Kicking off to a hot start

Vash Chen, Asst. Photo Editor|January 19, 2022

Amidst ongoing shutdowns and demanding games, the Diamond Bar girls soccer team pushes forward into the season with a League record of 2-0.

With the new Omicron variant, the varsity team has had to adjust without important players, eventually leading to an outbreak and seven-day shutdown. 

For games prior to the shutdown, freshman goalie Sydney Applebaum filled in the role of Senior goalie Sydney Humphrey—one of the players missing from COVID-19. 

“Our goalie [Sydney] is currently out, and our JV team did get hit so we missed the start of this week. They have quite a few cases,” head coach Matt Franco said.

Both in practice and in school, the team members are wearing their masks and sanitizing regularly to continue playing and limit the spread of the virus.

“We have been reminding our varsity and JV players to be smart when they’re out, make sure they’re taking precaution and avoiding large groups,” Franco said.

Among the healthy varsity members, two forwards—sophomore Darah Johnson and senior Alexis Fuller—have shown their talents with aggressive tactics and strong offense, helping the team win in two League games.

“[Darah is] starting to really develop into a strong forward striker, scoring goals and creating opportunities as well as senior Alexis Fuller,” Franco said.”Together with their speed, it is really helping us; they are scoring quite a few goals in the League.”

So far, the team has two wins against Los Altos and Wilson in the Hacienda League. However, they will be going against their toughest team yet: South Hills, the four-time defending league champions. 

“[South Hills] are always strong, always organized with the way they play. They always have talent. We are looking forward to a big game, we are both 2-0,” Franco said.

The team’s next game will be an away game against Los Altos on Thurs., Jan. 20.