Everybody graduates high school and gets ready to move on into the real world; however, senior year is a year that deserves to be special. It’s your final year out of arguably the four most important years of your life. For high school student athletes, nothing caps off your senior season better than a win on senior night. On Saturday October 26, the Wayland girls varsity soccer team played their senior night game against Acton Boxborough(AB), at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School. 

Lots of things go through athletes minds during their senior year. For these seniors, senior night was a day of celebration. 

“It’s obviously a really big moment in our season to celebrate the seniors and all of the hard work that they have put into the program over the past four years,” senior captain Kayla Poulsen said. 

The seniors that have been on the soccer team for several years have been through senior nights before, and know what they are like. They’ve experienced the process of sending off seniors to the next chapter of life. Now that it was their time to be celebrated.

“It’s kind of crazy to think I am a senior participating in senior night, senior night [was] kind of been a bitter-sweet event,” senior captain Ciara Murphy said. “Being able to acknowledge a senior for celebrating their years of soccer and also acknowledge them moving on and facing real life [and] going to college. But it’s fun because it’s a time where a whole entire soccer community and family can get together and just celebrate people.”

The heavy construction of the new turf complex at WHS means that the senior night game was not played in Wayland. This only added to the emotions of the night. It’s symbolic to their season as a whole, with only one home game this season: Senior night game was just like any other game.

“To be honest, [it feels] a little weird,” Murphy said. “I’ve always pictured being on the turf, having a home game, but I think I am okay to adapt. I think every year is different. This year, it [was] at AB, but everybody [had] a positive mindset.”

Senior night does not only affect seniors but the juniors as well. It was the junior class’ responsibility to make sure that the event runs smoothly. 

“So the juniors typically make homemade posters for all of the seniors,” junior Maddie Yaffe said. “We write down their names in big letters, their number, and funny pictures of them playing [in] and outside of school. Also, we get a rose for every senior and right before the game during the presentation we present all the seniors with a rose and take a picture with their families.”

Friends come and go, but family is forever. These seniors may be moving on to college, but this team will remain as a family for a very long time. 

“It’s really sad but also happy at the same time,” Yaffe said. “We will miss them, some of us have been playing with them for many years. [I’m] happy for them moving on to their next chapter of their lives.”

Many players on the girls varsity soccer team have been playing soccer together since they were very young. From Wayland youth soccer to high school varsity soccer, these girls have been through a lot together.

“It is important that their send off [was] as best as it could be,” Yaffe said. “All of the seniors have been very helpful to us at WHS, moving into high school, playing soccer with them, and we wanted to make the best experience we possibly can.”

Everybody that plays sports has their favorite moments of their career. These seniors are right around the corner from college, so these memories are unforgettable.

Ciara Murphy: “[My favorite memory was] scoring my first goal at Bedford last year. There were so many memories I had from past seniors and they impacted my entire high school career.”

Kayla Poulsen: “I would say when we beat Saugus. We were the bottom seed and they were the top seed [in the tournament], and we beat them. That was really cool.”