Photo courtesy of Sam Mayster

Senior captain and midfielder Vivian Vendt takes a free kick. Her pass connected with freshman Evie Avillo who shot the ball into the net for the Wildcats’ third goal of the night. The Wildcats beat the Blake Bengals 9-0.

In their first week of matches, the girls’ soccer team picked up three wins to start the season off strong.

On Friday, Sept. 9, they got their first win at National Cathedral School (DC) with a score of 3-1. Senior captain and midfielder/forward Aranda Hurge scored all three goals in her first game back with the Wildcats.

“There was a lot of learning opportunities to take away from that, we definitely faced a lot of challenges from that…our team chemistry was still building and we were still trying to get used to everyone’s style of play and how we were going to play for the season,” junior midfielder/forward Adena Nielsen said.

Then, on Tuesday, Sept. 13, the Wildcats had their first home game against the James Hubert Blake Bengals where they put on a show winning the match 9-0. Junior midfielder/forward Irene Sánchez Burgueño had three goals, freshman midfielder Evie Avillo had two goals, senior forward Caroline Williams scored, senior midfielder/forward Emily Akpebu scored, senior midfielder/defender Alyette Fialon scored and senior midfielder Katie Campbell scored.

“I was really nervous at the beginning but then once I got playing, it didn’t feel like anything special. I just played my game,” Avillo said.

In the game, the Wildcats held possession of the ball for the majority of the game and the Bengals were unable to cross into Wildcats territory for most of the match.

“We just took our principles of play that we’ve been working on and passed it around, got good shots off and scored,” junior keeper Federica Gavelli said.

On Thursday, Sept. 15, the squad picked up another win against Tuscarora High School (MD). After being defeated by the Titans 2-0 last year, getting a 3-2 win meant a lot to the team.

“We really wanted to get back at them, wanted our revenge, so finally winning against them especially in such a close game where we won 3-2, it was pretty intense, it was great,” Sánchez Burgueño said.

The Wildcats built up a lot of momentum this week with their victories brightening the path for the rest of the season.

“I think we have to just keep pushing through [on the] ‘Road to States’, and we just have to be mindful of injuries,” junior midfielder/forward Sofia Ruefli said.

The Wildcats play their next match at the Clarksburg Coyotes on Monday, Sept. 19 at 7:15 pm with their next home game against the Seneca Valley Screaming Eagles on Friday, Sept. 23 at 7:15 pm.
“There’s such a great feeling when you come to game day. There’s so much hype around it within the team. To be able to go out there under the lights with fans and score some goals and play beautiful soccer and have fun,” Nielsen said.