ESCONDIDO – On January 30, Our varsity girl’s soccer team won 3-0 against visiting Maranatha Christian.

In the first half, the girls played hard; however, passes weren’t connecting and there was little communication between teammates. Coach Hector Ochoa could be heard telling the girls to play as a team. The rain didn’t help either; girls on both teams would occasionally stumble, undoubtedly making the game much harder to play. Despite the setbacks, the Caimans were able to keep Maranatha from scoring. After many attempts, Junior Grayson Champlin scored a goal with an assist from Freshman Mia Mathis.

In the second half things improved: the girls came together and played harder, and the rain even stopped. Mathis scored the first goal of the second half with an assist from Freshman Cambria Osborn. “We started a little slow, but as the game picked up, the girls came together and played as a team,” Coach Ochoa said. The third goal was scored by Junior Amy Varvel with another assist by Mathis.

Coach Jon Goodman came to see the game and said, “They’re playing really smart, they’re playing aggressively, they’re getting the first touches on the ball. They’re playing together; it’s always nice to see a team play that way and compete that way.”

The Caimans showed that teamwork is the secret to success. However, good teamwork wasn’t the only advantage the Caimans had. “[Maranatha] really put their hearts into the game. They were starting to slow down, considering they didn’t have any subs and they were playing down a player,” Meziere said.

The girls played as team, and celebrated as a team. They could be overheard making plans to celebrate at Rubio’s. Meziere said, “The chemistry on the team is really building. We are starting to trust each other more and work together as a team, instead of one person taking everything on.”