vs. Cy Ridge

The week before Spring Break the JV Girls Soccer Team finished District play. On Tuesday, the girls faced off against the Cy Ridge Rams for the second time. The team set a record for the quickest goal of the season by scoring in the first 40 seconds of play. Freshman - Sofia Aguilar passed to Sophomore - Katharine Fowler, who sent the ball up to Freshman - Brooklyn Baber. She dribbled 40 yards to the goal and, at the last second, passed it into the middle, where Freshman - Blair Hunter tapped it in. SHS 1 - CRHS 0. A few minutes later, Sophomore - Amrylin Duhon passed to Freshman - Dalton Cashman. She turned, beat her defender, and laid it out wide to Junior - Cate Shofner. She cut the ball back inside, finding Cashman again. Cashman passed it up to Baber, who battled through two defenders before she found herself open enough to take a shot that went past the goalie. SHS 2 - CRHS 0. The next 15 minutes consisted of ball work and keep-away. With about 13 minutes left, Sophomore - Camille Warren intercepted a goal kick. She tapped the ball up to Junior - Maddie Verrett, who beat her defender before putting the ball in. SHS 3 - CRHS 0. Four minutes later, Hunter stole the ball and found Shofner. She turned and laid it out wide to Freshman - Elise Bernadac, who was making a run down the line. Bernadac dribbled toward the goal before taking a shot that went through the goalie's hands to score her first goal of the season!! SHS 5 - CRHS 0. With 5 minutes lef,t the Spartans earned a corner kick. Shofner went out wide to take it and sent the perfect ball into the box. Aguilar was first to it and got a shot off before the defenders could close, scoring the final goal of the half. SHS 6 - CRHS 0.

In the second half, the girls tried to score as quickly as the first half, but this time the defenders were able to stop them. Three and one-half minutes in, Baber won the ball off of a Cy Ridge punt. She quickly laid the ball out wide to Sophomore - Trysta Truong, who dribbled it down before putting the ball into the net. SHS 6 - CRHS 0. Another round of ball work and keep-away took place for 15 minutes, but as soon as the girls got the go-ahead from the coach to score, they did. With 18 minutes left, Sophomore - Bella Saavedra sent a beautiful ball into the box. Freshman - Sofia Denson did a nice chest trap to bring it down before she quickly volleyed the ball in to make it SHS 7 - CRHS 0. For the next 9 minutes, the entire team worked to set Sophomore - Sylvia Castaneda up to score. So many close calls kept the parents engaged and excited. Finally, with 8:30 left on the clock, everything came together. Quick ball movement all around plus fast pressure by Castaneda saw her in front of the goal with the ball at her feet. She quickly took the shot, scoring her first goal of the season, and the Spartans' final for the game. SHS 8 - CRHS 0.

vs. Memorial

On Friday before Spring Break, the long-awaited round-two rivalry game took place with the District Championship on the line. The Spartans came out ready for a physical battle. Just 4 minutes into the game, Sophomore - Ella Bui won the ball in the middle. She found Freshman - Brooklyn Baber up top. She turned to beat her defender, then pulled it back, where she laid the ball back to Bui, who took a one-touch shot, but it went just wide. Just 3 minutes later, the Mustangs took the ball down on their own attack, taking a rifling shot at Sophomore Goalie - Sophia Schulz, but she came up big denying them before Freshman - Annie Katterhenry cleared the ball out. Sophomore - Camille Warren headed the ball off of a Mustang goal kick up to Baber. Baber then laid it back to Warren, who looked to float the ball into the back post. It looked like it might sail over the goalie's head, but at the last second, it spun away from the goal, leaving us still searching for the net. Baber pressured their defense at full speed. As they tried to clear the ball, it deflected off of her and rocketed at the goal, causing their goalie to have to make a diving save to keep it from going in. Bui stepped up and took the corner. She sent the perfect ball into the middle of the box, where Sophomore - Kaija Sola headed the ball toward the goal, but it just missed. With 18 minutes left, the Mustangs got their own corner. Sophomore - Lily Terveen stepped in and won the ball in the air by heading it out to Baber. She turned and sent the ball to the opposite side of the field to Junior - Cate Shofner. Shofner sent the ball forward to Sola, who took it down and earned a corner. Bui stepped in and took the corner. Sola headed it twice, but the ball just never could find the net. With 16 minutes left, Sola took a shot from 30 yards out that was deflected by a Mustang defender. The defender then put pressure on the defense, resulting in a bad clearance that landed at the feet of Freshman - Sofia Denson. She did not hesitate to take a one-touch shot that was perfectly placed out of the reach of the goalie to find the net making it SHS 1 - MHS 0. During the last 15 minutes, Freshman - Mia Leonoras did a great job of stepping in multiple times, winning the ball and finding Stratford feet in the hopes to get an attack going, but the ball went back and forth with neither team having many opportunities on goal.

The second half quickly started back with adrenaline high knowing what we were playing for in these last 35 minutes of the season. The first 10 minutes was a lot like the last 15 minutes of the first half. Both teams worked to attack, but neither had many opportunities on goal as the defense for both teams kept denying the other team's attack. The first time we looked to really get an attack going was when Shofner sent the ball behind the defenders on the back side to Sophomore - Trysta Truong. It looked to be a foot race to the ball. Unfortunately, the defender played the ball just right, denying Truong access. Her pressure forced the Mustang defender's clearance to land at Denson's feet, where she tried to find the net again, but this time it was saved. Leonoras headed the ball out of the back to Sola's feet. She found Baber, who made a great turn before finding Truong's feet. She dribbled toward the middle of the field, then pulled it back and found Warren making a run up the sideline. Warren sent a beautiful ball into the back post, where Sola looked to finish, but the Mustang defender took her down from behind,  resulting in a yellow card for the Mustang and a penalty kick for the Spartans. Sola stepped up to take it, looking to increase our lead. The shot looked good, but somehow it went just wide. Freshman - Blair Hunter, Sophomore - Bella Saavedra, and Junior - Maddie Verrett came in and quickly made an impact. Saavedra's and Verrett's touches on the ball, along with Hunter's speed and aggressiveness, gave the girls some energy to keep fighting. In the last 5 minutes, the Mustangs tried to make their final push. Goalie - Schulz came up HUGE. She battled the crowd on a corner by diving into a sea of red. A floating ball came in that she came out to intercept, but the ball was flicked on by a Mustang before she could get there. Thankfully, she was willing to sacrifice her body by diving at the loose ball, to punch it away from an oncoming Mustang attacker, and to ultimately be the play of the game. With that final save, the girls clinched the 1-0 win against Memorial, earning the District Championship title and finishing the season undefeated. Victory is sweet....especially over the Ponies. Congrats to the JV Spartans on a fantastic, undefeated season!