The girls soccer team advanced past round two in playoffs to play against Spring Hill in round three. They beat Bullard with a score of 2-1. The girls have been playing and working strong this season. 

“It’s exciting since we worked so hard to get to advance to playoffs, and we will continue to work hard and give it all we got on the field,” senior Alexia Sosa said. 

The team doing this well was not expected by many of the players. 

“I didn’t expect our season to be like this,” Sosa said. “It surprised me, but I see us getting better and better each game.”

Other members of the team got exactly what they expected. 

“I expected us to grow and that’s exactly what we did,” freshman Kaitlyn Tryon said. “We really wanted a win, and we got one, after that the feeling you get when you win brought us closer together.”

Not only that, all of the players have high expectations for the rest of the season as well. 

“The rest of the season I’d expect us not only to win but to keep going,” Tryon said. “We came from such a low state of mind, we shouldn’t give up now.”

The head coach for girls’ soccer is Todd Bondurant, and he is proud of how the season has gone.

“This season is going well,” Bondurant said. “We are starting to peck at the right time. The girls are starting to come together.”

Bondurant has challenged the girls since the beginning of the season by making them compete against bigger, tougher schools, by making them play positions they never have before, and by pushing them to be the best players they can be. 

“My coaches know how I play and have seen me play my best,” sophomore Gloria Cedillo said. “They know what to expect from me, so when I’m not playing my best they know to push me because they know I can play way better than I am.”

Some of the seniors are having a tough time with the end of their high school soccer career. 

“It makes me sad thinking that my last game can be anytime now, but I just spend the moments I have left with the girls and have fun,” Sosa said. 

All of the players have been affected by the sport in different ways, and they have learned many lessons from their time playing. 

“It’s not about the sport, not about how YOU play, not about what YOU did, not about what YOU didn’t do,” Tryon said. “It’s about what the TEAM did and how you can fix it or make it better. Soccer isn’t a one person sport, you didn’t just make a mistake & it wasn’t your fault. Soccer has taught me to rely on people, to trust them.”

Other players have learned the importance of other skills. 

“I’ve learned that communication is really important in soccer,” freshman Phenix Rivers. 

All of the girls agree that there is no teammate that has helped any of them. The team has always worked together in order to grow. Everyone has helped each other. 

“All of my teammates have helped me develop my skills,” freshman Aliyah Veloz said. “They taught me soccer is not just kicking a ball, but it’s growing as a family and bonding.”

Many of the girls agree that their best memories come from the team bonding. 

“My favorite memory has been the team bonding,” Cedillo said. “We all had the chance to hang out together and get to know each other better. For instance, when we went to the tournament in Forney, we had karaoke, and we all sang together and all laughed so hard that night.”

All of the girls offered a piece of advice for any younger students who wanted to play the game in the future. 

“Do not get discouraged,” junior Lesly Herrera said. “It is not easy, but if you are willing to put in the work, everything will be alright.”