The SPECTRUM

Volume 31

The SPECTRUM

The SPECTRUM

Girls’ soccer shoots for the title

Carly+Wallace+20+and+Giselle+Dalili+20+walk+on+to+field+during+practice.+Credit%3A+Casey+Kim20%2FSPECTRUM
Carly Wallace ’20 and Giselle Dalili ’20 walk on to field during practice. Credit: Casey Kim’20/SPECTRUM
By Gautam Natarajan ’20

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  • Carly Wallace ’20 and Giselle Dalili ’20 walk on to field during practice. Credit: Casey Kim’20/SPECTRUM

  • Girls’ soccer team practice after school at the Upper School. Credit: Casey Kim’20/SPECTRUM

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The girls soccer program consists of four teams; red, black, junior varsity and varsity. Varsity is led by program head Richard Simms and the JV team is led by head coach Gabe Robinson.
The varsity team steamrolled through the season with a 7-1 record, and they are a young squad that should continue their dominance and hopefully win some championships. The team ended their season at home against Marlborough with a 6-1 win to clinch their sixth consecutive league title. Varsity’s hopes for a late playoff run were cut short after losing in the first round to Huntington Beach 3-0 on Feb. 16.
Simms said he was very proud of the team’s accomplishments and looks ahead to the future.
“The varsity team had an outstanding regular season, only losing three games and repeating as Mission League champions for the sixth consecutive time,” Simms said.
Center back Carter Beardmore ‘19 said that the team has bonded over the long season and is a tightly knit squad.
“I cannot even imagine how different my experience at Harvard-Westlake would be if I was not on the soccer team. Many of my best friends have been made on the team. Our team is like a family, and I feel so close to each and every one of my teammates—no matter if they are a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior. My favorite part of being on the team is the sense of community and sisterhood that it provides,” Beardmore said.
The JV squad is another young team made up of mostly freshmen, and is looking to send talent to compete with varsity next year. The JV team is adding depth and success that their team already has, with a record of 4-2-2, finishing second place in the Mission League. The JV girls are hoping they can add to the quality of the varsity squad. They ended their season at home against Marlborough in a 1-1 draw on Feb. 6.
Midfielder Carly Wallace ‘20 talked about her season as a freshman playing JV and how she can improve for varsity and hopefully get a spot on the team next season.
“I think we all really improved as the season progressed.  It was a shame that we were not able to win our last game against Marlborough, but overall I believe we played really well.  We recently had our Senior Night, and we had a program dinner which was just one of the opportunities we had to meet the older players.  I also had the opportunity to play with the varsity team for one game, which was really cool and let me get a deeper understanding for the game of soccer, the values our program has and what it is like to be a varsity athlete in the girls’ soccer program,” Wallace said.
The middle school black squad was very successful during the regular season with an undefeated record of 5-0-1, with their only tie against the red team. Their best result was against Sierra Canyon in a 9-2 victory.  They beat Oak Christian in the semifinals of the Delphic League playoffs and won in the Delphic League finals 7-1 against Marlborough to win the league championship.
“This past season was a great introduction to the Harvard-Westlake soccer program. It got me really excited for the next six years of playing HW soccer with my teammates,” black team right back Tessa Augsberger ‘22 said.
The red team is made up of 16 players and finished the season with a record of 5-0-3. For the first time ever, both middle school teams made playoffs.  However, the red squad lost their semifinal game in penalty kicks to Marlborough on Feb. 7.
Simms spoke about the program and this achievement.
“The program has had a fantastic season at all levels.  For the first time ever, the middle teams placed in the ‘A’ Division and they have both reached the semi-finals. This is an incredible achievement,” Simms said.

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