Prior to starting the first-ever Milford Youth Soccer under-16 girls’ travel team, the Matildas, coach Keith Short had a few simple goals laid out for the team.

He wanted the players to gain soccer experience outside of playing for their high school teams, he wanted them to improve their technical and tactical skills and he wanted them to have fun playing soccer.

Mission accomplished.

“I thought technically they got better, and tactically they were understand things like formations a lot better,” Short said. “And they were able to put together a brand of soccer on the field that was competitive.”

That competitiveness almost allowed the Matildas to win a championship in the Northern Inter-Club Soccer League.

On Nov. 8, the Matildas defeated the M.O.T. Thunder, setting up a finals game against the Kirkwood Soccer Club Dover. Unfortunately, the Matildas lost that game 4-2. All scoring was off penalty kicks.

While the ending dampened an extremely successful season, the team finished 5-0-3 in the regular season, it didn’t erase all the positives the players worked for through five months.

First, the players on the team had to come together. Several were moving up from middle school to being freshmen at Milford High School, while four were upperclassmen at MHS and four were attending schools outside of Milford.

“For this to be the first time the girls played on a team together, they did extremely well,” Short said. “They did a really good job of staying together. I thought they all accepted one another, and the friendships they were able to create with one another are more important than any championship or trophy.”

Once the players came together, they had to wait for weeks until their season started. The first league the Matildas were going to play in didn’t have any other U16 teams. So the team continued practicing, and eventually was invited to play in the Northern Inter-Club Soccer League.

“It was just practice and practice,” said Jenny Ramirez, a freshman at MHS. “But we had to focus because the games were coming.

“When the games got closer, we had to put more effort in.”

The start of the games coincided with the start of the school year, which helped a majority of the team bond.

“When we started to play our games during the school year, we started getting closer and had confidence in each other,” said Tara Gleysteen, a freshman at MHS.

And once they had confidence in each other, the team found success on the field, and the players began to realize that what started as a team just playing for fun and gaining experience, could win the league championship.

“I think it was really great being our first season and getting so far,” Gleysteen said. “I never thought we could get this far.”

Short hopes the success can continue next year, when the U16 Matildas will return for another season.