BERNE — Berne-Knox-Westerlo has a new varsity girls’ soccer coach — Coriellen Travis. The experience the Lady Bulldogs have coming into the season should ease her transition from coaching modified.

Twelve seniors return for this year’s team which will help Travis, who last year coached the modified team for seventh- and eighth-graders.
"So far, so good," Travis said after a scrimmage on Tuesday. "This is a great team and the girls welcomed me."

Travis said she was pleased with what she saw on the field.
"I’m proud of what they did today," Travis said. "We only have three new players. Out of 18, fifteen players are returning. The team looks good. We have a lot of experience."

There are a couple of key spots where that experience will come in handy.
"We’ll have a strong offense," Travis said. "We have strong shooters. We also have an experienced keeper who is very aggressive."

Sarah Hannay returns as goalkeeper for the Bulldogs. She started there last year.

Returning to lead the attack on offense are Mariana Bartonicek and Cara Swain.

One of the nice aspects of having players with experience is that they know a lot of the basics of the game, said Travis.
"I don’t have to re-teach skills," she said. "I can teach advanced skills and playing. They have a willingness to learn. When something doesn’t work, they have other options. They are aggressive and are willing to step to the ball."

Leading by example

Travis is entering her sixth year as a middle- and high-school music teacher at BKW. She earned her bachelor’s degree at The College of Saint Rose and earned a master’s degree in administration at the University at Albany.
"I love the community," Travis said of BKW. "That makes it easy to love the school you work for. I can’t say enough about the kids."

Travis played soccer at Ballston Spa High School and continues to play on indoor and outdoor teams.
"Being a player myself and continuing to play," Travis said, "it’s important to show how they can improve skills by example on the field."

Travis said that teaching advanced skills is one of the differences in coaching varsity and modified.
"With the modified," she said, "you spend a lot of time going over fundamental skills. With varsity, those should already be in place, so you can work more with the team and moving the ball and trying to score. But, whether or not you’re scoring, they are using advanced skills in moving the ball. They have greater passing ability."

The new coach hopes to improve the fortunes of the Lady Bulldogs, who struggled the past couple of years with younger players. Those young players are now seniors.
"They play together as a team," Travis said. "They really support each other and help each other improve. They play equally as a team.
"We have strong seniors on defense," she added. "Our offense is younger than our defense. But in all parts of the field we are playing equally."

Not only have the players on the BKW team made the transition easy for Travis on the field but off the field as well.
"They absolutely have a phenomenal attitude," she said. "They are fun and exciting to work with. They make me laugh. That is a key to a good season. They don’t pick on each other and do those things that bring a team down. If you’re not having fun, you’re not working together."

Travis said she is ready for the regular season, which starts with a contest against St. Johnsville on Wednesday. BKW follows that up with two games in the Fort Plain Tournament of Friday and Saturday.
"I’m looking forward to the rest of the season," Travis said. "Rain or shine, there is nothing like a soccer game."