Girls’ Soccer wins the SAUSD tournament

After losing to Mendez the previous two years in the finals, the MacArthur girls’ soccer team were victorious in the intermediate school tournament.

The MacArthur girl soccer team won the tournament on Saturday, December 8. They played at Valley High School against other Santa Ana Unified School District middle schools and were victorious after losing in the finals the previous two years.  

The girls’ soccer team played four games during the tournament, winning all of them. Their first game was against Esqueda, with the score of 2 to 0.  Their second game was against Sierra, with the end score being 4 to 0.  Next, the team played against ALA in the semi-finals; that score was 2 to 1. In the finals, MacArthur girls’ soccer played Mendez for the fourth year in a row and won by the score of 1 to 0.

Girls soccer coach, Mr. Patrick Evans said, “The greatest challenge during the game was letting every girl have some playing time.”

The MacArthur girls soccer team was put together during after-school tryouts.  Once the team was chosen, there were a total of 17 girls on the team.

Mia Cruz, seventh grade, said, “While playing on the team I learned many teamwork skills, patience, and how to show respect towards other players and teams.”

In preparation for the tournament, MacArthur girls soccer held practices four days out of the week, Monday through Friday, except on Wednesdays. Girls’ soccer practices were after school from 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm.  They did a variety of scoring, passing, and conditioning drills.  The entire girls’ soccer season was 6 weeks long.

Although there are many players on the soccer team, Evans said, “The most improved player was eighth-grader Kaitlyn Castillo. She was able to improve her scoring during games and throughout the entire season.”

To date, MacArthur girls’ soccer has won a total of four tournaments.