With only a few more games in their season, the girls soccer team (5-7-2 overall, 2-5-1 Peninsula Athletic League)* has been working hard to optimize their performance. On Feb. 5, Aragon won 2-1 against Woodside (13-1-1 overall, 6-1-1 PAL)*. Woodside currently sits at the top of the PAL Bay division and was undefeated until the Dons pulled through with their victory.
In the first half, both teams held a solid defense with shots attempted back and forth. The score was 0-0 until the end of the first half, when senior midfielder and co-captain Kaelyn Luebke broke through Woodside’s defense and scored to give the Dons a 1-0 advantage.
Aragon’s offense was swarmed by Woodside’s defense, making it difficult for the Dons to take shots. Unexpectedly, a Woodside defender deflected the ball off their leg to score on their own goal, giving the Dons a 2-0 lead.
Starting the second half, the Dons focused on their defense. Similar to the first half, both teams upheld their defense to limit shooting attempts. By the middle of the second half, the Dons had let one goal through from Woodside, yet held the score down by pressing the Wildcats’ offense. The score ultimately stayed at 2-1, leading to the Dons’ victory.
When the referee’s whistle signified the end of the game, the Dons ran screaming with joy to hug their teammates.
The team agrees that this was one of their best games.
“We all just went really hard,” said senior midfielder and co-captain Carmen Hinton. “[Woodside was] undefeated, but not anymore.”
Head coach Michael Flynn was also happy about the team’s performance.
“That was one of our better performances,” Flynn said. “Woodside is the number one ranked team in our division right now. That’s their first loss and that’s only our second win in the league so I’m very happy with our performance today.”
From the past season, the girl’s team has moved up from the Ocean Division to the Bay Division. This has led to tougher competition for the team, which has added six new freshmen to its roster.
Returning senior defender and co-captain Meher Banik has a lot of hope for the team despite the struggles they have faced due to recent roster changes. With the addition of several new players this year, the team has struggled to reach the level of connectivity an older team usually has naturally.
“Even though we haven’t been winning a whole lot, a lot of our games have been really close,” Banik said. “A lot of it is just coming down to [having] a younger team getting into the swing of things [and that has] been a little bit difficult.”
The team has a lot of new and old talent alike, which has made it easy to recognize their strengths. As its season comes to a close, there are a few things that the team hopes to accomplish.
“Obviously we want to win and we want to stay up in the Bay League right now,” Banik said. “That’s our main goal considering we just came up and we don’t want to drop back down again. The season’s never over until it’s really over. I think things can turn around really quickly for us.”
The team’s next game is a home game on Feb. 10 against Hillsdale (2-11-4 overall, 0-7-1 PAL)* at 4:30 p.m.
*Records as of Feb. 7
