Park girls’ soccer turned up the energy and scored points back after halftime, making the score 1-2 with 15 minutes left. The Orioles conceded another goal from a penalty later in the match, making 3-1 the final score concluding the regular-season.
Head coach Anne Beaton said the intensity was there for the game but the end result wasn’t in their favor.
“We did well today—we worked hard as a team,” Beaton said. “The effort was strong, the focus was there and the result didn’t show what it looked like to me on the field.”
Senior Anna Williams said in practice, they’ve been working on the attacking side of the ball to improve and put more points up on the board.
“We’ve been doing a lot of offensive work—our defense is pretty strong,” Williams said. “We have a few lapses, but we’re just working on working together on offense, making those passes and coordinating good plays to have more scoring opportunities.”
Junior Lucia Versalles said to prepare for the section’s game, the team needs to practice how they want to play. She said the team needs to be more vocal on the field to improve for the next game.
“We’re going to prepare for (our next game) by talking about visualizing. We’re going to visualize what we want to do in the game by doing it at practice,” Versalles said. ”We’re also going to practice and work together more as a team—building more trust and communication.”
Williams said her goal was to be more of an in-game leader and help control the game. She said she thinks the team needs to bond more and build more as a community.
“My personal goal was to move up the field more, make more direct plays and help manage the game—throughout the season, I did that,” Williams said. “The goal was to make sure everyone connected. At the start of the seasons It was off-balance between veteran players and novice players, and we really worked together to change that, and that showed up in this game.”
Versalles said she was unhappy knowing this was the seniors’ last game considering how tight the team is. She said she’s going to miss the seniors because they started playing on varsity around the same time as her.
“Knowing it was the seniors’ last game makes me really sad because I’m really close to these girls,” Versalles said. “A lot of these girls made the team at the same time as I did—it’s going to be really hard to see them go.”
Beaton said the team’s goals from the beginning of the season were to go even or “500”—a neutral win and lose percentage. She said this goal was met, however, the team still has a goal they hope to achieve.
“We had a goal of being about 500, which I think we ended up about 500, so we got to that,” Beaton said. “Our other goal is to get past the first section game. We still have to do that but the section is a new season for us.”
Park girls’ soccer’s next first round of sections is Oct. 9. The time and place are TBD.
