Photo by Joshua Singer

Senior forward Caroline Williams tries to track down the ball against the Whitman Vikings. The Cats suffered their first loss of the season to the Vikings 1-0 in overtime.

Last week the girls’ soccer team (8-1) beat the BCC Barons (7-2) 4-2 and suffered their first loss of the season to the defending 4A State Champion Whitman Vikings (8-1) 1-0 in overtime.

On Monday, Oct. 3, the Barons came to WJ to play the Wildcats in pouring down rain. The Cats got off to a fast start with early goals by freshman midfielder Evie Avillo, senior defender and captain Isabella Mondelli and junior midfielder/forward Irene Sánchez Burgueño. BCC bounced back by scoring a goal of their own in the waning minutes of the first half. At the beginning of the second half, the Barons were able to add another goal to their total making the score 3-2. The Cats were able to get one more goal with about eight minutes left in the game on a shot by Sánchez Burgueño.

With under a minute to go, the junior keeper Federica Gavelli and senior captain and midfielder/forward Aranda Hurge were injured and had to leave the game on a play inside WJ’s penalty box. Gavelli was able to return for the game against Whitman, but Hurge was sidelined with the injury during that game.

Then, on Thursday, Oct. 6, the Cats traveled to Whitman to play the Vikings in their first game since being eliminated by them in the playoffs last year. The defenses for both teams were very stout as the ball stayed in the middle third of the field for the majority of the game and neither team had many chances for a goal during regulation.

“We changed our formation in the second half and we put more players centrally because they were targeting us through the center and that allowed us to get more defensive solidity,” Sánchez Burgueño said.

In overtime, the game went back and forth with some scoring opportunities for each team. With under two minutes left, the Vikings were able to get a good shot off and send it past Gavelli for the game-winning goal.

“I think the loss just made us want to play them again and beat them again even more because even last year we beat Whitman in the regular season and then they beat us in the playoffs, so we are looking to switch it up this year and I think we are all ready to play them again,” senior captain and defender Brooke Onder said.

This week the Cats will hold their senior night in their final home game on Tuesday, Oct. 11 vs. the Churchill Bulldogs (5-2-1) at 7:15 pm.

“We want to take the second seed and go 9-1, so I think we are ready for Churchill. It’s also senior night and we are going to start our seniors and I think they are going to set a great example about keeping our mentality strong,” Onder said.