Girls’ soccer kicking back into shape

Early on, the girls’ soccer team kicked off with a strong 4-0-2 record during preseason. Lately, though, the Falcons have fallen on hard times with tough losses to Los Gatos, Palo Alto and Los Altos. The team currently stands it fifth place in the De Anza league.

In their first league game against Homestead on Jan. 8, the girls captured a 2-1 win with goals by Lauren Plesse and Lindsey Webster. Coach Ben Maxwell said that while the girls did win, they just “snuck the win” after being down 1-0  at half-time. He said it was the only time he has ever been unhappy with the girls at half-time.

“At the end of the day, good teams can play bad and still win,” Maxwell said.

The team, however, was not able to sustain this winning momentum and lost its next three games.

The girls lost 2-1 to Los Gatos on Jan. 10, 3-0 to Palo Alto, on Jan. 15 and 2-0 to Los Altos on Jan. 17. Despite losing three consecutive games to tough teams, the girls were able to get back on the winning track when they won 2-0 against the Monta Vista Matadors on Jan. 22 with goals by Plesse and senior Isabel Castellanos.

Despite the loss against Los Gatos, Maxwell said that the girls “took a lot of confidence” from the fact that Los Gatos celebrated the win so much.

“Last year after they beat us, they walked away like it was another day,” Maxwell said, “but this year, it’s changed to ‘that’s a big result beating Saratoga.’”

So far in the season Webster and senior Taylor Moran, along with Plesse, have emerged as the team's highest scoring players during league matches, scoring four, three, and two goals respectively.

This year the girls are playing with the similar strategies to what they used last year, ones that got them into CCS. The girls, however, are hoping that they can one up their last year’s performance and make it past the first round of CCS. The girls believe that their forwards, who alternate and include players like Webster, Moran, and Plesse are key to the team’s success. 

“[Our] quick thinking and good passing have made our offense a force to reckon with,” freshman player Nicole Lin said.

Despite the hard competition, Maxwell is optimistic.

“We’re always going to be up against it, but we’re excited,” Maxwell said.