Written By Acacia Bernier, Staff Writer
A recap on Girls’ Soccer “ Game of the Season” and goals for the future
The Girl’s Soccer season continues to be as exciting as ever! This last Friday, January 9th, the Lady Bears had their “Game of the Season” against neighboring High School Arlington, and played a tenacious match to say the least.
Moreover, this tension started before the players were even on the pitch.
For it was last season that the girls ended on a more than wrong note with the Arlington Lions when the game ended in a loss, and a lot of ambulances. One of our players got fouled and hurt so bad from an Arlington player that she was sent to the hospital and could not continue playing for six months after. A similarly painful injury was inflicted on one of the Arlington girls.
Now, how was this year going to look different?
In an interview with Captain Sophee Salcedo (12), she detailed that one aspect of the game against Arlington she wanted to change was the “intensity” compared to the last time they had played them, adding that the team can “always raise [their] intensity to help control the game.”
As the girls began to play in the terribly chilled winter air underneath the bright lights and a full stadium, the drama and intensity naturally ensued. Each pass and 1v1 was outstanding from the Poly bears, as they pushed through the first half, making way for Saydee Salcedo to score an awesome goal from the left corner of the box. These “great goal-scoring opportunities” were what Sophee highlighted as one of the strengths of the game. The girls were in the lead and desperately wanted to keep it. For their prior record against the team had been 8-1-1, only one loss and one tie were in the books- every other time they had played Arlington, it had been a win. However, the tone of the game swiftly shifted in the second half, and not so much in the Bears’ favor anymore. A degree of this athletic “intensity” had diminished, and it took the form of emotional intensity instead. As a midfielder, Abigail Guillen (11) pointed out, one of the girls’ weaknesses was their ability to “keep [their] composure” when in the face of opponents like Arlington.
Unfortunately, this lack of composure led to a corner kick where the Bears conceded a goal against the Lions.
The rest of the game felt like a dizzying blur, as the girls struggled to stay in possession of the ball, and there were not as many goal-scoring opportunities as in the first half. Emotions got heated, and fouls seemed to be getting more and more absurd. The girls handled it the best they could, and the end resulted in a tie with the Arlington Lions.
It was not the most pleasant result for the Lady Bears, but captain Saydee Salcedo (12) did not put her head down when saying, “If we keep playing hard and playing for each other’s success, we will have a deep run in the playoffs.” This same sentiment was found in co-captain Sophee as she stated that “we started off the season great and will continue to push every game in hopes of making it to CIF!”
Let’s continue to cheer on the Lady Bears as they strive to do so!