Girls advance to CCS quarterfinals despite difficult league season

After beating Leigh High 2-0 in the first round on Feb. 26, the girls’ soccer team advanced to quarterfinals of CCS for the first time in Saratoga history. The girls lost a close game to Woodside 2-1 during the quarterfinal round on March 1 and ended their season with a 9-9-2 record.

The Falcons had a strong preseason, but a tough league season, ultimately placing fifth.

Co-captain senior Stephanie Ho said they just weren’t able to get the results they were hoping for.

“We had a lot of close games, but we just didn’t get very lucky,” Ho said.

Ho, however, believes that they did end up having a successful season after making it past the first round of the playoffs.

“We’ve really improved upon since last year,” Ho said. “Everyone was really determined so we really pulled through in the end.”

Even with multiple injuries and losing key seniors from last year, the team had a strong performance in the Division II tournament for CCS. They beat Leigh with goals from sophomore Lauren Plesse and senior co-captain Lindsay Webster.

Webster’s goal was a header in the first five minutes of play.

Webster attributes what success the team did have to its coach Ben Maxwell, who helped push them, but Webster believes the team could have advanced to semi-finals.

“[The Woodside game] was really close and we should have won,” Webster said. “It was just that a lot of us were sick.”

Ho shares a similar view in how the girls did and acknowledges that there were understandable discrepancies in their defense.

“Everyone [had] been playing the whole game, so we were all a little tired,” Ho said. “We did have a lot of close chances, some off the posts, but we were just that little bit off.”

Even so, the girls are happy with their final results.

“We’ve gone further that we ever have before, so our success shows,” Webster said.