We won 6-2 at Mastery Charter today. We got the quick start that we wanted and scored in the first 20 seconds of the game. Mikki Carrera sent a through ball past their defensive line and Maleah Kaplan scored. After that goal, it seemed like our energy dropped a little bit and the rest of the first half was very back and forth. They tied it up 1-1 on a shot from Kyleigh Murphy who was a player we had to be aware of all game. We came back and scored as Sydney Holland kept the pressure on inside their 18 to go up 2-1. A few minutes later, Murphy worked past our defense and tied it up 2-2. With about 2 minutes left in the half, Sydney Holland scored her second goal of the game. She used her skill to work around their keeper to put us up 3-2. At halftime we regrouped and knew that we had to raise our level of play and energy. Our entire team did that and we played a great second half. All week at practice we have stressed the importance of the little things: first touch, communication, good passes, and keeping our energy up. In the second half it showed that those little things can lead to big things, which for us was 3 more goals and a shutout on the other end. Mikki Carrera scored twice, one unassisted and one an assist from Maya Schwartz. Mikki’s speed was something we really wanted to utilize this game and I think we did a good job of that. With about 18 minutes left in the half, we had a counterattack that led to Ella King controlling the ball outside the box, making a nice pass to Ciara Rodriguez who fired a shot with her left foot past their keeper. Today was a physical game, but I felt like we kept our composure and continued to work our game plan and got into a nice flow especially in the second half. Our defense did a great job of holding their line today and communicating with each other. From our goalkeeper Amaya Washington to our back line of Tabitha Sterman, Lily Wilden, Morgan Kelly, Addiya Chan and Robin Miller, there was lots of positive talk and having each other’s backs. It’s also been great to see our freshmen stepping up and getting more comfortable in their positions. I thought Ava Washington and Tessa Homa did a great job in the midfield today. Overall, it was a great team win and we want to continue to build together next week.