Girls soccer tops Pali 4-1

After an outstanding performance by Samo girls soccer, their ninth game of the season ended on Jan. 8 with a 4-1 win over Palisades Charter High School, marking their third win thus far.Both teams started out relatively evenly matched with no team gaining any obvious advantages over the other. Both teams took two shots on goal before Samo’s midfielder Emma Encinas (‘16), traveled up the left wing of the field and crossed the ball to forward Gabrielle Clouse (‘16) who then shot the ball into the bottom right hand corner of the net marking the first goal of the match. From then on, the game belonged to Samo. The energized team proceeded to score two more goals on Pali, with the opposing team only getting two more shots on goal before the first half ended, and both were expertly blocked by Samo’s goalie Madeline Kresin (’17).Both teams came back strong in the second half, but Palisades struggled to gain the upperhand, while Samo did their best to to block all their oncoming attacks. Roughly halfway through the second half, Samo scored yet again, marking the score at 4-0. But Pali didn't give up, and got their chance to score at the very end of the game after bypassing Samo’s defence on a through ball, ending the game 4-1.After another successful game, head coach Jimmy Chapman was extremely proud of the progress his team has made since the beginning of season.“All our hard work has payed off in this game, our offensive formation is starting to come together and our players new and old are starting to not only work together as individuals but as a single team,” Chapman said. “I am extremely proud of this win, a 4-1 win will do really well for the girls’ morale and I know that if we work hard, we can do even better the next game.”