Soccer Showdown Success: Girls Varsity Soccer Demolishes Rivalry Week

Varsity Girls Soccer dominates over their 5-0 win over El Diamante and 6-0 win over Mt. Whitney.

By: Reese Huerta

On Tuesday, January 23rd, the Girls Varsity soccer team played against Mt. Whitney adding another win to their EYL (East Yosemite League) with a successful score of 6-0.

#5 Alecksandra Ortiz, ’25, helped secure the resounding victory along with her team against Mt. Whitney. She says it felt “pretty great, it took longer than it needed to, but in the end, we ended up finishing how we needed to.”

Ortiz discusses the gameplay and how it took a while for the Rangers to score. She says, “In the beginning, we were moving around a lot but we just couldn’t finish. In the second half, we got ourselves together and ended up scoring.”

Ortiz highlights the importance of strategy and bonding within the game. She says, “Most of our games are trying to connect and play simple instead of just making decisions that do not need to be made.”

From the start of preseason to the beginning of the actual season, Ortiz compares how far her team has come by simply working together. She says, “We connect much better than we did in the beginning and we have grown a lot together.”

#21 Addi Beal, ’25, says, “The game was more like a comeback because we only started to score in the second half. It was fun to start scoring and pick up on what we did wrong in the second half.”

Beal highlights a player that stood out to her throughout the game. She says, “Graycie Serpa played really well, she just had a really great game. She scored twice and had some good goals.”

On Thursday, January 25th, they played at El Diamante. They made a mark with their 5-0 win that night and blew away the 1-1 tie they had against the Miners at the beginning of the season. They fueled the fire by finishing their goals by passing precisely and playing with intention.

#10 Avery Yagle, ’26, says, “The win felt great, especially after our tie against El D, everyone was ready to play yesterday. It felt amazing to score the third goal and the Adrenaline was rushing.”

Yagle also adds, “To win we needed to leave everything on the field. One thing Vieira told us before we started to game was to ‘leave no doubt’ which I think was our biggest motivation.”

The energy on the field was transparent and Yagle got to take part in the excitement. She says, “My favorite memory from yesterday was after Paityn scored the first goal because everyone was so excited and it felt so good.”

Moving forward Yagle believes that this win will contribute to their success in achieving the EYL title. She says, “I think this win will give us more excitement going into the second half of our season and it saves a promising sport for winning EYL.”

#2 Graycie Serpa, ’26, also highlights the victory they had in the game as well. She mentions the midfield players when she says, “Our middles stood out because they shut the El D middles down.”

Serpa highlights how much this win meant to the team. She says, “I think this win really helps our confidence as a team and shows us that we can do anything we put our mind to. When we scored two goals in less than ten minutes into the game everyone was excited.”

Working towards consistency Serpa says, “We plan to work on our ability to play together and compete as a team. I thought our team did really well and thought it was the best game we have played. This sets a positive tone for the rest of the season and even playoffs.”

The girls varsity soccer team has continued to prove their hard work behind the scenes through their gameplay in EYL. Collaboration along with communication go hand in hand to the Rangers success and they focus on unity as a team.

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