If you happen to catch a girls’ soccer game this spring, it would be hard to miss a particular midfielder running up and down the field.
Ali Pieri, a captain of the girls’ varsity soccer team, has been chosen to be Sports Spotlight for her quickness on the field and her leadership over the past four years.
Co-captain Olivia Konttinen said that Pieri, who has played varsity since her freshman year, has proven to be essential to the team’s success.
“She’s been really crucial to the team,” said Konttinen, who has been Pieri’s teammate for the past four years. “She has possession of the ball a lot.”
Pieri attributes her quickness on the field to her need to always be on the move. Besides soccer, Pieri also goes on hikes, mountain bikes and does horseback riding. To train, she runs every day and does sprints, sometimes with teammates.
“I’m really active,” Pieri said. “I don’t really like being inside that much.”
According to Konttinen, Pieri’s leadership on the team throughout the years has also helped other members of the team play better.
“Her presence on the field makes the quality of play high,” Konttinen said.
While Pieri has played most of her four years as a midfielder, her coach has told her that this year she will be dividing her time equally between midfield and forward. Although as a forward she will have more offensive responsibilities, both positions require a lot of running and tracking down the ball.
Pieri will be attending Cal Poly San Luis Obispo next year for academics, though she is unsure about whether or not she will play soccer there.
Pieri said she has high hopes for the team this year. When she was a freshman, the team won the triple crown, in which they had the best overall record in MCAL, won the MCAL playoffs, and topped it off with an NCS title.
“I hope that we do really well,” Pieri said. “Our biggest competition is Marin Catholic. I think that we have a pretty good team though.”
The team’s next game will be against Justin Siena High School on March 11 at 4 p.m. It will be the first league game of the season.
