Girl’s Soccer prevails over Murrieta Valley in first playoff game

On Feb. 16, Samo’s girls soccer team played their first playoff game at home against Murrieta Valley High School and won 1-0. During the first half, Samo was on their A-game. They kept up with Murrieta’s fast and belligerent play style, making it quite apparent that they were there to compete. Samo and Murrieta exchanged shots on goal, but the game didn’t seem to be progressing all the much.It was clear by the end of the first half that Murrieta outplayed Samo’s offense, but they themselves had a difficult time getting past Samo’s defense. Captain and defender Sadie Safrit (’19) commented by saying that the match was overall very even, but Murrieta caught them off guard.“They shocked us a little bit because they were a wildcard team, meaning they weren’t first in their league, so we kind of assumed they weren’t going to be as good as us, and they definitely proved us wrong.” Safrit said. The half ended in a 1-0 lead for Samo after forward Dai Williams (’19) managed to score causing fellow Samo parents, students and spectators to roar with glee all across the sideline. The second half kicked off with Samo looking a bit sluggish. Although Samo had a full bench, not many of their players were being subbed in. After many close scoring attempts from Murrieta, Samo was able to secure their first playoff win.  “I think we worked extremely hard on defense, but we just gave it [the ball] up to easy offensively once we ran one position of the ball,” varsity head coach Jimmy Chapman said. “The girls were not all together there succinctly in terms of understanding what their responsibilities were, but this team was very physical. We hit ‘em hard and I told the girls at the end they took very good shots from a very good team and were able to kind of keep composure and fight on.”Samo’s next playoff game is on Tuesday Feb. 21, against Oak Hills High School.“I think the biggest thing to focus on is our mindset,” Safrit said. “We go into home games with the mindset that we don’t lose at home and I think if we go into the next game like that, it’ll help.”