One away from win
GIRLS SOCCER Because of offensive struggles, the Lady Brahmas lost numerous close games, finishing fourth with a 4-5-1 record in the league.
February 25, 2016
Although the Diamond Bar varsity girls soccer team will be ending the season with more losses than wins, with a record of 4-5-1, this season has proved to be a learning experience for the team, as they have come close to cinching several games.
While the Lady Brahmas have remained stationary in their standings, ending fourth in league, the team has made improvements both in its overall chemistry and game strategies. Another new skill that the girls have implemented this season was trying new formations based on what opponent the team faced.
The girls have played numerous close games, two of which were against the undefeated league champs, South Hills Huskies. The Brahmas lost by one goal in both matches.
“After losses, I try not to talk about it too much right after the game,” head coach Matt Franco said. “We’ll make a practice plan to work on those things that we struggled with and then we just kind of move forward, try not to dwell on it too much, move on.”
However, the season has also had its share of exciting wins. In the team’s second conference match against Ayala, the two schools traded goals until the score was even at 2-2 in the first fifteen minutes. The score remained that way, pushing the game into double overtime before the Lady Brahmas were able to secure the win, making the final goal.
With a lack of offensive power, the team has been unable to score as many goals as they hoped this season.
According to Franco, the offense was a work in progress this year. He hopes to develop the offensive attack as a unit in order to score more and match the team’s already strong defense.
On the defensive line, players such as goalies senior captain Stevie Eide and sophomore Samantha Blazek, as well as center backs junior Delaney Donohue and freshman Elisa Kolek, were some of the key players this season. Junior captain Kayla Pak also performed well this season, shutting down multiple goal attempts and scoring the most goals on the team with six, all as a defender.
“We’ve had some good games against the top teams and a couple bad games that we let get away from us,” Franco said. “Every loss that we had has been by one goal so we’ve been close in our games but we just didn’t get the end results that we wanted.”
