The Annandale Girls Soccer team is currently on a two game winning streak, hoping to continue to improve their 3-4-1 record this season.
The team is working hard in practice to prepare for the remainder of the season, Junior Erin Hanlen said, “In practice we have been practicing moving the ball quicker throughout all portions of the field, and working on communicating with each other,”
There have been many injuries during the season, which have forced the team to play a few games without some key players.
“The biggest struggle for me personally was getting injured in my senior season,” Said Senior Amaya Sutton-Antezana, who injured her knee during their game against Woodbridge.
Sutton-Antezana said one of the hardest parts of dealing with her injury as a captain was, “Having to accept it and not let it get to me while still being there for my teammates, and still supporting them through out the rest of the season, even though I’m not able to play in the games.”
Coming away from their last two games with 13 goals against Lewis High School and Justice High School, Junior Sara Nagle described it as a highlight of the season.
“It was a complete team effort and we all had a lot of fun together,” Said Nagle, after beating Justice High School 6-0.
Hanlen, Sutton-Antezana, and Nagle are three of the four team captains, fellow captain Senior Jana Russell agrees that the team has a lot of fun when they’re together, “My favorite part of the season so far has been being able to be part of such a fun and entertaining team,” Said Russell,
“I also enjoy all of coach Jake’s pregame speeches and the team bonding activities!”
The team has done many team bonding activities throughout the season, whether it was just a quick trip to Chick-Fil-A after a game, or a hangout at someone’s house.
“I think team bonding is great because, you know, the chemistry and whatnot,” said Head Coach Jake Vaughn.
Vaughn also expressed his thoughts on the team’s record this season, “I think we’re better than the record indicates. We played a pretty hard schedule and then also had results that haven’t gone our way when they should have.”
As far as strategies to improve for upcoming games, Vaughn explained, “obviously there’s always things we can improve on, but we’re working on playing to our level and executing the things we do well,”
Specifically, Vaughn said the team hopes to continue to improve on skills like, “Being proactive, keeping the pressure on, playing our style with a tough defense and proactive offense and putting more goals in than the other teams.”
Vaughn said, “we have a lot of talent across the board and we’re working towards maximizing what we have.”
For the rest of the season, Vaughn said, “we’ve definitely got many things left on the table,” He also stated that the future for the Annandale Girls Soccer team is going to be, “Dub City.”
The Girls Soccer Team faces off against Edison high school and Mount Vernon high school in the next couple of weeks. For their senior night on May 7th against Edison high school, the team will graduate seven seniors.
