The JV girls’ soccer team faced the Hendrickson Hawks on Friday, Feb. 15. Even with several close attempts on goal and strong defense, the Lady Warriors were unable to defeat the Hawks 2-0.

“We need to have a better first touch and be quicker to the ball,” Emma Goolsbey ‘21 said. “We were really fighting towards the end though, and we connected a lot of passes.”

The Hawks began the first half with the kickoff, but the Lady Warriors’ strong defense didn’t let them go very far with the ball, and immediately took possession. Although Hendrickson also put up tough defense, the Lady Warriors were able to keep the ball and make it down the field with passes by Eliza Kotick ‘22, Sophia Ghelardini ‘21, and Ella Moss ‘22. The Hawks were able to regain control, though, and made two close attempts on goal, which were saved by goalkeeper Gabbi Wallace ‘22. In the third attempt, the Hawks slipped through the Lady Warriors’ defense and made the first goal of the game. The Lady Warriors’ didn’t let the Hawks celebrate, and several swift tackles were made by Katelyn Woodruff ‘21, and a close shot attempt was made by Kotick as a result of a free kick. They also ramped up their defense, with Anita You ‘22 and Ghelardini ensuring the Hawks weren’t able to get close to the goal. Olivia Williams ‘21 had quality ballwork and passes that helped the Lady Warriors’ put pressure on the goal, leading to a shot attempt by Woodruff. With a few seconds left in the first half, the Hawks quickly regained possession of the ball and a sudden shot attempt that slipped through Wallace’s fingers led to the Hawks ending the first half 2-0.

“In the first half we weren’t connecting any passes and we weren’t communicating,” You said. “In the second half we tried to bring it all back, and we had a lot of chances in a 15 minute period, but we just weren’t able to finish them.”

The Lady Warriors’ began the second half looking for a goal to fight back, and due to quick defense by Goolsbey , had a couple of attempts on goal made by Kotick and Claire Carpenter ‘21 right off the bat. The Hawks responded with a tackle that led to a shot attempt, but Wallace blocked it easily. After that, the Lady Warriors’ put up their strongest defensive front and didn’t let the Hawks near the goal. Tackles by Karine Leclercq ‘21 and You led to an unsuccessful shot attempt by Woodruff. With five minutes left on the clock, Izzy Brown ‘22 was determined to make a goal, though, and a tough tackle by her and passes by Woodruff led to Goolsbey with a shot that barely missed the goal. Brown swiftly attempted at redemption with another shot, which missed the goal as well. The half ended with the Lady Warriors’ keeping the ball away from the Hawks, but unable to score a goal for themselves 2-0.

“We worked really hard this game,” Ghelardini said. “There were some times [when] we broke down, like when they scored their second goal. I feel like we could’ve pushed harder and made a couple more passes, but for a good 15 minutes during the second half we had amazing passes and a bunch of shots on the goal.”

The JV girls’ soccer team will play their next game against the Vista Ridge Rangers on Tuesday, Feb. 19 .