Girls soccer team ties Redondo at home

On Tuesday, Dec. 12, Samo’s girls soccer team tied their first game of the season at home against Redondo High School, with a score of 2-2 and an overall record of 3-1-2.“These girls have been building and have been working through adversity, through not having girls around because of varying reasons from injuries to club commitments,” coach Jimmy Chapman said. “They found a way to come together and I told them at the beginning of the game that the whole was bigger than some of it’s parts, and it exemplified that.”The game kicked off with both Samo and Redondo playing very aggressive. Throughout the first half, the referees were consistently calling the Redondo players offside. In fact, the first goal of the game was scored by a Redondo offensive player who was offside. Lucky for Samo, Marquette-commit forward Maggie Lena (’17) scored an equalizer, finishing off the half with a 1-1 tie. “The first goal they had was suspect,” Chapman said. “I think the Redondo player snuck behind the ref, so he had a bad angle on it. From what most of the fans will tell you, she was off, but he allowed it and we just pushed, we played our game, we played our tempo, we stayed with it, we kept battling and we were successful.”The second half was a bit of an upward battle for Samo. The Redondo players kept the ball on Samo’s side of the field and controlled the movement of the ball. However, Samo did an excellent job defending and were able to make successful runs and plays when given the opportunity. They attempted to make shots when they could. “We connected well, we had a lot of good sequences and our press on the opposing team's players were very fast,” midfielder Alex Steigelfest (’19) said. “Including myself, there were a lot of easy turnovers and little fixed. For instance in the midfield, I needed to make a pass through to one of my teammates and I accidently passed the ball to the other team, or on defense [Samo] kicked a long ball instead of passing a simple pass that turned into a sequence.”Towards the end of the second half, Redondo managed to score another goal. This left Samo a bit concerned, but in the final minutes of the game, forward Lily Moore (’17) received a through ball and outplayed three of Redondo’s players including the goalie and came away with a goal. The Samo bench and fans were overwhelmed with joy and excitement and the game concluded. Chapman later remarked on how the season is going thus far. “Phenomenally. I mean we are 5-1-2, we are playing cohesively, we are taking on all on comers and doing our best,” Chapman said. “We didn’t come away with a win, but we came with points which is huge in terms of giving us our confidence. We are undefeated at home. Home means something, and we want to continue that way.”