Maple Grove’s Quinn Omar made the best of 2020 season
MAPLE GROVE Minn. (BVM) — Quinn Omar’s 2020 soccer season went just about the same way as most high school athletes: unconventionally.
With their season being cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Maple Grove girl’s soccer team wasn’t able to defend their 2019 state title.
“I would say not being able to play at the US Bank Stadium for state made [the season] feel incomplete just because that’s usually one of the best memories from the season.” Omar said.
The Crimson won the Class AA state title in 2019 – the first time in team history. Omar and her teammates were looking forward to defending their title. As the pandemic progressed, however, the 2020 state tournament was canceled and their opportunity to win back to back titles was gone.
The team did have success during their season, winning the Northwest Suburban section and ending the season with a 9-4-1 record.
“With the weird season, I think we ended in the best possible way, with winning our section.” Omar said.
Omar, a junior, did her best to stay positive through the turbulent season. As an upperclassman, she took on a leadership role not only on her own team, but also for the younger athletes.
“As an upperclassman this season, I think guiding the younger kids no matter what team they were on was really important,” Omar said, “especially with the short season it was hard for the girls to really focus in and see the bright sides of playing this season, so I tried the best I could to make it a good experience.”
The team is important to Omar, who has played with many of her teammates for as long as she can remember. She stressed the importance of making this strange season as positive as she could for the girls who would put on the jersey for the last time when it was all over.
“I knew that because of the hardships we faced, we had to make it special for [the seniors],” Omar said, “With the short season, we couldn’t do all of the team bonding and fun activities that we used to be able to do, so it was really important that we got to know each other so we could be successful, and I think we did that.”
She is preparing for her senior season, despite the uncertainty that it holds.
“It’s hard to tell how far in the future I can look with everything going on, but as far as now,” Omar said. “I am only looking a few months ahead.”
