On a steamy night in August, the girls soccer team faced off against Edgewood. After a slow start, the girls rallied together in the second half to make it a competitive game.

The team was on the field prepping for their game for an hour before kickoff. Seniors Bailey Wright, Simran Singh, and Catie Cleveland practiced before the game, getting out their pre-game jitters before their last season opener of their high school career. As we walked out to the fields they vocalized their nerves.

“I wasn’t nervous until I saw the other team walking on the field. It made it so much more real that this was my last year playing soccer. When they called captains over it was surreal” said Wright.

The first half began with lackadaisical play by the girls as the Cadets were not using what they had practiced all summer.

Coach Dorsey was frustrated that the hours of passing and rotating were not paying off. Edgewood was making the same good passes and drops that the Cadets had perfected in the summer months.

Goalie, Cleveland, kept the Cadets alive with 11 saves in the first half. Cleveland helped motivate the girls from the goalie box, shouting to her teammates and calling out opposing players to watch.

At halftime. the Cadets trailed 3-0, and as the girls walked back to the bench the frustration was palpable.

Coach Dorsey circled up with the girls, giving a rough speech. He told them he knew they were better than what he was watching, that he hadn’t seen the girls he knew out there on the field. Juniors Janelle Morris and Taylor Norris added that the team needed to play physical to match the other team.

At the start of the second half the intensity picked up on both sides of the field. The Cadets slowly starting making better passes and decisions. They controlled the midfield much better, not allowing Edgewood to score against them during the second half.

Norris scored her first goal of the season halfway through the second half. Using blistering speed, she flew past the defenders and let the ball glide in the to the left corner of the goal.

After the first goa, the whole team was energized and the play got cleaner and faster.

Wright then scored her first goal of the season, tying her total for last year. She ran to Singh and hugged her, elated she had scored in her first game back from last season.

With only a couple of minutes left, the girls tried their hardest to finish the game and tie it up. Unfortunately the comeback had come too late and the final horn sounded. Edgewood lucked out with a 3-2 victory.

Despite the loss, the second half of the game was a promising showcase of the season ahead. The girls will take this loss and use it to fuel their next game.