Swashbuckling through San Pedro
The varsity girls soccer team competed at the Pirate Cup Tournament in San Pedro, California from Dec. 27 to Dec. 30, placing second out of 16 teams competing. Typically, the team plays in the annual South Bay Holiday Tournament as a part of their preseason. However, in order to challenge the team’s caliber early in the season, the varsity girls soccer team participated in the annual Pirate Cup Tournament for the first time as extra practice before the Bay League games. In this tournament, 16 teams from different high schools in Southern California were split into two divisions. Eight teams were placed in the white group and eight into the blue group, then both groups were split into two groups of four teams. The team with the most wins from each group played the highest scoring team from the other group in their color in a championship round. The team opened the tournament by securing a 5-0 win over Bell High School (BHS), a 3-1 win over Leuzinger High School and a 3-0 win over Flintridge Sacred Heart Prep Academy to progress into the championship round. However, in the final game, the team lost by a margin of 1-2 to a familiar Bay League rival, Culver City High School, placing Peninsula at second. Junior and varsity soccer player Avery Willis expresses the importance of the results at the tournament and how advantageous they were for the team.
“Our performance in this tournament really showed how much passion everyone had to do well,” Willis said. “We played back to back games for four days in a row, but everyone motivated each other to give it our all on the field. In the end, we were rewarded with wins and amazing team bonding.”
Since the beginning of the season, the varsity girls soccer team has been practicing every day and building a rigorous game schedule for their 2023-24 season, averaging three games per week. Throughout the Pirate Cup Tournament, the girls focused on playing together as a unit and managing their physical energy. As the tournament brackets were released beforehand, knowing the opponents in the team’s group was useful for the team because the girls were able to match up players in the same position as a strategy to play better. To further improve their strategy, the team utilized simple passes throughout the games and forcefully kicked balls to their forward players to break the defensive line of the opponents. Senior and captain Roxanne Rahimi recalls how memorable this tournament was, making it an important part of her current senior season.
“My favorite game from this tournament was the win against BHS,” Rahimi said. “It was such a high-scoring game, which made it competitive and fun for the whole team. This tournament was important for my season because I was able to score five goals from all corners, giving me confidence for the upcoming matches.”
Building on the team’s strong results in the Pirate Cup Tournament, the girls varsity soccer team later went on to continue their good form in the Bay League matches, playing in two close-scoring games against Division 1 teams, falling to Santa Monica High School with a score of 2-3 and Palos Verdes High School, 1-2. The team currently has one more round of Bay League matches, playing all five teams again with a goal to finish in a higher place in the Bay League standings. Senior Maddie Triolo explains how much she is looking forward to finishing the season on a high note.
“We have such a raw and wide variety of talent on the team this year,” Triolo said. “I am really looking forward to seeing how our team spirit on and off the field will change our performances this season, as that is our biggest strength. Everybody is looking to improve in all departments which is very beneficial for us.”
