After ending their first game against rivals Mt. Carmel in a tie on Jan. 16, the girls soccer entered their Feb. 4 rematch on a mission. Their focus and intensity paid off in a 3-1 win, which brought their overall record to 8-4-3 and their league record to 3-2-2. Co-captain and forward Macy Ratermann (12) said the team’s previous tie motivated them to bring home the win. 

“Since we tied the last game, this game we were thinking ‘Okay, we have to beat them,’” Ratermann said. “The first time that we played them, we were still getting in our groove and figuring out how to play together on the field. During this game, we really started having good team chemistry.” 

The team worked together to win their first goal: a cross from Ratermann to co-captain Kaitlyn Arciaga (12) at the start of the first half. However, Mt. Carmel scored their first and only goal soon after, bringing the score to a tie and pressure on the Wolverines to break it. 

After Mt. Carmel scored, Westview made adjustments in their formation. Raterman said the new formation allowed the Wolverines to maintain control of the ball throughout the rest of the game.

“In the first half we had three forwards, but in the second half we changed it to two up top,” Raterman said. “That helped us offensively make sure that we were keeping the ball.”

Refusing to let Mt. Carmel’s goal affect their playing, Raterman said they  gave each other positive affirmations to stay upbeat.

“After they scored, we had to all make sure that we didn’t let our energy get down,” Ratermann said. “We had to make sure that our motivation and work rate were still there, and we couldn’t let their goal get to our heads. So after they scored, when we were getting ready to kick it off again, we were all staying positive and saying things like ‘Let’s keep our heads up,’ ‘We have to keep working,’ and ‘We’re doing fine, shake it off.”

Ratermann saidays that the team has been bonding both inside and outside practices. 

“At practice, we always do a question of the day,” Ratermann said. “We ask a random question, and then we go around in a circle and talk about it. Recently my coach hosted a taco night where he made tacos for us. Our whole team went over to his house and we had dinner and karaoke. That always helps with team bonding and it really helps us connect with one another, not just on the field.”

Offensive midfielder Olivia Calderon (11) said that the team made sure to implement passing strategies they had worked on in practice. 

“We knew that they had really fast players that would kick the balls up, and their forwards would run,” Calderon said. “What helped us was our movement of the ball, so more players would be free and be able to connect passes.”

Ruby Fato (12) broke the tie in the second half with a pass cutting through a gap in MC’s defense and out of the goalkeeper’s reach. 

“The goals were really exciting because the first two goals were exactly what we had worked on.” Calderon said. “It was a play known as a cross into the box or a through ball.”

This was a key moment in the game because it broke the tie, giving the girls a new wave of confidence, according to Ratermann. 

“The second goal when [Fato] scored was really exciting,” Ratermann said. “It was like a winning goal for us because it broke the tie. We realized, ‘We can totally win this. We’re working so well together. We can keep scoring.’”

In practices leading up to the game, the team worked mostly on drills involving midfielders and forwards to strengthen their offense.

“We did a lot of drills with just the midfielders and the forwards,” Calderon said. “We would check back and then pass the balls back to each other. I was working on that a lot in practice, finding balls through to the forwards, making it past the defense so the forwards can run straight through to the goal. There were certain runs that were made to get the cross, which was how our first two goals came.”

Lily Wallace (11) ended the game on a header,delivered to her off a corner kick late in  the second half.

“I was really excited because it was my first goal of the season and I play a defensive position so I don’t usually get a lot of scoring opportunities,” she said. My teammates were also very happy for me because they knew that it was my first goal of the season.”