Girls soccer loses NCS

Written by Bach Phan

After claiming the MVAL league title, the girls’ soccer team lost to California High, 2-0, in their first round of NCS, Feb. 17. The team has been plagued by various injuries during the season, including torn ACLs, knee injuries and various other small injuries. Junior Natalie Sanchez was injured in the first ten minutes of the game. The Cal High team consisted of only ten players, but the girls seemed physically larger than the Huskies.  Washington was also at a disadvantage before the game started. They had a two-day break between playoffs and NCS, while Cal High had a four-day break.

“Cal High was good even with only ten players on the team. We just didn’t bring our A game,” senior Megan Leibowitz said.

The first goal scored was a cross and finish by the Grizzlies midfielder Kayla Santacruz, giving Cal High a 1-0 lead. The second goal was a deflection off of the sweeper (the last player on defense). It was scored by Cal Highs’s Rachel Feldman, giving the Grizzlies a 2-0 lead. The Grizzlies easily passed around Washington’s defense, and they found their rhythm after constantly attacking the Huskies goal. Washington played a more defensive game due to the injuries to their offensive players sustained from the week of playoffs. Later in the game, the team played better, but they were unable to dig themselves out of the hole.

“I felt sad that our season was over, but happy that we at least won MVAL [playoffs] and we recovered from numerous injuries,” junior Andrea Bonilla said.

This article originally appeared in print on March 2, 2010. It has been modified to correct style and grammatical errors.