On Jan. 17 Bonita Vista High (BVH) girls’ varsity soccer played against Olympian High School (OHS), resulting in a tie of 1-1. It was a competitive home game against OHS, keeping the people in the stands on their toes as they followed the ball back and forth to each end of the field. 

Before the game against OHS officially started, girls’ varsity soccer captain, center midfielder (10) and senior Luna Beaulieu had nervous feelings about the game. 

“[Leading up to the game] was nerve racking because it’s the second game of our season and Olympian is one of our rival teams, so we wanted to do good,” Beaulieu said. “When we’re [huddled] in the circle together, we hype each other up and make sure that we’re doing everything we can to win.”

After a failed shot on OHS’ goal, goalkeeper (1) and senior Aaliyah Cambell starts with a remarkable save on BVH’s goal. The game began with the ball predominantly on OHS’ side in the first half. BVH attempts to score over 10 times and fails to make one in. After building a possession from the back and a through ball, BVH scores and leads 1-0.

“I felt we were going to win because we were getting off a lot of opportunities to score,” attacking midfielder (9) and freshman Sofia Nuñez said. “It was pretty exciting [scoring the first goal]. I was just happy to get one in because we were taking shots but nothing was going in.”

Similar to Nuñez, Beaulieu shares her feelings about how Nuñez made the first goal of the game. Beaulieu also mentions how she thought BVH would perform with a good momentum after the goal. 

“We scored the first goal in the first half and I thought we’d be able to dominate for the rest of the game. It felt like we were showing them [OHS] off,” Beaulieu said. “Nuñez is amazing. She’s our freshman on the team and she scores a lot, it’s crazy.”

After the first goal, there was hope of a second goal to follow. Forward (6) and junior Katelyn Romo dribbles through three of OHS’ defenders and passes to forward (12) and junior Jenica Stell. Stell takes the opportunity to what looks like a goal, but the score remains as 1-0.

Later, back down on BVH’s side, OHS fails to score followed by the referee calling time due to an injured player on the field. OHS full back (22) and junior Gabriela Venegas appears to be hurt meanwhile girls’ varsity soccer Head coach Kiko Medina takes this time to talk to his team.

“When we were in possession to keep the ball, we like to open up in space. Those little moments of when we lose the ball, we have to be quick in that transition as far as recovering defensively, and then limiting their chances. We weren’t doing that, and they were able to take advantage,” Medina said.

After Medina briefly talks with his team, the game continues as Venegas appears to have not suffered a serious injury. The clock then runs out signaling the start of halftime. Beaulieu mentions during their halftime talk they try and motivate each other to continue through the rest of the game. 

“We talked [during halftime] about how this is our home game, it’s our territory and we can’t give that up. Then we just talked about positioning, keeping our energy up and pretty much not giving up,” Beaulieu said.

Similarly to Beaulieu, Medina talks to the girls about strategy on the field. The girls made time to shoot on goal but only a few goals were saved by OHS’ goalkeeper. Medina feels that since they haven’t scored more goals, OHS is going to become more confident and score.

“I told the [girls] that we needed to finish our chances and if we don’t finish those chances then this is the type of game [close in score] I knew was going to happen. So, by not putting [OHS] away, that team takes advantage. We lose confidence and it becomes an ugly game,” Medina said.

Now in the second half, BVH shoots on OHS’ goal and are saved by the goalkeeper. It goes back down to BVH’s side and OHS forward, midfielder (42) and sophomore Kirsten Licon shoots and scores on BVH’s goal, tying the game 1-1. Followed by the goal, Medina notices BVH is opening up more opportunities for OHS to score. 

“Us not finishing our chances hurt us because all of a sudden we start panicking. [OHS] stayed in the game. They stay confident and they finally finished one of their chances,” Medina said. “We had way too many self-inflicted bad moments.”

Both teams continue the rest of the game up and down the field, becoming more aggressive as OHS receives a few penalties. Although neither team scores another point the rest of the game ending in a tie. Medina believes BVH should have won but their mistakes cost them

“We didn’t play smart. We made a lot of bad decisions offensively [and] in the middle that we normally wouldn’t make in a different game. But, I think the girls know that we should have had a comfortable lead from the very beginning,” Medina said.

Like Medina, the BVH girls’ varsity soccer team reflected on the game and are working towards a better result for next time. They hope to refocus and get back to where they want to be as a team. 

“[Jan. 18] we had a practice and in the group chat, we were like ‘we’re gonna have a serious meeting. Just us, no coach’. We’re going to talk about all the errors we went through and what we’re going to do to improve,” Beaulieu said. “Sometimes practice can be easy to just mess around. But we need to be more serious if we want to go to CIF.”

The day after playing OHS, the BVH girls’ varsity soccer team had their team meeting and practice recapping the OHS game to improve for their next game against Mater Dei Catholic High School (MDCHS) on Jan. 19. It was a chance for them to put the pedal to the metal.

“Going into the game [against MDCHS] we had the mindset that we needed to be quick on the ball. It was definitely a tough team and so we needed to get off shots and move the ball around,” Nuñez said

The girls’ were able to make some of those changes from the OHS to the MDCHS game, they were focusing more on taking the opportunities to score and not letting MDCHS score. BVH won 1-0. During both games BVH scored a goal that was followed by cheering from the crowd. Nuñez mentions that the sound of the crowd after she scored was very exciting as it keeps her motivated. Similar to Nuñez, Beaulieu also shared the same feeling during the OHS game.

“[The crowd cheering] is amazing. I juked a girl, and the whole crowd was just cheering. I get a feeling of serotonin. I feel really hyped and super energetic. So whenever I hear the crowd cheer, I can run forever it feels like,” Beaulieu said.