Just three seasons ago the Aragon girls soccer team netted only two wins in the Peninsula Athletic League Bay division. In the 2021-2022 season the Dons were an extremely young team that struggled against more experienced Bay division teams. They came in fifth place out of the six teams in their division, and interestingly they moved down a league while the sixth place team remained in the Bay division. This disappointing season resulted in their relegation from the Bay division to the PAL Ocean division.
In their two Ocean division seasons the Dons were dominant, capturing back-to-back league titles and two straight Central Coast Section playoff berths. As a result of their two great seasons in the Ocean division, the Dons are back up in the Bay division this year.
“The group of four seniors were the last group of girls who played in the Bay before we got relegated,” said head coach Michael Flynn. “There’s been a hunger to get back to the Bay since we got relegated, [and] this team realizes the gravity of moving up.”
The Dons are led by a core group of seniors who were freshmen on the 2021-2022 team. As seniors who are finally back up in the Bay division they not only look to prove that they belong, but they look to prove that they never should have been relegated in the first place. On top of that, the Dons have three more seniors who started their varsity careers as sophomores.
“The seniors realize that we have to establish a culture of winning, and that starts with them,” Flynn said.
Even though the Dons are new in the Bay division, they bring a championship pedigree to the league coming off of their two back-to-back Ocean titles. The team expects to win, and they believe that they possess the tools to do so.
“This year we are benefiting from having a big senior class that have been playing together since freshman year,” said senior captain Sierra Troy. “We’ve all learned how to play to each other’s strengths over the years which will allow us to go far this season. The fight to win within every single player on our team is special.”
The Dons’ first test of the season came on Dec. 3 at Palo Alto, where the Dons (2-0) squared off against the Palo Alto Vikings (0-1). The Dons struck first with sophomore Emi Lo scoring early, but the Vikings struck back before half and the game was knotted up at one heading into half time. After the break the Dons completely controlled the game. The Dons’ defense tightened up shutting Palo Alto out in the second half. On top of the team’s defensive performance, senior Stela Pisaro tallied two second half goals to carry the Dons over the Vikings.
“I don’t think we were expecting to win three to one,” said sophomore Emi Lo. “We were tied one to one at the half, and in the second half we really came together as a team and ended up scoring two more goals.”
The Dons have already started off strong with high hopes for the season, but they know that their biggest challenges lie ahead.
“How do we react when we go down?” Flynn said. “Games are going to be close, and we might find ourselves having to find a way to score to tie or win the game. For us that’s the big challenge this year.”
The Dons will play their next game today at 4:30 p.m. at home against Menlo School.
