlington High School has plenty of numbers, with enough varsity and junior varsity players, they can’t accept a co-op with CCHS according to WIAA rules.
So if the Lady Toppers were ever going to see the field, it was solely up to them to find 11 or more players to fill a lineup.
After years of coming up just short, Catholic Central is finally fielding a girls soccer program this spring.
History was recently made, as new head coach Victor Jabrial, a former BHS assistant, will lead 12 dedicated Toppers on a junior varsity schedule.
“This year, we have enough girls interested in playing and can field a team,” he said. “And we are looking to have more players next year and having a better program. This is only the beginning for us.”
The Toppers won’t be eligible to compete with a varsity schedule until 2016, per WIAA rules.
Jabrial, a native of Egypt, began playing soccer as a kid. He worked his way into the college ranks and later was an assistant coach under BHS head coach Andy Steger in 2006-08.
Jabrial’s assistant this spring will be Bailey Racky, a former player at Big Foot High School who coached a club team while still a Chief student.
Racky played club soccer in college and was an assistant coach at Wilmot Union High School the past two seasons.
“My time at Wilmot was very similar in working on building a team and developing the fundamental skills.”
Catholic Central will play two home games, April 22 and May 4, at Bushnell Park in Burlington at 4:30 p.m.
Meet the Toppers
Jabrial designated four players this spring as key to the team’s success, including goalie Kalle Johnson, mid-forward Abi Rushworth, defender Amber Wardzala and midfielder Katie Stang.
Johnson, Rushworth and Wardzala have all played club soccer.
“Kalle provides a lot of experience and knowledge of the game,” Jabrial said. “She has already helped tremendously with general rules, terms and concepts of the game.”
Jabrial added that Rushworth is very quick and has good field awareness. Also, he said Wardzala “embodies confidence in her teammates.”
The wild card is Stang, who has never played soccer before.
The junior is a natural athlete, and Jabrial sees tons of potential.
“I think she will give us a lot of communication and control out of the center-midfield position,” he added.
Other Toppers this season will be seniors Isabelle Majewski, Bridget Bleser and Sam Milligan; juniors Sarah Gould, Kailey Kiekhafer, Sarah Drettwan and Nicole Krause; and sophomore Olivia Antlfinger.
Jabrial is hoping to build the program into something special. He said that can’t happen without teaching the girls the basics.
“Our future goal is to make everybody on the team know the game and try to win most of them,” he said. “We want to teach and train the girls the game of soccer to the best of our abilities.”
“Our goal for the future is to improve the program and continue to get girls to join.”
Schedule
(HOME GAMES IN CAPS)
April – 22: DOMINICAN. 29: at The Prairie School. May – 4: ST. THOMAS MORE. 18: at Racine St. Cat’s. 20: at Kenosha St. Joe’s.
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