How ASL eagles ended the sports year: 2019-20 sports recap With the 2019-20 school year coming to a close, athletes reflect back on fall and winter sports. Maarya Shafqat Adil | Media Editor
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BOYS SOCCER
oys varsity soccer captain Jonathan Novak (’20) said that he felt that the team grew a lot throughout the season both “as players and as a team.” The team enjoyed more wins than losses. “It was a lot of fun, we had a really good time together,” Novak said. “It was a good season apart from ISSTs, which didn’t go to plan.” Boys varsity soccer finished eighth at ISSTs and were relegated. Novak said he was upset considering it was his really last year on boys varsity soccer. “[It] was one of those things about sports, I was obviously gutted about the whole thing, I still am, but sports are sports and life is life, sometimes things don’t go your way so you just have to take it on the chin and keep going,” he said. The boys JV soccer team started the season undefeated, and were “excited to travel to Brussels to play,” captain Jay Heyman (’21) said. Heyman said that this trip, which they named the JV tour was a good experience and taught them a lot. “Playing against the varsity taught us about our team dynamics and showed us what we needed to do in order to improve,” he said. Later in the season, the team secured a fourth place finish at LSSAs. Heyman said.
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“We played in the rain during LSSAs and beat Cobham,” he said, “Unfortunately, we lost our third game and were knocked out, but beating Cobham was all we needed.” JJV boys soccer team captain Brandon Likola (’23) said he felt that the boy’s JJV soccer team didn’t start the season off the best, but improved throughout. “When it got to the end we got a lot better, we were making jokes and having fun, so we became a real team in that sense,” he said. “In the beginning, we were just solo players, but in the end, we became an actual team,” Likola said. They placed fourth at LSSAs.
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GIRLS SOCCER
irls varsity soccer captain Lousia Linkas (’21) said the team had a great season with lots of wins leading up to ISSTs and that the tournament was very successful. “We had a very exciting ISSTs, scoring tons of goals and getting creative on the pitch,” Linkas said. The team made it into finals but lost in a penalty kick shootout. Linkas said that the team has a promising future with many underclassmen talents “The team was very young and talented and we worked really well together and did great things, so we are
PHOTO BY KIRA CRUTCHER
Louisa Linkas (’21) takes a corner kick against The International School of the Hague. The girls varsity team won 5-0.
22 Sports
looking forward to what that brings us in the future,” she said. Girls JV soccer captain Cecelia Muecke (’21) said the team had an amazing season despite some of their results and finishing LSSAs in fourth. “We can all really say now that the true measure of our season was not the number of games that we won, but all the moments that we spent together laughing and bonding,” she said. Having only four returning players, the girls had to get used to playing together. “We ended up having a really close-knit team and it was a really fun time whenever we were all together,” Muecke said.
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BOYS VOLLEYBALL
espite having a young and new team, varsity boys volleyball finished third at ISSTs. In addition, many varsity players also played on the JV team. Although a majority of the team was new, JV boys volleyball went undefeated almost the whole season. Captain Calvin Jacobs (’23) said he felt the team was able to grow throughout the season. Over the season we really bonded and we ended up going almost undefeated the whole season,” Jacobs said.
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GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
irls varsity volleyball placed second at ISSTs and only lost two games during the season. Captain Lindsay Harris (’20) said it was “probably one of our best seasons we’ve ever had since I’ve been on the team.” Captain Taylor Lewis (’21) said the JV girls volleyball had a “really amazing” season. They ended their season by winning LSSAs. “Which is of course exciting,” Lewis said. She said they grew a lot throughout the season. “It was really cool, especially for the older girls on the team, to see everyone grow and improve, and to end the season as a real team who worked together very well,” she said. Girls JJV volleyball won LSSAs. Captain Iulia Savescu (’22) said the team did not have strong connections at the beginning of the season. “The divide in the team was shown as we lost our first couple of games,” she said. However as the season progressed, she said they grew closer. “With practice and bonding, everyone was able to refine their own skills as well as become a better team player,” she said.
Savescu also said she credits this development and success to their coach, Luca Toth.
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FIELD HOCKEY
aptain Mackenzie Morris (’20) said the loss of Coach Randy Richardson over the summer was difficult for the entire team, but that they came together throughout the season. “Although we entered the season with the loss of our coach, our team motivated each other to play to the best of our abilities and work together, where our skills dramatically improved and we were proud of our efforts on the field hockey pitch,” she said. The team finished fourth at an end of the season international tournament.
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CROSS COUNTRY
he cross country team finished the season with an overall fourth place finish at ISSTs. The girls team won gold, with Madeleine Ashton (’21) placing sixth and Maddy Whitman (’22) winning bronze. The boys team finished seventh with Lorenzo Collier (’22) placing 16th. Captain Elijah VanderMolen (’20) said that he believes that this was the team’s best season ever. “This year our roster was filled to the brim with kind, outgoing and passionate individuals,” he said. “Everyone was ready to run their hardest, always
PHOTO BY EMILY FORGASH
Varsity girls volleyball players celebrate after winning a point against Cobham Oct. 16, 2019. The team won 2-0.
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