Coming off of an average 5-8-2 record last year, the girls varsity soccer team is looking to come back stronger this year. After losing eight seniors last season, the new additions to the team have big shoes to fill. They’ve started to prove themselves in their first two scrimmages, where they beat the Marshall statesmen 1-0 and tied the Hayfield Hawks 1-1. As the season progresses, the team hopes to continue on an upward trend with a winning record.

“Our goal for this season is to get as many wins as possible and hopefully do well when districts come,” junior Gabriela Jordan said. “Our team does really well with taking shots on goal, but we need to work on communication and having accurate passes. The team has been working on having good chemistry to improve this.”

Many of the girls on the varsity team come from separate travel teams, so working together with different playing styles and strategies is an early problem that they face. Having good chemistry is a crucial factor in a successful team.

The different playing styles the girls have help contribute the strength of the team as whole. The team’s wide range in skills helps them work together well and try different drills throughout each practice.
Although the team has new members, they plan to continue to try their hardest to get to know each other. The team makes time to bond.

“We are going to be doing a lot more bonding activities with each other like little [sister] big sister,” senior Savannah Ross said.

“It’s early in the season, so one of the toughest challenges right now is learning to work as a team,” senior Natalie Jones said. “We have to build up our trust and communication, and these things will come with time as we practice and play more together. The biggest change is that we lost some good defensive players, so the dynamics changed. However, we just gained some new ones and I have high hopes for them.”

Although the season has just begun, the team has their eyes set on other teams who will be tough to beat.

“Toughest opponents is probably tied between Lake Braddock and South County,” Ross said.
As their upcoming schedule consists of tough teams the girls believe enough hard work to come out with a positive outcome.
The team plans on beating their opponents with drills to up their endurance. “Working on shooting, conditioning and ball control,” senior Casey Goettlicher said.
Come watch the varsity girl’s team compete at home tomorrow as they play Fairfax High School at 7:15