Soccer: Girls look to build closer relationships among players

Previews for the field hockey season.

Previews

Head coach: Ben Maxwell

Last season’s record: 1-10-1

Last season recap: The team performed well in the preseason but struggled in the regular season due to multiple injuries.

Key additions: freshman Leila Chaudhry, junior Jennah El-Ashmawi and sophomore Claire Smerdon

Key matchups in the upcoming season: Los Gatos, Homestead, Los Altos and Santa Clara.

Star players: junior right centerback Sasha Pickard, senior midfielder Chloe McGhee, senior midfielder Daphne Liu

Key losses (players that graduated): Emily Chen

Which league the team is in: SCVAL De Anza league

The girls must compensate for a significant loss of players, including 2017 graduate Emily Chen. Her sister, senior Caroline Chen is currently out with a torn ACL and sophomore goalkeeper Adrienne Chan has opted out of playing this season. Senior Christina Walb will fill the goalie position for the upcoming season.

The Falcons anticipate challenges from losing so many key players but expect to compensate with a lot of hard work.

“Losing Emily Chen will be tough for us. Emily was a great communicator and hard worker,” coach Ben Maxwell said. “Luckily, we have many good players and some decent incoming freshman, so we will be working hard to replace her.”

Citing a lack of team cohesiveness that contributed to disappointing results last season, senior Allison Borch hopes to build team chemistry and build closer relationships with the freshmen on the team.

“I think some people’s attitudes were kind of not super focused,” Borch said. “In terms of team chemistry, not everyone knew each other super well, and that translates onto the field, and we didn’t play as well because of that.”

Maxwell stresses the importance of the players’ mentality at practice and at games.

“We look to commit ourselves fully to the job we have, and to make sure we treat every game like a cup final,” Maxwell said. “The only way to accomplish making this is to be the best possible versions of ourselves every day in training. Ultimately, our training mentality will transition into games, so we will, set our standards on training and maintain them in games.”

The Falcons will play their first game on Dec. 1 against Half Moon Bay High School at home, and then begin their regular season on Jan. 1 against Palo Alto High School after a total of four non-conference games in December.