Matthew Will
Student Sports Media
The Butler women’s soccer team has begun another season on a great note with some goals in mind. While scoring goals and winning championships is the focus for most teams, the Grizzlies have a different view of success. Coach Adam Hunter stresses the importance of working as a team and helping each other out.
The most important aspect of working as a team is making sure all members are included, as they are all needed to get the job done, and for Hunter, he incorporates foreign talent to help.
Sophomore Holly Stewart joined the Grizzlies last season, a midfielder off the bench. As time went on, she improved her game and has because a fairly regular starter this season for Butler. She has a goal and an assist so far this season.
Stewart is from Aberdeen, Scotland and has been playing soccer since the age of six. She got involved with her private school, elevating her love for the game. She has always been a midfielder, starting on the wing then progressing to the middle, and said she is just now getting really comfortable there.
When asked about the differences between soccer here and in Scotland, Stewart had much to say.
“I think the intensity level differs a lot,” Stewart said. “[Players] are a lot more athletic over here, so soccer plays a lot different.”
In Scotland, Stewart plays for her city’s club team, Aberdeen. She praised her Scottish teammates for being very supportive and helpful when she returns for the summer and also when she leaves to go back to the United States.
Stewart is joined by three other out-of-country players, who are all freshmen. Freshman goalkeeper Charlotte Smith comes from Bristol, England. Smith hopes to get some minutes this season as she should be returning to take sophomore goalkeeper Elena Garcia’s spot next season. Freshman midfielder Megan Aston is from Kettering, England and freshman forward Olivia Langton is from Leicester, England. Both Aston and Langton have seen minutes this season and should receive some more as the season progresses and, of course, more next season.
“The atmosphere is a lot more competitive over here, and it’s good to be [apart of],” Stewart said.
