When Cicero-North Syracuse girls soccer coach Jeremy Lenchert and his team got back to their school after suffering a loss in the Class AAA state regionals on Saturday, he told them to remember how they felt.
"Use this as a reference point," he said. "Remember this. We didn't want it to end here. We wanted to be able to play for another weekend and win our last game of the season."
The Northstars fell, 2-1, to Shenendehowa at Nottingham High School. They were one game away from reaching the state semifinals for the first time since 2013.
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"When we reflect and we look back at where we were at the start of the season, we just, we had a lot of question marks. You know, like, like you saw our roster. This is the youngest team I've, I've ever coached.
"When we reflect and we look back at, at where we were at the start of the season, we had a lot of question marks," Lenchert said. "This is the youngest team I've ever coached. And about halfway through the season, things started to kind of get rolling and overall, we had a very good season."
In Saturday's state regional, eighth-grader Abigail Mackey scored a goal for the Northstars. It was her 12th of the season. Lenchert said Mackey is just one of the many young talented players who will benefit from the success they had this season.
"Those young players who are coming back, they're hungry," he said. "They're disappointed because they wanted to (win) this year. When they come back next year, all the players who return are going to be better than they are right now. So, it gives us something to look forward to."
The Northstars end the year with a 14-3-2 record and high hopes for next season.
"When the pain goes away, you'll be able to look back and there'll be a lot of great moments that'll make you smile, that you'll appreciate," Lenchert said to his team.
