With whistling winds and steep competition, the South Tama County girls soccer team had a tough night cut out for them. On Friday, April 14, Independence made the trek to Trojan Field in order to face off in WaMac Conference action.

Independence is a notoriously fierce competitor in soccer, taking down teams left and right. During Friday’s game, the visitors bench was flanked with six members of the Mustangs coaching staff and a team full of players ready for competition.

The night started out with Independence winning the coin toss and using the wind to their advantage much to the Trojans’ chagrin.

“We really wanted the wind to help us in the first half but were unlucky in the coin toss,” first-year STC Coach Morgan McFate said.

McFate is no stranger to Trojan soccer, serving as a volunteer and assistant coach to the team since 2018. She detailed her transition to head coach as smooth and really just a continuation with some minor tweaks and adjustments. She has emphasized conditioning for the team and stressed the importance of mental toughness and resilience.

Growing up in Kansas City, McFate participated in youth soccer and as she matured, she ended up playing for the Trojans when she was in high school before continuing for two years at the collegiate level, when her journey was cut short due to an injury.

McFate, being a strong willed individual, would not let an injury sideline her from collegiate sports. Eventually, she transferred to the University of Northern Iowa and finished her final stint in college playing rugby for the Panthers.

Coach McFate brings a wealth of soccer knowledge and a great competitive spirit to her new role leading the Lady Trojans. Her competitive, never say die, attitude was on full display during Friday’s game.

At halftime, the score was 9-0 in favor of Independence, but the dynamic seemed to change in the Trojan huddle. Coach McFate outlined what was said during that brief conversation during the 10 minutes in between halves.

“If you make a bad pass or don’t control the ball perfectly then give it 10 seconds to feel that frustration and upset/whatever emotions and then let it go, move on. Dwelling will eat you alive. I also kind of switched them to feeling if we get 10-0’d we’re ok, it’ll sting for a while but we know then what we need to do next game and will use that as a learning experience instead of discouragement,” she said. “We are in a rough conference for girls soccer and if we go out there and play our hearts out during the game then that is going to be good enough for us no matter the outcome. We can all agree we don’t love being 10-0’d. It’s not a great feeling, but unless we’re ready to communicate and play the skills we know and play smart soccer then what do we expect to get out of a game.”

Coming out of the huddle, the team was reinvigorated and played with a newly found sense of heart. Very quickly in the half the momentum shifted, Senior Martha Flores scored the first goal on Independence since 2018. Trojan Field was electric as members of the crowd roared at the changing dynamic of the game.

Flores’ goal signified the team was not going to be beaten 10-0 and stopped early. They were here to play.

As the match went on, the Trojan energy was clearly visible and midway through the half, senior Leila Shetler scored another goal on the Mustangs. The home team’s bench was electric.

After a few more minutes of competitive play, the Trojans faced another setback. Senior Faith Bandstra received a yellow card, which is doled out by the referee when one player fouls another in a way deemed somewhat excessive or disrupts the game.

“What happened was she unintentionally stopped a cross on the Independence attack with a hand ball. In the past teams have done this on purpose to run the clock out or waste time for their team to get in position,” McFate said. “So now it immediately becomes a yellow card or warning. She feels terrible about it but unfortunately in soccer we cannot take our arms off and leave them on the sideline.”

This left Bandstra, an integral part of South Tama’s defense, out for five minutes as a result of the call. The Mustangs capitalized by scoring another goal in addition to a previous goal scored in the half, to move the score to 11-2 in their favor to finish the game.

Afterwards, heads were held high, no matter what the scoreboard reflected. The two teams played a competitive match. The Trojans, under McFate’s leadership, showed promise as they continue in their 2023 season.