Girls' soccer loses winning streak in CIF semifinals

Girls’ soccer ended its winning streak on March 3 after suffering a defeat to La Mirada High School 2-0.

According to midfielder Gabby Dyrek (’15), the team is fundamentally strong but miscommunication caused a disconnect, contributing to the loss.

“[La Mirada] was a team that could control the ball well and pass in addition to shutting our opportunities down,” Dyrek said. “The Samo team can compete at the level that the La Mirada players were, as we have grown tremendously as a team. Unfortunately, the result just didn’t come out in our favor.”

Despite the lack of communication in their last game, the girls maintained strong teamwork throughout the season.

“I think we have gelled so much and become a family,” forward Ariana Lomeli (’15) said. “We’ve grown up so much and become better as a whole. Every single one of my players worked on and off the field whether it was cheering to get the ball when it went out of bounds or that last sprint to get the ball from going out of bounds. We’ve worked hard all season.”

Defender Janet Coleman-Belin (’15) also agrees that teamwork contributed to the team’s success as this is one of the few times Samo has gotten past the quarterfinal round of California Interscholastic Federation (CIF).

“During pre-season, everyone was still learning how to play together,” Coleman-Belin said. “Now we’re a lot more fluid with our movement and we know each other’s styles of play. Last year, we got to the quarterfinals (third round) for the first time in several years, which means we broke the ‘Second Round Curse’ that plagued girls’ soccer for a very long while.”

While the team has really grown together, some new players joined when they headed into CIF.

“We have added three new players to our team,” Lomeli said. “[Coach Jimmy Chapman] decided to bring them up so they can better our team. They haven’t played yet but in practice they put in 100 percent and that has helped us boost our confidence.”

The team has played against Santa Paula High School in their first round, as well as some of the best teams in the league. Its loss against San Marino meant that they are eliminated from CIF. Even though they were eliminated, the team remained close throughout.

“Before league, we had a team meeting and verbalized a list of goals we wanted to accomplish,” Coleman-Belin said. “Being undefeated in league was one of them, and I attribute that to how close we are as a team. We really look after and care about each other. Even though we’ve had a few injuries and other forms of adversity, each player is willing to step up and play a different position and do what she can to help the team.”