Girls Soccer Sufer Tough 0-4 Loss Against Irvington

By Novak Chen & Ashley Pang Staff Writers

On January 12, Varsity Girls Soccer competed against the Irvington High School Vikings at the Tak Fudenna Memorial Stadium. Although ball possession shifted frequently throughout the game, the Vikings’ strong defense and fery offense resulted in a tough 0-4 loss for MSJ.

Heading into the game against Irvington, the Warriors had a season record of 1-5-2 so far, and had yet to play against Irvington. Nonetheless, 13-year MSJ Coach Terry Dalziel’s hard work — and his emphasis on teamwork and understanding strategies — proved to be a vital asset for the team.

Midfelder Sophomore Bella Cleary started the game off with a great shot, but the goal was deemed offside and not counted towards the score. As Irvington advanced towards the goal, Co-Captain Senior Johanna Talavera Chavez defended a powerful kick by the Vikings. However, the momentum turned against MSJ after that, with the Vikings scoring two goals by the end of the frst half.

After a quick talk during the halftime break, the Warriors went back onto the feld with renewed vigor. MSJ carried their momentum and attacked aggressively; with passing plays between Forward Junior Abegail Healy and Cleary creating potential scoring opportunities. By working the ball up, the Warriors also utilized set corner kick players to open chances for scoring. However, they could not break past the Viking’s defense. Through precise footwork and successful collaborative efforts, Irvington scored two more goals, thus ending the game 0-4.

The Vikings used the offside trap to great effect, stopping many advances by MSJ to score. By advancing their defenders past the ball, the leading strikers would not be able to touch the ball, or else they would take an offside penalty. “I thought that we would win that game. But unfortunately they started playing the [offside] trap. We didn’t know how to play the trap, how to beat the trap, because we didn’t play against it before,” Dalziel explained.

Going into the game, MSJ also faced multiple challenges — player injuries, miscommunication, and unfamiliar strategies by the opposing team. Nonetheless, MSJ continued to battle for ball possession under the circumstances. “We had a lot of players not at their 100% but they still gave it their all and we’re very proud of them,” Co-Captain Senior Diya Sen said.

The tough loss against Irvington brought up the importance of consistency and commitment. “We didn’t practice for three weeks because of rain, [the] lack of players participating — we got four or fve players out, but we have 23 players on the team,” Dalziel said, “so we lost almost everything we learned prior to the game yesterday.”

Though multiple factors negatively infuenced their performance, the coach and captains hope to implement new measures to encourage team engagement and improve scores. “Probably just to work harder and play more as a team and make sure that we’re actually possessing the ball a lot and playing the way that we practice,” Chavez said. By refecting on how to fx mistakes made in this game, Dalziel has high hopes for the team in upcoming matches. “[Our goal is] just to keep improving, and see if we can win a couple games,” Dalziel said. ▪