By: Mikayla Williamson
The varsity soccer ladies are having an amazing first half of the season. They are undefeated, 6-0 in the league and are in first place in WYL.
#18 Roxana Bahr ‘24 has had a great first half, and is hopeful for the second half. Bahr has scored 7 goals and has been player of the game 3 times.
“For this coming half, I think everyone on the team needs to focus on communicating better. We’ve been doing good, but sometimes we’ll play teams that we should be able to beat, and we kind of play down to their level, but we do rise to the challenge,” Bahr says.
With Bahr being only a sophomore, and last year being on JV, this is her first full season as a Redwood varsity player. Progression is key in soccer, and as an individual player, Bahr has noticed some changes.
Bahr says, “I think I’ve progressed a lot this season, I’ve been more comfortable with the team, and it’s always gonna be a team sport. I really like my team and we’ve moved a lot together as a team.”
Bahr feels like there’s not anything in specific they could’ve done better, being undefeated and all. In one word, Bahr would describe the first half of the season as enjoyable.
With playoffs approaching very soon, some of the players are confident they have what it takes.
Freshmen Addi Beal (#24) just recently got moved up to varsity from JV a couple weeks ago and has been quickly adapting to the team.
Beal has faced some challenges with confidence since she’s one of the few freshmen on the team, and playing time is scarce. She says, “I think I just need to work on being more confident when I play. It makes all the difference.”
With Beal being fairly new to the team, she struggles with playing time.
Beal says, “Everyone on varsity fights for their sport on the field and you just have to work harder than everyone else to get there.”
Coach Jason Vieria wishes some things could’ve gone a little differently this half.
Coach Vieria says, “I wish we would’ve focused a lot more on strength training at the beginning of the season. It would go a long way to help us with some of the more physical teams we’ve had to play.”
Coach Vieria explains that there has been a lot of improvement in the first half of the season and the team has had to overcome a lot of challenges to get to where they are now.
“We’ve seen a lot of growth. Especially with some of our younger players. Alyssa Hernandez, who is a sophomore has really been a great player for us this year coming back from missing all last year after surgery. Natalie McDonnell, a junior, has been a real versatile player that we have been able to use in different spots. As a coach it’s great to see that growth in players and the work they put in pay off for them.”
Coach Jason Vieria
Coach Vieria explains that the first half of the season has felt very progressive and the team encourages each other to get better and finish their season off strong.
To go support the varsity ladies, go to their next game on February 2nd in the Mineral King Bowl at 6 against Golden West.
Tags: girls soccer, rangers, Redwood, redwood gigantea, redwood girls soccer, redwood high school, redwood journalism, redwood sports, rhs, rhs soccer, varsity girls soccer, visalia ca