The first of the mandatory four practices per week has ended for the Kansas soccer team, and the ritual cool-down stretches start. The women discuss their plans for the next few days, and with meeting times confirmed, they clear their throats and scream, “1, 2, 3, Hawks!” at the top of their lungs.

The team heads off the field, where the players have been guzzling water from their Gatorade bottles and strip their shin guards off. Few by few the field empties, and coach Mark Francis and the captains head to the sideline for a meeting.

The scene remains fairly typical of a soccer team practice, but one thing seems a little different. Through the sweat and visible exhaustion that follow each practice, the team can still be seen laughing and joking with one another all the way to the car.

For five of the thirty-two teammates on the squad, their chemistry on and off the field has long been in the making. They were high school teammates.

Like most of the women, more than a decade ago junior forward Sara Rogers, known as “Rog” by her teammates, began playing soccer.

Before high school, she played on a club team, the KC Dynamos, where she met junior midfielder Missy Geha, who was then playing on a rival club team.

Before long, Rogers convinced Geha to move to her side of the rivalry, and since then, they have been inseparable both on and off the field.

Rogers and Geha entered St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Overland Park, as freshmen in 2001. Both made the prestigious varsity soccer team, and eventually, the school’s soccer hall of fame.

St. Thomas Aquinas has produced many elite women’s soccer players, most of whom move on to play at the college level. The St. Thomas Aquinas High School Web site lists women’s soccer as having nine state championships, eleven league championships and ten regional championships.

A large freshman class came to St. Thomas Aquinas when Rogers and Geha started their junior year at the school.

Three out of the four freshmen that made the cut for the varsity team that year would also end up playing alongside the two Aquinas veterans in college: freshman midfielder Erin Ellefson, freshman forward/midfielder Taylor Blue and freshman goalkeeper Geneva Magness.

“There is so much talent at Aquinas, people go there to play soccer. I knew going in, it was going to be tough competition. Playing soccer is a really big deal there,” Ellefson said.

Ellefson, Blue and Magness won three out of four state championships during their high school careers.

All three women decided upon KU to continue playing soccer.Ellefson said that Rogers and Geha were good influences.

“I think they had a little bit to do with my decision to play at KU. Getting here, it was easier playing with them, and I know their style of play, their tendencies, and stuff like that,” Ellefson said.

Aquinas coach Craig Ewing did his best to provide adequate preparation for all five Aquinas-turned-KU players during their four years of high school.

Ewing has been the head soccer coach at Aquinas since 1988, and his overall coaching record for varsity soccer is 541-165-33. He has been named National Coach of the Year three times, in 1993, 1996 and 2005.

“He strives to win,” Geha said. “He lets you know that. We’re here to win, and we’re going to win this game. He definitely prepared us for college.”

To an outsider, it might seem like there’s something in the water at St. Thomas Aquinas. The amount of soccer talent produced from a single school is almost surreal. Ewing has coached 126 players who have gone on to play college soccer.

After reuniting with her former high school teammates, Rogers said she has seen improvement in her younger counterparts. She said they have become stronger and faster.

Magness said that Rogers and Geha were two of the best players on the team in high school.

The five Aquinas women know each other’s style by heart, after having played together for such a long time. This is an asset to the team, especially during game play. In 2005, Roger’s first assist of her college career was to Geha during a game against Texas Tech.

“We’ve played with each other for seven years now,” Rogers said. “Playing with her for that long has definitely bettered our game. It’s nice to know how other people play. We play to each other’s strengths.”

Although Rogers and Geha never competed against each other for starting spots because they both played different positions, Rogers said that no one had a locked spot on the team. She said that the large amount of players created a lot of competition, which was a good thing.

The team, back from a disappointing Labor Day weekend tournament in Hawaii, has high hopes for their home opener at 5 p.m. today at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex against Brigham Young University.

“We need to be consistent,” Geha said. “We can win the first half, but we need to finish out the next 45 minutes. We need to kick the other team’s butt, and this weekend we’re going to do really, really well. I am excited to be playing at home.”

Each of the five women have the same ambitions for this season:, to make the team better. Making goals and finishing plays are at the top of the list, and there is always room for improvement.

As an elite high school soccer player, college soccer is the next step. After college soccer, there isn’t much left to step up to.

Geha said that a semi-professional team is in the works to start up again when she and Rogers graduate. Until then, the KU women’s soccer team as a whole, and its individual players will strive to make this season an unforgettable one.

“I have been blessed to be able to play with the people that I do,” Geha said. “It gives me the worst feeling to think that I only have a year and a half of playing with all of my teammates.”

— Edited by Kaitlyn Syring