Having a young team is both a blessing and a curse, which the girls’ varsity soccer team learned quickly.
The year was filled with high hopes and aspirations, the majority of the players on the team were young or first-time varsity players, but their dedication was as strong as the seniors. Coach Carrissa Purnell wanted to mold the young players’ skills and mindsets to make them stronger against the competition.
The girls opened up the preseason with a victory of 2-1 over a long-standing rival, Christopher High School. They had always fallen short to Christopher, which was a great victory for the Trojans. “When we beat Christopher I felt we were on our way to the top,” Purnell said. “We started strong in preseason, but struggled to maintain momentum.”
The Trojans went 2-4 in the preseason, dropping their last four games and things did not get better in league play. They started the season with a 0-1 loss against Rancho San Juan. “I think what our problem [was] is not talking as much, not communicating on the field,” senior Isabella Sanchez said.
The team continued to struggle, losing 8 straight matches before earning a draw against Monterey, then dropping their last 3 games to finish last in the league at 0-11-1. “League matches were close, and despite the string of losses, I truly felt confident winning was within reach,” Purnell said. Unfortunately, the team moved down to the Mission Division.
Going winless is never easy, but Purnell wasn’t looking for excuses. “While we did have a young squad, our league struggles were our own,” she said. “The most difficult hurdles to climb are often the ones we set, and it was a mental challenge to face errors and respond with the effort needed to correct them. As a coach, I felt the burden the team carried, and own the losses in my own leadership. We tried new formations, self-reflection exercises, and team evaluations and never were quite able to dig into the heart we needed to lift ourselves up.”
For the seniors, a winless season was extremely upsetting. “It wasn’t really what I was hoping for or what I expected,” senior Elizabeth Ortega said. However, Ortega is proud of herself, “A personal achievement was getting first team and being chosen for the All-Stars team, first team is when they choose the best players of the whole league.” Hard work was a primary factor in the seniors’ great personal success. “I had a lot of progress [since freshman year], it was mostly [due to] practicing at home and off-season,” senior Isabella Sanchez said.
All the seniors share fond memories as they’ve been playing all of high school together, “I feel sad as these 4 years playing high school soccer have been super fun [and] filled with great memories being able to have such amazing teammates and have created new friendships that I will never forget,” senior Isabella Salazar said. More than anything, playing on the team sparked new and long-lasting friendships, “I had the greatest connection with Ellie [Elizabeth Ortega], she’s one of my best friends and I’ve played with her multiple years now,” senior captain Aileen Cardenas said.
