On Saturday, Dec. 12, the girls’ varsity soccer team defeated San Marin 9-1, maintaining a powerful defense and

superlative offensive skills throughout the game. After their 3-1 loss against Montgomery High last Thursday, the girls aimed to redeem themselves and play their hardest to make a comeback.

Junior Alexis Nunez commented regarding the team’s first thoughts coming into the game, as San Marin isn’t one of Redwood’s strongest competitors in the league.

“Coming into [the game] we knew it wasn’t going to be our toughest game. But, that didn’t let us stop and change our mindset. We don’t ever underestimate them because we know they are going to work their hardest from the whistle to the end,” Nunez said.

Within the first ten minutes of the first half,  junior Maddie Pero and senior Hannah Halford each scored, opening the game with a 2-0 lead. Redwood continued to control the ball and stood their ground with a strong defensive line, not allowing San Marin to score.

One of the four senior captains, Stella Campodonico, explained the team’s strengths throughout the game.

“Keeping up our ball movement was crucial as for half of the game we spent just moving the ball around,” Campodonico said.

Nunez explained that one of their strengths throughout the game was maintaining speed in the wings, which allowed them to excel against their competitors. Additionally, three of  Redwood’s goals were off corner kicks, proving that their set plays were very strong.

With the remaining first half, Redwood continued the offensive dominance against San Marin as four more goals were scored by Shannon Watridge, Hannah Halford, Maya Rembrandt and Amanda Morse. Despite their significant lead, Redwood made sure not to let the advantage get to their heads and in the end they still believed that they could have played tougher towards the start of the game.

“Overall, we could have let our level of play higher and put the game away earlier but once we got our momentum we did our best playing as a team,” Campodonico said.

According to sophomore outside back Delaney Anderson, Redwood managed to stay unified and connected as a team, as supportive cheers were heard from the community in the stands.

“No matter who you’re playing, keeping a positive attitude all together as one, having a good mindset and giving it all is very important aspect while playing in the game,” said Anderson.

While Redwood’s name was still bolded alone on the scoreboard, it wasn’t until after Halford scored the seventh goal that Redwood received a penalty in the goal box, enabling San Marin to score their first and only goal off a free kick.

“We aimed to keep the ball around back, pass, and play our best and tried to never let our lead down,” Nunez said.  

Two of Redwood’s strongest and steadiest players, junior Georgia Bennett and Campodonico, shut down San Marin with an additional two goals, Bennett scoring the last shot in the remaining two minutes. The game ended with a score of 9-1.

“Our next game is home, against Terra Linda [Saturday the 16] and we want to keep up our momentum and score some goals,” Campodonico said.