On January 18th, Campolindo girls varsity soccer beat College Park 4-2 in an exciting home game.

Campolindo started off strong in the first half, scoring their first goal in the first 15 minutes. This exciting start was attributed to a team effort that allowed junior Captain Mylie Jaquet to score off a cross. “The first goal really just let us release a breath that we were holding because we were up in their half for a good amount of time before we scored and when the first one finally went in it put us in a rhythm,” Jaquet said. The next two goals came from senior Indira Naylor and freshman Zoe Lehrman. The Cougars led 3-0 going into the second half.

The first half definitely went as planned for Campo. “Mentally we were all focused on getting the win, especially against College Park because in the past they had been a really good team,” said junior Evelyn Risgby. They really wanted to get the job done and scoring three goals in the first half got them closer to this goal. Rigsby also said “for the NCS Standings we needed to win,” so this was an important game for them.

College Park was able to respond very early in the second half, scoring within the first minute. Jaquet said that Campo’s “focus and intensity dropped a little bit…and that allowed College Park to really come out with a lot more momentum.” It stayed shaky for a while before Campo got their momentum back. “We were on a high that was slowly dying off,” said senior Captain Molly Dougherty.

Despite this stumble in the second half, Campo was able to respond and start playing with the energy they had at the start of the game. Dougherty was influential in this change, as she scored a critical free kick giving the team a 4-1 lead from quite a distance. Campo was able to improve their game and play with more confidence with the comfort that 3 goal lead gave them.

College Park was able to score again in the last few minutes and the game ended with the final score of 4-2. It was a great game overall for the Cougars, considering they have been in an intense competition with the Falcons for years. “It’s always been back and forth between who comes out on top in previous years so to solidify that win against them was really rewarding,” said Jaquet.

This win definitely had a positive impact on the team, especially as they go into NCS. “Getting this win helped our confidence and reminded us that we can play together and create wins,” said Risgby.