With the start of a new decade, there is an opportunity to consider the all-decade team from the past ten years. Greenville Women’s Soccer had the all-decade team released. The SLIAC all-decade team features some elite players with all different kinds of talent.
The all-decade team is based on the statistics these players produced, as well as their career awards. When talking about this sort of topic, it can be intense. It is certain that not everyone will agree upon who they believe should be featured on the all-decade team. In the sports world, these arguments arise quite often. Talking about the players featured on the all-decade team, Women’s Soccer Head Coach Jeff Wardlaw gave his thoughts. Wardlaw believes everyone on the all-decade team had the stats or had a physical prowess about them that would’ve made opposing coaches put them on the scouting report. He thinks that the list was fairly good, even with the number of recent players being on the list. He said, “Is it arbitrary on whoever voted? Sure it is.” Wardlaw believes that the players featured had to have consistent stats over the course of their careers, which requires a significant amount of self-discipline. Statistics are always important when it comes to choosing an all-decade team. Along with the statistics, other coaches in the SLIAC voting on all-conference awards plays a big role in choosing the all-decade team. Other characteristics these players possess make them known as “dangerous individuals.”
One player that is featured on the team is Dani Pearce. Wardlaw says that Pearce is a player that other coaches would want to shut down. Although statistics and awards draw the most attention, being consistently reliable is another reason for making the all-decade. A consistent player will repeatedly do their job and continue to do so the rest of the season. Being consistent is something everyone will look for in a player, and it can help teammates build trust with each other. Consistency is key to being a successful player as well as being able to contribute to the success of the team. Some votes that were casted were based off of the successfulness of the teams over the decade. The featured players listed are all from the top four teams. When you look at the overall record and final conference standings, it is easy to spot players that are victorious on a successful team. With that being said, players that were not on very successful teams may have been left unnoticed. Some of the players on the teams with little success are often overlooked, and it could potentially harm their chances of being awarded to an all-decade team. “When you look at this list, there is some correlation between the success of the team and the success of an all-decade team,” Wardlaw stated.
In the end, this all-decade team will be honored and remembered for what each player did as individuals and as teammates. There can always be arguments for other players to be listed on an all-decade team. Each player is selected for many reasons, and some of those reasons could be for what they did away from the soccer field.
Media by José Soutullo Fernández.
