Caption: The PACA Warrior Ladies Celebrate after scoring the goal. [by Elisa Oliveira]
by Luisa Almeida
September 2nd, Monday night, the varsity girls soccer team faced EAC to earn a solid victory with one goal scored against their formidable opponents. In past years, EAC has normally been a hard team to play against, because they were also one of the SPHSL leaders among international schools in the community.
PACA coaches have been preparing their athletes and putting great effort in the past few weeks to train them, not only for the league but also for the Big 8 tournament at NR as well.
The weeks leading up to PACA’s start in the league included at least one hour to two hours of practice time after school four times a week. With the new schedule allowing three sections of practice every day, the girls were able to double up practice times several times a week to improve their skills.
The game against EAC brought the game to PACA’s home turf, which may have given PACA students an advantage. However, the weather was not favorable for the game as the weather grew cold and mist settled over the playing field during the second half of the game.
The first half of the game was a battle of equal strength, and no one scored until PACA seized the advantage. Julia Fernandes took an assist from Larissa Anderson and scored at approximately 12 minutes into the second half.
There were two close calls at 31 minutes and 34 minutes. The game ended with a direct free kick which did not result in any additional goals. The final score had PACA winning 1:0.
According to senior Giovanna Souza, the PACA warriors were determined to win an important battle that was not to be found on the soccer field itself.
“In my opinion you need to be mentally prepared before the game,” said Souza. “So you can know what you are going to achieve.”
Souza also stressed the importance of getting physically prepared before playing a soccer game.
“I also stretch, because (if you don’t) you have a higher chance to get injured, communicate with your team,” said Souza. “Because you can become more aligned, for example, if your teammate doesn’t have the same goals we are not gonna play well.”
The Varsity soccer team had a good start in the league after their earlier game on Tuesday, August 20. Their win against Chapel with a 1×0 score, gave the Warriors a much needed boost of confidence for their future games Warriors also won in their away game against St. Paul’s team with a great penalty shootout.
Giovanna Souza also said, “I’m pretty confident this year, we have great chances of winning this league, most of our team have played most of their year, and overall not only in the field but out of it as well, we have a great connection with each other which makes it easier.”
