After a rough start to their 2015 campaign, girls’ varsity soccer is looking to rebound despite having an unusually young team.
Although they lost their first two pre-season games 5-0 to Marin Academy and 1-0 to Urban High School, the team won their first MCAL game of the season against Terra Linda with a score of 1-0.
Following their first win, they lost to rival Marin Catholic on March 12 by a score of 1-0.
“[The game against Marin Catholic] wasn’t our best. In the first 20 minutes, we could not connect our passes,” senior Greta Thompson said. “Since our team is really young, it’s taking us a while to get in the groove but I think we’re doing pretty well. We lost some pretty valuable players, but I think that we’re stepping up and taking their places.”
According to Thompson, sophomore Lauren Foehr and freshman Hannah Rollo are some of their team’s strongest players.
Junior Rachel Dabora, who has been with the team since her freshman year, said that the team’s youth isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“In my three years of varsity, this is the most freshmen we have had starting,” Dabora said. “We have lots of individual talent. We just lack the team chemistry needed to complete contested passes.”
Although the team has had its fair share of struggles, Dabora remained optimistic about the team’s future.
“We can grow together and progress. We just haven’t figured out how to play with one another quite yet,” Dabora said.
The team is beginning to see their strengths and weaknesses as the season progresses, according to Thompson.
“Right now I’d say we’re really good at connecting our passes on the ground. We aren’t very good in the air. So we take advantage of taking quick little passes and getting around the field,” Thompson said.
However, according to Dabora, the team has struggled to finish plays, even though they are able to create many opportunities.
“Our highlight of the year so far would be a header goal by Hannah Halford to win the game against Terra Linda,” Dabora said. “Other than the Marin Academy game, I don’t think that the scores accurately reflect how our team played. For the most part, we created lots of opportunities and just couldn’t capitalize.”
So far, freshman Halford’s goal has been the only goal, which highlights Redwood’s scoring woes so far.
“I would say that we are still in the upper half of MCALs,” Dabora said. “Our goal is still to do well in MCALs, but I think next year will be our year, once we have a year playing together under our belt.”
