By Hayley Rea--Eagle Assistant Editor
Following the mass cancellations of their first scheduled matches, the girls’ soccer team has finally taken to the field this past week for two games.
On Mon., May 3, the girls took on William Fleming, receiving their first victory of the spring season.
“[The] final [score] was 10 to 0. [We] won against William Fleming. Considering this was our first real match, we are okay with the results,” Maryann Castaneda-Hodges, girls’ soccer coach, commented.
The team felt that they performed successfully, despite the circumstances.
“As a whole, I thought we did very well considering that was our first time all playing together as a team,” junior Erica Blake Sellars, a teammate, explained.
Throughout their first game, Castaneda-Hodges noticed many positive and negative aspects.
“Quite a few girls scored goals so they were glad to have the win. The other team was pretty pushy so some were a little grumpy about that,” she recalled. “But I think overall they were glad to have a game finally and they are looking forward to the next game.”
Sophomore Sayda Rojas-Campbell led all scorers with a game-high four goals.
Their second game was Tuesday, May 4 against William Byrd and the girls’ first away game. The team wasn’t able to hold a winning streak, as they lost 4-0.
“For both the games so far, I was pretty satisfied with my performance, even though in the Byrd game, we didn’t get the result we wanted,” Sellars replied.
Having two games back to back proved difficult for the team as they moved from one opponent to the next.
“It was hard to transition from Monday’s game to Tuesday’s. Both opponents are total opposites, and I think we really needed this game to help us judge where we are as a team,” Castaneda-Hodges elaborated. “This game [was] more competitive and [gave] us a better gauge of where the team is compared to other strong programs in the area.”
Despite Tuesday’s loss, the girls are trying to stay optimistic about their progress.
“We [were] upset when we lost against Byrd, but we played really well [and] so did the other team. I feel like we are going to do well and get more goals in [our next] game,” junior Melody Castaneda-Gonzalez, a teammate, said.
Although the girls were satisfied with the outcome of their games as a whole, there are still some touch-ups to be made.
“We need to work on transitioning from defense to offense as a whole unit. And also transition from offense to defense as a whole unit. We also plan to work on increasing our speed of play,” Castaneda-Hodges replied.
Each teammate has a plan to increase their skills individually and for the overall team during practices in preparation for their upcoming games.
“Personally, I definitely feel like I can work on my defense and stepping to the ball a lot quicker. As a whole, we definitely need to stay more connected and talk a lot more,” Sellars explained.
There are many different areas that the girls will be working on during practices before their next game. There is a consensus about the improvement of the team’s communication skills.
“Something that I would work on is giving out good passes. Something the team should work at is communicating more on the field and with our passes,” Castaneda-Gonzalez commented.
Overall, the team has high anticipation for the rest of the season.
“The girls are glad to be playing games and I think they are looking forward to seeing this team again after we work on a few things and prepare,” Castaneda-Hodges concluded.
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