INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — Championships don’t grow on trees.

Our FOX4 Hy-Vee Team of the Week isn’t accustomed to being undefeated this late in the season, which leaves them grateful, but hungry for more.

Fort Osage (8-0) sits undefeated at the midway point of their 2023 season. The Indians have scored five goals or more in half of their matches this season, but defense and goalkeeping are their bread and butter. First-year Head Coach Bridget Schinstock has only five seniors on this club, which has surrendered only four goals all season.

“They put their bodies on the line and they go after the ball and they don’t care who they’re going up against,” Schinstock said. “They have an ‘I Don’t Care’ attitude on who the opponent is. They’re going to go out and play their game and they’ve done it very well.”

Fort Osage isn’t traditionally known as a soccer sensation, but as the wins pile up, these players know other teams want a piece of the action.

“I would hope so. I’d be scared or intimidated,” Macie Smith, Fort Osage Senior Forward. “We come in, and we hold our heads high. We play strong together. We just trust each other to get the job done.”

“I feel like our hard work is starting to pay off,” Kaia Duncan, Fort Osage Junior Cornerback, said. “We just lock in as a team. Everybody can sense that I think. There’s no touching us when we’re locked in.”

This tough team is nearly blazing its own trail, too. Fort Osage won conference championships in 2018-19, but the school has never made it past the first round of the district playoffs. At the rate they’re going, that could change soon.

Fort Osage travels to St. Joe Central on Tuesday night.