This year, the girls’ varsity soccer team advanced to the second round of playoffs for the first time in over ten years. Although they lost the game against Tompkins High School, the players and coaches were proud of their accomplishment and hoped that the team would continue to give their all to advance as far as possible next season.

Senior Charlotte Ehlers started playing soccer when she was six years old. She played defense and outside mid-fielder for the school for three years, but she noticed a change this year.

“Something just clicked this year,” Ehlers said. “We were able to play well together, helping each other out and encouraging each other. I think it was the collective spirit of hard work and dedication to each other that really helped us get us where we are.”

Testing coordinator and girls’ varsity soccer coach Alan Thompson agreed with Ehlers. He noted that one lost playoff game did not define the team’s entire season.

“It was really the culmination of a lot of years and a lot of people building,” Thompson said. “A lot of the credit goes to the seniors who came before them who built really this team to where we have it now. This team was very driven and was willing to put in the work and really did everything they could do, on and off the field, to get that win.”

Defensive player senior Ariana Cruz was proud of the team’s growth in her four years playing soccer. She felt confident that the team would maintain its hard work next year and advance further in the playoffs.

“We set goals for the season and worked to accomplish them,” Cruz said. “I expect the team to put in all their effort and work their hardest to try to get far next season.”

The process of building a strong soccer team was not easy. Both the coach and the players said that it was a group effort reliant upon past members forming a sense of family among the team, which was translated onto the field. This year’s team forged a pathway that allowed teams in the future to set and achieve even higher goals for success.

“This year’s team sort of opened a new door,” Thompson said. “Now, next year’s team and the following years’ teams can hopefully go through that door and continue to go further along that path to success.”