Republished from the Trinity Tripod newsletter: November 12, 2024
by Caitlin Doherty ’25: Executive News Editor
Breanna Pitta ’27 and Eulalia Esquenet ’27 have been playing soccer for sixteen years and have both competed on successful international teams. Although they do not play on Trinity’s women’s soccer team, they both felt a desire to stay involved in the sport they love when they started college and began to seek out ways to do that in the Hartford community. Over the summer, Pitta applied for the position of head coach of the Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy (HMTCA) middle school soccer team, which competes in a league with other Hartford middle schools. When she got the job, she asked Esquenet to join her, knowing that having a partner would only strengthen the training and support the team would receive. While both have previously served as assistant coaches of teams before coming to college, this was the first time they would take on the responsibility of serving as head coaches. In taking on this role, they would accept the challenge of coaching a team that had won only a single game during the previous season.
After a tryout period in early September 2024, they selected 20 students from HMTCA’s sixth, seventh and eighth grades for their team. Because of a lack of resources for formal athletics training programs in Hartford Public Schools, many of the early practices were focused on building fundamental soccer skills and creating a team atmosphere. “It’s not only coaching soccer, but it’s coaching life skills,” said Esquenet in an interview with Tripod. In the first few practices, both coaches noticed that many of the players struggled to work together as a team and would often take the ball for themselves to try to make a goal. “They weren’t able to succeed without playing together as a group,” said Pitta to the Tripod. After the first practice, the coaches drafted a team handbook to create expectations for how players should treat their teammates, their coaches and themselves. They established five main pillars for their team atmosphere: respect, effort, coachability, positivity and tenacity. “They all improved as soccer players tremendously,” said Pitta as she discussed how players developed throughout the season. “But ultimately I think the bigger win for us was watching them become better teammates.”
While they tied or lost their first few games, the players improved as a team more as the season went on. As the season finals began in October, the team made it to the semifinals, where they faced the team that had gone undefeated and won the championship in the previous season. “We were tied 1-1 at the end of regulation, and we went into overtime,” said Pitta as she described the semifinal game. “We ended up scoring and winning the game in overtime. It was so electric out on that field.”
The team then went on to play in the championship game. Pitta and Esquenet described the nervous energy that surrounded their team. Although they ended up losing 1-2, “We were so proud of them for even getting there because that was something that I don’t think anyone thought was possible,” said Pitta. “We were two young female college coaches coaching a largely boys soccer team… I think getting as far as we did was a true testament to [the players’] tenacity and their character and effort that they put in throughout the season.”
The loss came with widespread disappointment from the team, but their coaches reminded them of how far they had come. “I remember going around and asking all of them, ‘I’m proud of you, are you proud of yourself?’” said Esquenet. “Eventually they were like ‘Yes, I am proud of myself.’ Because we went from last season having one win to going to the championship game. That is something to be proud of.”
The team completed the season with an overall record of six wins, two losses and three ties. Throughout the season, a strong community was built between the players, coaches and parents. Pitta and Esquenet organized an eighth grade night for graduating players, and Trinity’s Center for Hartford Engagement and Research (CHER) hosted a pizza party for the team at the end of the season in late October. “They’ve come to mean so much to both of us,” said Pitta.
“I think if more people here got involved in the community and found something that was passionate to them that they could share with these kids, we could make such a difference as a school,” said Pitta. Both Pitta and Esquenet have cherished this experience and hope that more Trinity students will use their talents to serve kids in Hartford. The students noted that HMTCA and other Hartford schools have very understaffed athletics programs and are always looking for coaches. “Trinity students feel like they need to stay on campus, stay in this bubble,” said Esquenet. “We want to be a part of the community. This [Hartford] is where we choose to be.”