So Close Yet So Proud: Varsity Girls Soccer Playoff Run

The Girls Redwood Varsity soccer team talked about their experience participating in their strong playoff run this season. After winning EYL, they fell short of the final round with a hard-fought loss in the semifinals.

By: Sophia Rodriguez

After an amazing season of winning their fourth straight EYL (East Yosemite League) championship, the Redwood Girls Varsity soccer team fought hard to take another crown in the CIF Central Section D1 Playoffs. After two amazing wins against Arroyo Grande (3-0) and Buchanan (3-1), they battled proudly against San Luis Obispo for the semifinals but came in short after penalty kicks (2-2 after extra time, 4-1 in penalty kicks).

Describing the overall experience of this playoff run, goalkeeper #0 Mia Larsen, ’26, says, “It was great. We were running a high. It sucked when we lost, but I’m grateful that we got that far. [I’m] happy that we were able to go to the semis, but it sucked because we lost when we expected such a good thing to come out of it. Those two games that we did win though, that feeling afterward [of] knowing that you can keep playing and keep going.”

Larsen says the biggest motivator for achieving the next round was a big family wanting to win for each other. The team “got so close this year. We played together and played to win for each other.”

Changing the mindset from regular season to playoffs can be challenging. Larsen says she and the team “locked in” while shifting to playoffs by “making sure that we are always putting in 100 percent effort in practices and focusing on what we needed to work on for playoffs to have the best result. It was a lot more serious because there is so much more on the line.”

Larsen says some key adjustments the team had to make in the playoffs was “looking for other options in other players. Looking outside the box if one of your players gets shut down. Find other ways to make it work.”

Larsen says the biggest challenges faced in the playoffs were “pushing ourselves and trying to get better, especially in games that we know aren’t the best competition. It’s hard to always give in our full effort.”

Forward #22 Emmah Garcia, ’26, also says the biggest challenges the team faced were “the refs because they were onesided with the other team and [San Luis Obispo’s] coach was yelling a lot which caught us off guard.”

Garcia says she is very proud of the team and how far they were able to make it with their team chemistry and giving it their all.

Garcia says she “knew the competition was going to be a lot harder. We needed to know that these teams were going to be a lot more competition than we were used to playing.”

The most memorable moment Garcia says she experienced during this playoff run was when they beat Buchanan on Wednesday, February 19th in the quarterfinals.

On the overall experience of the playoff run, Garcia says, “It was really fun. It was very nerve-wracking because the crowd was a lot bigger than we normally have, but it was fun.”

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