The girls soccer team starts the season red-hot and with high expectations of a trip to the U.S Bank Stadium in October. Count on great things to come from this talented group of players.

The Ponies looked unstoppable in the first six games of the season with wins over St. Cloud Tech, Anoka, Apple Valley, Mahtomedi, Blaine and Moorhead, with a shutout in every game and outscoring their opponents 23-0.

The Ponies are playing with the speed and chemistry needed to excel at the varsity level, and there’s no doubt this is a top ten team and they’re playing like it.

For rookie sophomores, playing in front of a student section is all but new to them. There really is no way of putting into words the way you feel after you score a goal on home turf and hearing your classmates erupt with excitement, especially if you’re new to it all.

“Scoring a goal is pretty awesome,” sophomore Emma Anderson said. “You’re whole team runs and congratulates you, it’s a cool experience, definitely a feeling I’ll never forget.”

Abby Begin added, “It’s just so amazing, it’s a rush of excitement, looking up at the student section after scoring a goal and seeing your classmates going wild is incredible.”

After starting the season 6-0 the Ponies came up short to 2nd ranked East Ridge on Sept. 8th by a score of 2-1. Determined to bounce back from this loss, the girls have created a hashtag to give them a little incentive to get back on track.

“We have a hashtag, #WNLA,” Anderson explained. “It stands for we never lose again, so we won’t lose again.”

The team looks to do just that and take their season all the way to state in October. The Ponies will need to play excellent soccer if they want to make their dream of a state tournament appearance a reality. This is the year for the Ponies to have a chance at state, compared to the past three years this is the most dominant performance seen.

In 2014, the Ponies had a record of 9-6-1 starting strong with four wins but then losing three straight.  In 2015, the girls ended the season with a mediocre record of 5-8-3.  This year the Ponies are 7-1 and average four goals per game. There hasn’t been a Stillwater girls soccer team of this caliber for at least a decade.

“We’re really good this year,” Junior Julia Bernard said. “I’ve been apart of many great teams in the past but none compare to this team.” Anderson added, “We are way better than last year, last year the chemistry was off, this year we play together so much better and faster, it’s really fun to be apart of.”

With eight games remaining in the regular season, the Ponies look to continue their dominance on the field. Currently ranked 9th in the state, the Ponies have a wonderful opportunity at hand, an opportunity that comes just once a year, to take this team to state and capture a girls state soccer title for the city of Stillwater.

Anderson said, “This team is 100% capable of a state title, this is a team that knows how to find ways to win games and we will continue to win, the ultimate goal is a state championship.”

The original version of this story named Hannah Anderson as an interviewee, not Emma Anderson.  The mistake has been corrected.