This year, the girls’ soccer team is excited and prepared for their upcoming season. With their outstanding sense of camaraderie they are looking forward to winning a lot of games together.
Taylor Tores, a junior who has been in the game since she was four is one of this year’s key leaders. Soccer has always been Torres’ sport from day one, and is reflected by her being one of the team’s best midfielders, responsible for keeping the team functioning during the games. A positive she sees in the team this year is that there are a lot of new players and she enjoys that they get to meet new people and make these connections. A negative she sees is their chemistry. Torres says, “There are a lot of new girls’ so we don’t have as much chemistry right now.” A personal goal for Taylor is to score more goals than she did last year. She is really looking forward to the Buchanan tournament in Fresno. One of the best experiences for her last year was when they beat Independence, ”it was really fun”, Torres stated. They hope to be able to defeat Independence once again this year. She believes this year’s team compared to last year’s team has “way more support.” Torres wants to improve on her shooting this year to help the team even more. Torres biggest strength on the field is her speed and her vision, she is also very calm with the ball and comfortable. She encourages anyone considering joining soccer to, “Try it out and if it isn’t for you then find a new sport.”
Other key players for this year’s team include Grace Rivas and Lynn Cervantes. Rivas is a freshman who has been playing soccer for 11 years. Rivas says, ”I felt it was an interesting sport and I could learn alot from it.” One of the hardest teams Ridgview has to face according to Rivas is Liberty. Rivas says some positives she sees with Ridgeveiw is,“how they act with each other and how they treat each other”. She believes there are no drawbacks to the team and finds the practices to be highly enjoyable and competitive. Although Grace offers a lot to the field, she feels that her aggression is her biggest strength and will be a huge asset to the team this season. Like Taylor, she believes that her shooting is a weakness and wants to improve on it.
Lynn Cervantes, who is a junior as well, has been playing soccer since she was six. She wanted to start playing because she enjoys the aggression of the sport. Some positives this year is, “Us communicating through the games.”Some negatives are, “Since we don’t really know each other and it’s a new group we would need to develop more chemistry.” She believes her strength is her ability to communicate to her teammates, her weakness is she gets nervous with lots of people in the stands. She encourages anyone who is trying out for soccer, “To keep going and not give up”.
Varsity head coach Andres Murillo has been coaching girl’s soccer for 12 years; between 70 and 90 girls come to try out for the team a year. Their overall records last season was 10-7-4 and in league they were 3-2-2. Murillo states, “ Our goals for this season is to place 1st or 2nd in League and advance to semifinals on Valley; some tournaments to look out for are,“the Buchanan tournament in Fresno and the Mira Monte here in town.” Murrillo believes one of the team’s strengths this year is the experience of the returners who want to win every game. Murillo stated, “Our main weakness is the number of new players joining the team this year who have to adapt to our system.” This year’s team is different from last year because one of the top performers D’Zeena Grewal was one of the key players and leaders last season and now with her gone, “We don’t have the leadership we did last year” Motivation is a huge component in soccer and coach Murillo states, ”I explain to the girls that the only way we lose is if they don’t try their best.” The toughest opponent in the coach’s eyes is Independence High School, since they are the returning Valley champions. One of the main goals a coach has for his players is to,“Become better than they were yesterday.” Something important he learned from coaching soccer is that, “Soccer is a sport that allows you to develop the necessary skills to work with others and for others.”
The team’s vision and ambitions are bigger this season, and they have been training hard every day to make sure they are ready. We are excited to watch our girl’s soccer team compete for a league championship.
