The girls varsity soccer team played strongly against Madison on April 20, drawing with a score of 0-0.
“[The girls] were competitive,” girls varsity soccer head coach Ann Germain said.
The game went into double overtime, each five minutes long.
“We just need to work on communicating better,” freshman Caitlin Dickson said.
“We’re pretty strong on defense,” junior Ayumi Matsuda said. “Our main weakness though is pushing up on offense like creating space and taking shots.”
The team has about ten new varsity players, according to Matsuda.
A new coach, Brian Germain joined the coaching staff as an assistant for JV.
“We lost a lot of seniors from last year’s team so it’s been a struggle to understand our playing styles, but we’re playing more seriously and we’re working on improving ourselves,” junior Georgia Griggs said.
Despite its tie with Madison, the team won with a score of 3-0 to T.C. Williams High School last Wednesday.
“It was a big win and coach [Germain] actually said it’s her biggest win since she started coaching here,” senior Carma Khatib said.
Sophomore Lauren Perlowski and senior Maddie O’Beirne, who was assisted by freshman Erin Artiles, scored the first two goals during the first half of the game.
During the second half of the game, sophomore Bailey Jarriel scored the third goal.
“They’re all competitive and hardworking. The more work they put in, the more they’ll get out of it,” Ann Germain said.
According to Ann Germain, the freshman class is contributing more to the varsity team than previous years. There are three freshmen as opposed to last year’s one.
“The team is young. We have many freshmen and sophomore starters,” Ann Germain said.
Despite the team’s competitiveness, the players need to work on winning balls in the air, opening up for each other, giving better passes, and recovering, Ann Germain said. To improve on this, she is trying “to focus on the tactical and organizational part of the game and better the team organization.”
“We’re much more serious this year and we are committed to win, we want to win,” Matsuda said.
Ann Germain has high expectations.
“We have to be the best we could be,” she said. “I’m looking forward to a first-round victory [in Districts] and head on to Regionals.”
The current team record is two wins and four losses with two ties.
The team played Fairfax High School on April 24, however, results were not available as of press time.