Girls Soccer Season Recap
Lucy Gaines
The Garfield Girls soccer team started this season with large aspirations with a squad of 11 seniors and many very talented underclassmen. The first game against lakeside was challenging, followed by Roosevelt highschool, two schools who rank very high and qualify for state almost every year. The team struggled to maintain high morale after such difficult games. They found themselves in a slump, only occasionally stepping up to their full potential. Eventually a groove was found and they began to compete at the level they knew they could, ending the season with a few more wins than before.
During the first round of Metro playoffs they faced Ballard High School. Ballard was ranked as stronger than Garfield and so it was known that they had to give this game their all if they wanted to keep playing. The team rose to the challenge, holding off their pressure and shutting down every attempt at breaking down Garfield's defense. After tiring them out, Garfield dominated the second half, resulting in a 2-0 win. The second playoff game was quite different. Garfield was up against Roosevelt and although they fought hard, they were unsuccessful at breaking through their midfield defense. For the third game, now in the loser out bracket, Garfield took on their self-proclaimed rival West Seattle. It was clear that the energy was off during warmups: a long school day had drained the team's energy and they couldn't rally it back before kickoff. After a grueling 90 minutes the final whistle blew and Garfield had lost, ending their run for Metros, and the season.
Throughout the season a few moments shone especially bright. Garfield’s performance against Ballard in the playoff game was one of their best. For the first time all season the squad united and truly left it all out on the field. They won with two insane goals from Mollie Mglauckan and Taylor Gale from outside the 18. They had wins and epic moments before, but none as celebrated as these two goals by the staff, the crowd, the bench and field players. Along with these great moments there were also big upsets. One including the second game of the season against Roosevelt. The final score of 7-0 did not reflect the quality of either team, but reflected a poor mentality on Garfield's part, and a UW commit on the part of Roosevelt. This was hard for the team to handle so early in the season. Though they tried to forget the loss and move on, it was clear that the feeling of defeat stayed with the team for a few games to come.
With so much talent on the team this year it's hard to pick out certain players who gave the team its edge. Unique elements of the team, such as Emi Skerritt’s 30 yard throw in, really helped them be creative with their play. Bria Alabe’s fast feet and aggression on the ball allowed GHS to dominate the right wing and get off numerous crosses. They also found success with having left footed players take the right sided corner kicks in order to serve inswinging balls.
This year the team is graduating 11 seniors. Many of them have been with the program since freshman year. It is certainly a talented class and their presence and skill on the field will be missed next season.
Even though a lot of the team is saying goodbye to the program, it's got a bright future ahead. Led by Junior Mollie “Glocky” Mclaughlin, there's no question that they are in good hands next season. With motivated and skilled coach Sena Alkadir and a deep bench, it's guaranteed that they are not done yet and they will do great things.
It's truly impossible to see and measure the talent and community of this team with any statistics about their play. Maybe if they were measuring how loud Sophia and AJ can sing R&B songs on the bus, or how many karaoke songs ellie and taylor belted out, or the teams collective “Just Dance'' score to Rasputin, or the amount of people Sydney Joanovic has megged, then maybe you could begin to see just how special this team is. These people have created friendships that will last a lifetime. As far as goodbyes go, this one in particular will be one of the hardest.
During the first round of Metro playoffs they faced Ballard High School. Ballard was ranked as stronger than Garfield and so it was known that they had to give this game their all if they wanted to keep playing. The team rose to the challenge, holding off their pressure and shutting down every attempt at breaking down Garfield's defense. After tiring them out, Garfield dominated the second half, resulting in a 2-0 win. The second playoff game was quite different. Garfield was up against Roosevelt and although they fought hard, they were unsuccessful at breaking through their midfield defense. For the third game, now in the loser out bracket, Garfield took on their self-proclaimed rival West Seattle. It was clear that the energy was off during warmups: a long school day had drained the team's energy and they couldn't rally it back before kickoff. After a grueling 90 minutes the final whistle blew and Garfield had lost, ending their run for Metros, and the season.
Throughout the season a few moments shone especially bright. Garfield’s performance against Ballard in the playoff game was one of their best. For the first time all season the squad united and truly left it all out on the field. They won with two insane goals from Mollie Mglauckan and Taylor Gale from outside the 18. They had wins and epic moments before, but none as celebrated as these two goals by the staff, the crowd, the bench and field players. Along with these great moments there were also big upsets. One including the second game of the season against Roosevelt. The final score of 7-0 did not reflect the quality of either team, but reflected a poor mentality on Garfield's part, and a UW commit on the part of Roosevelt. This was hard for the team to handle so early in the season. Though they tried to forget the loss and move on, it was clear that the feeling of defeat stayed with the team for a few games to come.
With so much talent on the team this year it's hard to pick out certain players who gave the team its edge. Unique elements of the team, such as Emi Skerritt’s 30 yard throw in, really helped them be creative with their play. Bria Alabe’s fast feet and aggression on the ball allowed GHS to dominate the right wing and get off numerous crosses. They also found success with having left footed players take the right sided corner kicks in order to serve inswinging balls.
This year the team is graduating 11 seniors. Many of them have been with the program since freshman year. It is certainly a talented class and their presence and skill on the field will be missed next season.
Even though a lot of the team is saying goodbye to the program, it's got a bright future ahead. Led by Junior Mollie “Glocky” Mclaughlin, there's no question that they are in good hands next season. With motivated and skilled coach Sena Alkadir and a deep bench, it's guaranteed that they are not done yet and they will do great things.
It's truly impossible to see and measure the talent and community of this team with any statistics about their play. Maybe if they were measuring how loud Sophia and AJ can sing R&B songs on the bus, or how many karaoke songs ellie and taylor belted out, or the teams collective “Just Dance'' score to Rasputin, or the amount of people Sydney Joanovic has megged, then maybe you could begin to see just how special this team is. These people have created friendships that will last a lifetime. As far as goodbyes go, this one in particular will be one of the hardest.