GOLDEN, Colo. — For the girls at Golden High School, soccer was more than just a hobby. It was their identity.
“I’ve played soccer for 13 years since I was 5,” said senior Brittany Novak. “I was really hoping to use this season as a way to finalize my goodbye, and for that to be taken away, it sucks, yeah.”
“I feel like I’m the person I am because of [soccer],” said senior Izzy Valenti. “I’m trying to take the positives but it’s hard still knowing what could have been.”
“You constantly get those pushbacks of 'This sucks, this isn’t fair,'” said senior Katie Hageman. “There’s definitely still days where I’m like, no, this sucks, I’m still going to sit here and sulk.”
Amid the despair, we find the power of human connection — a shining beacon of friendship acting like a lighthouse during this wicked tempest.
“Soccer wouldn’t have been soccer without my teammates,” Valenti said. “We’re always going to be in each other’s lives. I’ve known that about this group of people since I was a freshman.”
The hope is that someday these girls will find a way to accept the disappointment of their senior year and appreciate the growth they experienced from it.
“At some point, you have to be able to feel it, recognize it, accept it, and move on,” Hageman said. “I’ll work on it. And they say time heals everything.”
