Girls soccer works to be successful with a young team

Many freshmen and sophomore soccer players dream of playing on the varsity team. They dream of possibly being among the experienced juniors and seniors. But this year, those hopes of being among those more experienced soccer players,  may seem like nothing more but a pipe dream.

Because last year’s varsity team consisted of seniors and not as many juniors, the team had to bring in freshmen and junior varsity players to play on the team.

“There’s not as much of a consistency,” says junior Jazmin Carrillo. “There’s always one or two players that don’t show up to practice.”

For a slightly more experienced player, it can be frustrating to have to wait for the younger players to get a grasp of the plays and rules. And it can be hard at times for those who are ready to play, when team captain, Vanessa Garcia, has to pull some team members aside to work with them individually. Garcia is especially familiar with the challenges of working with the newer players.
              

“It’s difficult at times,” Garcia said. “The JV players just don’t understand the game yet.”

To make matters worse,  Garcia has had to sit out on the majority of the season due to an ankle injury. And it’s been hard for her to work with her players when she’s been sitting out on the bench. Garcia just got back on the field and played her first game three weeks ago.

“It’s hard not to be as involved in the practices,” she said. “I show better leadership on the field.”

Despite the challenges of working with younger players, Garcia still says they all work well together as a team. They all do the best they can with what they have, and Garcia works with every freshman and sophomore that needs the help and advisement. One sophomore that she works with to improve her performances on the soccer field is Stephanie Silva.

Silva had to be bumped up from the JV team this year to fill up one of the spaces left by one of the seniors from last year.

“It’s more intimidating,” Silva said. “There’s more pressure to do well on the varsity team.”

Silva says on the JV team, the games were slower than those on varsity. There’s more work involved in and out of practice to live up to the expectations.

Even though there are struggles in working with the younger teammates, the varsity team is still sticking together, working through the problems they have. Coach Chris Viri sees his players’ efforts paying off.

“It’s taken them a while to adjust,” he said. “But they’re playing much better now.” Viri said this year has been a struggle, but they’ve been working hard and want to build upon their success. This year they want to improve the league record and host a playoff game instead of travel to one.

Although they have not been  winning as many games as they would like, the players are staying positive and working towards their goal.