The girls varsity soccer finishes the season strong, and in doing so, makes history. The team for the first time in five years made an astonishing feat: qualifying for regionals.
They received the news after beating their opponents, Mt. Vernon, by a thrilling score of 4 to 1.
After this victory, the girls then moved on to Conference to face T.C. Williams.
Previously, in the regular season, the Atoms lost to T.C. Williams.Although hopes were high, they lost once to the Titans once again in the Conference game
The outcome of the game was not pretty for the Atoms. They fell against the Lady Titans with a score of 9 to 1.
However, the silverlining was that the Atoms are still able to compete in regionals, despite the lost in their Conference game.
The girls varsity soccer team is led by new coach, Lindsey Ottavio a physical education teacher at AHS, feels like she has seen major improvements and a great job well done by the team.
“The team really came together and peaked at the right time. We have a had an exciting postseason, I’m so happy for the girls,” Ottavio said.
With months of sweat and tears, qualifying for regionals was a dream come true for the girls this season. The girls feel like their hard work has finally paid off.
“Making it to regionals was an amazing experience. I know that it’s been a while since our team has gone there, so that made it a lot more exciting,” said freshman Madison Cruz.
Other players on the team feel same as Cruz: excited and proud.
Senior Nury Yoo Rodriguez, for instance, has been playing soccer for all four year throughout high school. Rodriguez could not contain her excitement when first hearing the news that the team was going to regionals.
“I felt happy, because we were able to achieve something great together and we will always know we did our very best out there on the field, we never gave up,” said Rodriguez.
The team entering regionals, have won a total of three games, which is a major improvement from the season the previous school year. All three of these victories were against the Mount Vernon Majors.
Rodriguez felt like she was able to give the season her all.
“I think what I did well was that I tried hard all the time because my teammates gave it their all every time,” Rodriguez said.
With an increased in number of wins from the previous year, the Atoms have undoubtedly improved.
This may be due to addition of new players: freshmens Laila Lopez and Jayden Joya. Both girls were leading scorers in all three games.
“Overall, everybody on the team was satisfied. The season went amazing, because we all worked together and are as a family”, said Rodriguez.
Despite there being star players, each player has had a great season. Each of them has learned something or done something new and remarkable.
“All of them were important to the team, they played as a team not as a individual. All them are the reason we were able to score more than 15 goals this season.” Rodriguez said.
The girls played against Forest Park on May 21, at Forest Park High School.

(Results of the game was not available at press time.)