The season for the lady Trojans’ soccer team was full of inconsistencies and disappointments, but their future looks very promising.
The Trojans finished the regular season with a 3-1 loss at Chabot. However, they finished the regular season with a 10-9-2 record, clinching their fourth consecutive winning season in a row.
“Our season could’ve gone a different way,” said Head Coach Kevin Corsiglia. “But overall, I’m happy with the way the girls played this year. A winning season is always something to be proud of, so we accomplished that.”
Unfortunately, a winning year still wasn’t good enough to get them into the playoffs.
The current playoff format takes the top 16 teams in the league based on record and strength of schedule. Due to the Trojans’ average record and lack of wins against good teams, they were ranked eighteenth, therefore missing the playoffs by just two spots.
“There were a couple of key games that we needed to win, and unfortunately, we didn’t,” said Coach Corsiglia. “We went through some good stretches where we won four, five games in a row, and then we’d go through some stretches where we’d lose four, five games in a row.”
Specifically, Coach Corsiglia referred to the 1-1 tie to Foothill and 1-0 loss to Las Positas as must-win games that the Lady Trojans didn’t capitalize on. Besides the opponents, the schedule makers weren’t easy on the Lady Trojans either. They played four of the top ten teams in Northern California, and eleven of the top sixteen, and unfortunately, did not beat any of them.
“I always try to make sure that we play some really good teams, because it helps us get better,” said Corsiglia. “But you need that one quality win, and we didn’t really get that this year.”
Although the season didn’t end the way Coach Corsiglia and his players would’ve liked, there’s still room for optimism for next season.
The Lady Trojans had a young team, starting seven freshmen and only four sophomores. Midfielder Mellisa Roach and goalie Mary Castro were two of the freshmen that led the way. Roach was used as a utility player, playing numerous positions such as defender and forward, and Castro did her part with eight shut outs.
Not only was it a young team, but it was a more uniform team as well. Last year, sophomore Nancy Chicas scored all thirty of the lady Trojans’ goals, but this year, she only scored thirteen. Roach and Nadeesa Corea-Levy chipped in with five goals apiece, and Kenia Santillian had four.
“In my six years here, this team was one of the most together teams,” said Coach Corsiglia. “They just worked really well together. We spread it out a bit, which was nice because Nancy didn’t feel like she had to take on all of the responsibilities.”
Ending the season with returning players helps the team not only bond more with one another, but also helps the incoming freshmen have more people to learn from as well.
“This is probably one of the biggest returning classes, so this is going to help us grow,” said Coach Corsiglia. “I’m looking forward to next year and building on what we’ve been doing.”
