The girls’ varsity soccer team won first place at the Cal Spring Classic Soccer Tournament in Woodland on Feb. 22-23. They either won or tied each game played, beating Vacaville 1-0, tying Rodriguez 0-0 and beating Terra Linda and Napa 5-1 and 1-0, respectively, leading to a preseason total of five wins, no losses and one tie.

In order to prepare for this tournament, which was the first of the season, the team played scrimmages against Woodcreek and River Valley.

“We prepared at practice everyday by playing possession and crossing and finishing the ball. We also had two scrimmages where we practiced our possession and finishing in a real game situation,” forward Jessica Randhawa said.

Players also prepared individually by practicing with club teams.

“I personally prepared with extra exercise outside of high school soccer. I play with (the Cal Blues) so that helped a lot. All the other girls on the team also play with club teams so they got extra exercise as well,” midfielder Marissa Johansson said.

Despite ultimately winning, the team faced challenges during the tournament, including having fewer referees, experiencing poor weather conditions and playing against physical teams.

“The most difficult part of the tournament was the fact that we played with the two referee system instead of the normal three referees. With two referees the referees can’t see everything that takes place on the field, and because of that, they missed a lot of the obvious calls,” Randhawa said.

Strong weather also led to some difficulties during the second day of the tournament.

“We played in this crazy wind on Saturday, and it was like you could kick the ball in the air but you wouldn’t know where it was going to land. We played with it though and used it to our advantage in the games,” Randhawa said.

The second game of the tournament, posed challenges, due to extremely physical play from the team from Rodriguez High School.

“I felt that the biggest challenge of the tournament was our game against Rodriguez, which we tied. They were a physically tough team and we had the strength and skill to beat them, but we let them get inside our heads and mess with our play,” captain Mallory Erl said.

As captain, Erl worked this weekend to unify the team and push them to play to the best of their abilities.

“Since I’m captain, I led the team in game warm up as well as on the field. I made sure we were all well prepared to compete and play hard. I also made sure that as a team we were working together and building that team chemistry that is so important for playing,” Erl said.

This tournament was particularly enjoyable for certain players, who scored goals after not scoring for some time.

“The best part of the tournament was winning the championship game. I personally scored the game winning goal so that was exciting,” Johansson said.

Through the four games, the team displayed strong possession, though there are still some areas to work on for future games.

“What we did best was probably our possession. I thought we executed that really well and kept  the ball for a long time. However, I think we need to work on transitioning from defense to offense a little more because we need to be able to get the ball from defense to up to offense quicker,” forward and keeper Molly McConnell said.

Other areas of improvement include not using certain plays which have not been working during the season.

“As a whole, I think we need to work on our long balls. We tend to kick it up the field over the opponents defense and that play just doesn’t work for us,” Johansson said.

Overall, this early win in the season has shown the team their ability to work together, and has set a positive tone for the rest of the season.

“Winning a tournament early in the season will help build our team’s confidence, since we know that we can all play well as a unit,” Mikayla English, who plays defense and midfield, said. “Knowing that we can win as a team is great for all of the girls, since we can all play together and believe in each other, which will help us to win in the future.”

by KAVYA PATHAK