The steadily improving Conant girls' soccer team gets better and better each year under head coach Devon Spirka, but after a 3-0 start, dropped its next three games before a tie with Trinity Sept. 23 and a 2-0 win over Belmont Saturday.

In the second of those losses, against Hopkinton, the Orioles, near the top of Division III coming into the contest, fell into the bad habit that Spirka has been trying to shake for three seasons now - a slow start against a good but beatable team that results in a avoidable loss.

"It's disappointing," Spirka said after the 2-0 loss. "Dropping Derryfield, then this one, both in our eyes winnable games - not easy games by any means, but winnable games. We need that game to prove they need that game to prove to themselves that it doesn't matter what the name on the front of the jersey is that we're playing. We are a different team than we were last year and the year before, so let that happen. Let yourselves be a different team than the past. I'm hoping that we can have that mindset moving forward."

Conant was cruising to start the season, winning their first three games by a combined 20-1 before the 1-0 loss to Derryfield and then the defeat to Hopkinton Sept. 17. It was their flat start that cost them against the Hawks, as they couldn't put much offense together in the first half and surrendered goals to Hopkinton captains Belle Serzans and Kennedy Mark.

"I think a lot of what they battle is their own heads," Spirka said, "and learning how to prepare for a game mentally has to be just as important as what we do in practice. Understanding that it starts the two days before the game, how you're even thinking about how you're going into it. I think they can make that adjustment and that flat first half just because we're feeling things out isn't gonna keep happening. It could have been a much different outcome if they were just thinking in the right way from the get go."

If there were timeouts in soccer, Conant might have righted the ship before halftime; instead, after a pep talk that stressed confidence and passing with purpose, the Orioles came out in the second half a new team, generating a scoring chance on the first possession and holding Hopkinton scoreless for the entire period. Conant hit the crossbar on two scoring chances, but never converted, and despite the strong second half, came away with a 2-0 loss. 

Still, the Orioles were a bad start and a couple crossbars away from beating the team that hung nine goals on them last fall, showing marked improvement that can be pinned on a couple factors. One, Conant's numbers are way up from last year, bolstered by a strong incoming class and newcomers from the Oriole field hockey team, which is not competing at the varsity level this fall. 

"Obviously having subs helps," Spirka said. "We got in a good group of freshmen who are really competitive and were able to just step into the fold, which was very helpful."

But more than that, she said, the continuity of three years in the same system, understanding expectations and routines, and the team's growth therein has been the real key.

"A lot of it is just the consistency from year to year and building on the skills and the concepts - that just starts to build, and as you become older, you pass that down," Spirka said. 

When playing with confidence and aggression, Conant might be as good as anyone in DIII. They have six seniors, which means a strong group of captains up the middle. Defenders Izzy Rollins and Lola Hayes bring physicality to the back line.

"They just have a great partnership in the back holding things down," Spirka said. "They communicate well."

Rachel DeWees is a nonstop hard worker at center defensive midfielder, and Rihanna Aho plays above her, distributing the ball in the midfield and facilitating the offense. 

"We have a good group of captains," Spirka said.

On the front line, senior Hannah Manley and junior Riley Vitello are the Orioles perhaps most blessed with killer instinct, and they are able to keep the pressure on offensively. And in the back, Violet Bennett, the converted field hockey player, stepped up and stepped in to play goalkeeper, where she has taken to the position quickly, allowing just three goals in five games despite being a relative rookie. 

"She's just learning the concepts and the skillwork behind the position,"  Spirka said, "and it's a really mental position. There's no way around that. And she is one of the mentally strongest girls her age that I've ever met. Really, nothing rattles her. If it does, it rattles her for five seconds and then she is able to set it aside and focus on what she's doing."

The Oriole girls set a season goal to advance past the first playoff round; Spirka said she thinks her team can go even farther, as long as they believe in themselves.