Energy being high, the last home game of the season for girl’s soccer, senior players are being recognized and celebrated before they walk away from the field for the last time. The short ceremony includes giving the seniors leis, candy, and announcing their appreciations throughout their soccer career.
“Basically, all of our seniors will start and they’ll get the majority of the playing time, which is well deserved,” Midfielder and team captain Bailey Milovich said. “And then we’ll have the senior ceremony. And we give them our hugs and send them off. It’s really sad, but it’s also really sweet too.”
This year’s season has been quite successful with only one loss and one tie so far. The team’s hard work has been displayed on field with their overt teamwork and synchronization, evident with senior captain midfielder Maleia Dayao (#10) ending the night with four goals.
“I always like getting in the right head space, so I write affirmations down that’ll help me focus on what I need to do for the game,” Captain midfielder Maleia Dayao said. “I think we all like being on the same page. The [writing] affirmations thing I started at the beginning of the season, because it worked for me in the postseason last year, I think that helped the team to really focus on the positives.”
The team’s success can be attributed to the strong defense, with a shutout in this game by senior goalkeeper Emerson Welborn (#1). Senior captain defender Annika Pexton (#13) scoring a goal, along with senior captain defender Prestle Agana (#2), senior midfielder Jordan Zwan (#19), and senior midfielder Olivia Jaurez (#3) who also had two assists, all displaying the strength of their offense as well. This offensive performance kept the ball on the opponent’s half of the field for most of the game.
“I would say we are a very fast and very ‘attack minded’ team,” Head coach Patrick Leonard said. “So as a program, we try to just goal and with our team and the varsity team that you saw tonight, just a real fast, aggressive willingness to goal at all times.”
With the team’s tight collaboration, their skills and strengths have expanded and been refined for players to radiate on the field.
“There’s still a lot of games left to be played, hopefully, but I’ve just seen the way we play,” Leonard said. “I’ve seen the way we pass the ball, the way we move, the way we create opportunities, has improved.”
