When the Dartmouth High School girls soccer team steps onto the soccer field, the players are there to learn about two things: first, how to improve their soccer skills and win games and second, how to apply what they learned to life.

As a dad, a teacher and a coach, there is a “big picture” in Head Coach Scot Boudrin’s eyes that is greater than soccer skills and even the games themselves, he said.

“I want these kids to develop into people who are going to be successful,” he added. “No matter what their goals are.”

On Tuesday, Sept. 24, the team lost against Bridgewater-Raynham Regional High School in a game that ended with a score of 4-1.

“We made a mistake here, we made a mistake there, but we’re working hard,” Boudrin said.

This game was the perfect example of adversity and how to overcome it, according to Boudrin.

“You lose and people all of a sudden want to do this and do that instead of saying, ‘OK, take a deep breath. Let’s analyze it and break it down problem by problem by problem,’” he said. “Because in life that’s what you got to do.”

So far this season the team has won four games and lost four games, but Boudrin said the losses were against “skilled teams” and one of the games they won was against a Division I school. This year the team is playing in Division 2.

“It’s ups and downs,” Boudrin said. “You’re supposed to play a competitive schedule, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Last year the team lost 10 seniors who Haley Zexter, one of the team captains, said they “kind of [grew] up with and played with,” which left the team questioning how they were going to perform this season.

“It was definitely a loss, but I think we’re doing better than I anticipated,” she said. “I think our record will be OK.”

Bridgewater-Raynham is one of Dartmouth’s “big” competitors, said Remy Barber, another team captain.

“We came in here knowing we had to work hard, knowing that we had to trust each other and knowing that we had to really leave it all out on the field and really want it,” she said.

But in the face of the loss, Zexter found a positive.

“We learn from the rough ones and we learn more from the losses,” she said. “I think they’ve helped us and our wins.”

Katie Canniff, who is also a team captain, pointed out the importance of a strong team bond.

“We all hang out outside of soccer and we have team bondings before almost every game,” she said. “I think that really helps with our chemistry on the field — being together a lot and getting along.”

For some of the girls on the team, including Canniff, Zexter and Barber, who are all seniors, this season may be their last time playing soccer “ever,” Canniff said.

“We want to go out and try hard and hopefully win a few games,” she said. “And to have fun, too.”

Zexter agreed and also added some goals of her own for the team.

“Just keep progressing,” she said. “Every practice, every game, learn something that we need to work on or improve on and then apply it to the next game and try to get better.”