Caption: The PACA Warrior Ladies Celebrate after winning the game in penalty shots. [by Elisa Oliveira]
by Luisa Almeida
August 22, 2024 – Thursday night there was a varsity girls soccer game versus St. Paul’s at their home campus, bringing a solid but not easily earned win to the PACA Warrior team.
Last year, the St. Paul’s varsity girls soccer team was not a hard team to play against. PACA has been able to showcase their skills in most of the games that they win. The last JV game against St Paul’s, gave PACA a chance to win with a high score against their opponents. This year, the PACA Warrior ladies faced a much more formidable opponent in the St. Paul’s team.
The Lady Warriors were riding high into this game, after winning their first game against Chapel (1-0), when they arrived at St. Paul’s on Thursday afternoon.
Freshman Anita Silva felt prepared going into the game when they started their game at 5:30.
“We practice with great effort in each practice to get a great start in the league,” said Silva. “I drank a lot of water and prayed a lot for God to play in my place, for the Holy Spirit to play in my place.”
Rebeca Bernabé, another PACA athlete, also noted that they put a lot of effort into their daily practice time in order to be ready for their games. According to Bernabé, there are two key elements needed for her to play well.
“We have to take care of our mentality and we have to be physically okay,” said Bernabé.
The first half of the game was a battle of equal strength, as no one scored until St. Paul’s made the first goal.
It wasn’t until the second half of the game when senior Larissa Anderson was able to score the late equalizer and brought the score to 1:1 by the end of regulation time.
This brought the game to penalty kicks, in which PACA won with three goals over St. Paul’s two goals.
“I knew it was going to be a hard game,” said Silva. “They are a strong team, but I knew the potential that our team had to win that game!”
Although the PACA Warriors won by a narrow margin, it was a well deserved win for the PACA team.
“We worked really hard to earn it,” said Bernabé.
