WA Girls’ Varsity Soccer beat Bedford 2-1 today at 5:30 pm, continuing their now 5-0 undefeated streak with one tie.

Minutes before the game, the girls were confident, yet modest. They were optimistic that they could win, but acknowledged that another victory was going to be difficult.

“I feel very excited. It’s not going to be an easy game, but we should come out on top,” senior captain Rebecca D’Anna said.

Head coach Tracy Capone shared the same confidence, stating that the team had improved their defense as well as their passing skills, but was wary nonetheless to make any predictions about a win or loss.

“We’re 5-0 and one [tie], but on any given day that can change, so you have to take each game seriously. [We have to] come prepared, mentally and physically and play like you did the last one,” she said.

“Our first touch is much better, our pass work is much better, we’re moving the ball around the field, and we’ve got away from the kick-and-run game, and it’s more of a controlled passing game. They’re moving to the ball as well, not waiting for it. Defensively, we are rock solid,” Capone said.

In the game’s first half, defense was executed consistently by both sides. Occasional shots were made, including D’Anna’s close attempt at a goal, with a last-minute interception. The bleachers, inhabited almost exclusively by the players’ parents, continuously let out cries of excitement and anticipation, only to be broken as the ball was intercepted, and dribbled back to the opposite side of the field. By half-time, the scoreboard still read  0-0.

Early on in the game’s second half; however, striker Alexandria Giovino broke the deadlock by making a shot close to the net and scored the first goal of the match. After this initial success for the Grey Ghosts, it appeared that the game would end with the score 1-0, as the players ran back and forth from net to net without scoring.

With only five minutes until the final whistle, however, Bedford scored a goal, tying the match 1-1. Less than forty seconds later, Giovino scored a goal on Bedford, kicking the ball into the upper left corner of the net. The Grey Ghosts played defensively after Giovino’s final goal, passing the ball around, and kicking it out of bounds in the last four minutes of the match, until the clock hit zero, and the referee blew his whistle.

Having scored the only two goals of the match, Giovino expressed satisfaction with the game, giving credit to the team as a whole.

“I’m feeling pretty happy. I think we played very well as a whole, and when they scored, we came right back at them and scored again. We got that ‘W’,” she said.

Although proud of their victory, D’Anna, alongside team captains Katherine Arnold and Hannah Kruger, admit that the team did not live up to their full potential,

“It was a little rough, we missed a lot of chances to put it away, but a win is a win, no matter how rough,” D’Anne said.