This week's Eye on the SLIAC turns to Eureka College and women's soccer player Addison Byers. Addison discusses her time in the program and what it is like coming in as a freshman and two years later moving into a leadership role. 

The Red Devil Season So Far
t's been it's been good. We obviously have gone through a little bit. Since the summer we've had some coaching changes, but we are with a, a coach now that is actually a Eureka alum, which is really, really cool. So he's been great helping us, like, get back on track to where we want to go. We're running with a small roster this year, but our team is very, very together. And it like I said, a small roster. But this of this of every team I've ever played on this team is the most together and for each other that I think I've ever seen. So that's what you need when you have a small roster. So I'm okay with where we're at 1 in 1 right now. That Maranatha Baptist loss was rough. We were running with 11, but I'll take a 2-3 loss when you're playing with 11 players. We we've I think we proved I think we proved what we can do in those first two games.

Pushing For Improvement Each Day
Yeah. So we had a coaching change at the end of my sophomore year after the season was over. But we made some strides, some great strides between that freshman and sophomore year. And obviously with the coaching change, you typically lose players as well. But the five juniors that myself and four others have really, really been the core of the team that has really kept us together. And then we've brought in some amazing freshmen this year and other players. But the core, the five juniors that have been here for the past three years are the ones that have really seen it all, and the ones that I think are really going to help set this team up for future success. As the five of us only have this season and next season left. But seeing the five of us grow from who we were as players, as freshmen to now, it's just so cool. And it's different from my freshman year when we had a very small roster. It was a small roster of all freshmen. We had a couple upperclassmen, but now we're a small roster with some upperclassmen. So just to see the growth of us as people and players is is just really, really, really fun.

Involving Teammates
While being marked so tightly by the opposing teams, that is just, I think, the job of a center midfielder, because when especially in the position in which I play, I typically honestly, I typically play more of a defensive mid and still ended up leading the team in goals last year. But that really is the job of the position is you are whatever the team needs you to be, you are the extra center back. When the center backs need help, you're shifting over when if someone gets caught high on the field and then at the same time, you're transitioning just as fast as the offense does, supporting the offense at the same time. So I think it really just comes down to the fact that that is just the position in which I play, and that kind of just comes with the territory. But yeah, we've got some good, some good offensive weapons this year. I hope to get get them on the scoresheet a little more this year as well.

Upcoming Schedule and Break
Yeah, being at home is going to be great. I'm looking forward to it. During our break, we obviously are going to keep working. But with the small roster that we have, recovery is very, very, very important. I think the team has taken more ice baths in the last three weeks than we've ever taken before. But that's because when when you're with a small roster and you only have a couple players per position, like it's very, very important and my team knows this, it's very important that we keep ourselves as healthy as possible. There's going to be knocks and bruises here, but making sure that we can perform at the highest level that we can is very important. So definitely that week is going to be, obviously preparing for conference play, because after that week we go into our first conference match, and it is also away. So obviously big game, but really making sure we're on top of our recovery and making sure we're ready to go for a conference. 

The Future
So I am a communication and media studies major, and I also minor in photography. And I say that just because those two things kind of combine into what I want to do, I wouldn't say I necessarily have a dream job, but I really would like to work. I dearly would love to work for like a professional soccer club in doing like either their photography or their social media content creation. That's like an internship. I worked in the past and I currently work now and I really enjoy it, so I love to one day do it. Any professional sports team would be cool, but obviously soccer is what I grew up with, so it'd be nice to stick with soccer. But yeah, something with social media, content creation and sports would be really, really fun. Very cool.