BY RYAN O'CONNOR

Following a season-ending first-round playoff loss to Alvirne, the West High School girls soccer players approached coach Kris Komisarek and asked her if they could continue practicing.

That attitude, said the first-year head coach, is exactly what made the 2007 Blue Knights so special.

“This wasn’t just a team. It was a family. We did everything together. Everything,” said Komisarek of her Blue Knights, who recently volunteered a day at a local nursing home where they carved pumpkins and spent time with residents.

“It was more than just soccer with this team; it was about trust and honesty and just sticking together through everything.”

To make the postseason and host a first-round playoff game, West overcame injuries to several key players, including three of its four captains, seniors Mary Kitsis and Sam Myers and junior Heather Harrington, along with four others who missed two to five weeks with ailments.

Still, West, which finished the season 8-7-1, won four of its last five contests, including victories against 12-2-2 Merrimack and 11-5-0 Memorial, Class L’s No. 4 and 5 seeds, respectively.

But the season came to a surprising end on Oct. 23 when No. 10 Alvirne upset the seventh-ranked Blue Knights, 1-0.

Komisarek said the loss stung more than most. After all, West controlled play throughout the contest outshooting its opponent 17-3.

“We dominated that whole game, and on one of their few chances, they just happened to get one in,” said Komisarek, the JV coach at Alvirne before coming to West. “A 1-0 loss against a team you already beat is heartbreaking, but we had our chances and just couldn’t make it happen.”

Still the season brought no complaints, only fond memories for Komisarek and her coaching staff.
Her only regret, she said, is having to bid farewell to the seniors.

“I just wish them nothing but the best, and I will miss them very much,” she said. “Those girls are family to me and really made my first year very special.”

Bedford seniors departing West include Jackie Cordell, Amy Cummings, Michelle Cummings, Caitlin Ducharme, Allison Heinz, Kitsis, Myers, and Kim Shaughnessy.

Next season, West begins building a new program, having to push forward minus underclassmen from Bedford, who now attend the town’s high school. It’s a challenge Komisarek said she embraces.

“Now I get to start from the bottom and move my way up, rather than inheriting someone else’s team, so I’m very excited to take and build my own program, although it will never be the same as this year,” she said.