Girls’ soccer team pick up the intensity in hopes of making CCS

After losing 2-0 against the Mountain View Spartans on Jan. 25, the 3-4-1 girls’ soccer team is stuck in the middle of the league standings in the second half of the season.
Both teams were evenly matched with equal possession throughout the game. Although the Falcons moved the ball well along the defensive line, they struggled once they crossed the Spartans’ half of the field. The Spartans successfully slowed down the Falcons’ passing game by quickly closing in on offensive charges.

The Falcons tried to split the Spartans’ defense with penetrating passes down the middle of the field; however, one mispass from the Falcons resulted in a quick break away, which led to the Spartans’ first goal.

In the second half, the Falcons continued to push the ball forward towards the goal. Despite multiple shot attempts on the Spartans’ goal, the Falcons could not get the ball in the back of the net. In addition, The Spartans were able to beat the Falcons’  defense with a clear off a corner kick and got another goal.

Although the Falcons continued their persistent attack and held strong defensively for the rest of the game, the team failed to catch up.

After their loss, the Falcons look to fix their mistakes for future games.  

“Our solidity as a defensive unit could have been improved since [Mountain View] found the gaps in our back line and being a good team they capitalized on them very easily,” junior forward Lindsay Webster said. “Offensively we should have taken more shots and finished from the really good crosses put into the box.”

Prior to playing Mountain View, the Falcons had a 3-1 loss to Los Gatos and a 3-1 win over Gunn on Jan. 16 and Jan. 14 respectively. The goal scored against Los Gatos was made by Webster while junior Taylor Moran, Webster and freshman Kimberly Chen each scored a goal against Gunn.

After their loss to Los Gatos midway through the team’s season, coach Ben Maxwell has picked up the intensity of practices for the rest of the season in hopes of gathering wins to clinch a spot CCS.

“We are focusing on winning the games that we could have won in the first half of this season and hopefully our intense trainings will help us with that,” Webster said.
With the season coming to an end, the Falcons still think they have a shot at CCS.

“Our goal is to make it to CCS in the highest division, the one we're in, for the first time in school history,” Webster said.