On Thursday, November 30, Irvington’s Girls Varsity soccer team took on San Leandro High School in their last preseason game. They had won their previous two games and were looking forward to completing an undefeated preseason.
The game started rough, with San Leandro scoring in the first three minutes. They continued to dominate most of the possession during the first half. Despite this, the Lady Vikings continued to persevere. They had many shots on goal and persisted through many missed offside calls. The Vikings managed to keep their opponents from scoring for over thirty minutes. However, San Leandro scored two more goals with 10 minutes left in the half. Irvington responded when midfielder Abby Nunez (10) was able to score off a corner kick just two minutes before the end of the half. The first half ended 1-3 with San Leandro ahead.
Irvington came back even stronger in the second half, evening out possession and gaining even more shots on goal. Possession went back and forth between the two teams. The second half remained scoreless, as goalie Natalie Brahan (11) made many impressive saves throughout the game.
It was evident that the team made adjustments during halftime. Coach Becerra had advised the team to: “Relax, settle down, and do the things that they know how to do. Even if we make mistakes, as long as we try to improve ourselves it doesn’t matter [as] that’s the only way we’re going to grow as soccer players.”
The team had spent most of the preseason teaching new members the basics as the majority had never played the sport before. Captain Lola Fetsch (12) commented: “We spent most of our time learning how to play the game and teaching everyone just to love the game in general. To be honest, I was a little nervous in the beginning because we didn’t have a lot of our old players, but so far I’m really liking how it’s turning out and I’m proud of the girls.”
Although the game ended 1-3, the team showed many improvements throughout and ultimately finished the preseason stronger than they were before.
