With the help of junior Captain Sophia Lee, the Girls Varsity Soccer team made it to the second round of playoffs. She finished her junior season with a total of six assists and nine goals: seven in-season goals and two playoff goals.
As a center midfielder, she held many responsibilities as she was the link between the defense and the forwards, maintaining that position successfully as their team had a successful season, advancing to playoffs.
She has played soccer since the age of three, which was the starting point of her journey for soccer. She started playing in a little league in her hometown called the Forest Hills Little League (F.H.Y.A.A) until seven years old when she finally took a step forward to a more advanced level soccer team: Queens United Soccer Team (Q.U.S.C.). Along the way, she found some hardships as she wasn’t confident of her skills and did not fully show her potential during games; however, through her encounterment of dedicated coaches who not only made her grow in improvements but pushed her to make her work even harder.
With her family and friends, she began to enjoy the concept of running, defending, and kicking the ball, increasing her confidence as she went on to play for the travel team Long Island Soccer Club (L.I.S.C.).
Sophia said, “The sport helped me make some of my closest friends and a place to be myself. I started playing club soccer which helped me become a strong, confident player and helped me get to where I am today.”
She joined the THHS Girls Soccer team her freshman year and finally became the junior captain for this year’s season.
As she is still a soccer player with many struggles and challenges, she explains to The Classic her hardships during the beginning of the season.
“I had a bad patch in the beginning of the season as I wasn’t able to help and contribute to the team as much as I expected, so that upsetted me greatly,” she said.
Despite these struggling times, she stood up for herself and the team and showed her best performances in the last three regular-season games that allowed them to go onto the playoff rounds.
She scored three goals in their last regular season game and two playoff goals in one game that allowed the team to go onto the second round of playoffs.
She said, “The second round [of playoffs] went from double overtime to double penalty kick. I would say it was very eventful, and even though we didn’t get the best outcome we wanted, we pushed hard and tried our hardest. That’s what makes me feel satisfied about this season overall. We never gave up and tried our hardest, and I’m happy we came this far this season.”
As she ends her weakest and strongest performance during the season, her teammates also share their experience having Sophia as a player and captain on the team.
Sophia’s teammates said that she is always a positive influence and has a focused and concentrated mindset.
Sophomore Rio Ishiyama said, “Sophia demonstrated her leadership through consistent, standout performances and by stepping up in crucial moments. She made it a priority to attend every practice, showing her commitment to the team and fostering unity with her focus and open communication.”
Similarly, freshman Mia Davilla said, “Over the past years, Sophia has contributed to the team not only with her skills on the field but also with her ability to bring the team together and foster an environment of camaraderie and mutual support.”
Coach Vaselios Sioukas said that she saw Sophia’s struggles and improvements since the beginning of her journey on the soccer team. He said, “Over the years, Sophia has matured into a good leader. On the field, she conveys a positive attitude. Off the field, she is a catalyst for bringing the girls together for many activists and especially senior day during the last regular season game.”
Senior Mishka Hans said, “Sophia’s main contribution was being the light of laughter on our team. Despite the hardships, sweat, and tears that go into playing soccer, she was always that laughter that kept us going and kept us from giving up on this tough sport.”
Sophia’s favorite experience with the team during team bonding was their little walks and car rides to games and practices as they shared many stories together that helped them grow as a team overall. As they talked about many of their personal experiences in life, not always related to soccer, she understood more of her teammates better; and she gave advice to the underclassmen, while the upperclassmen (seniors) would give future advice and support to her personally as well.
All this excellent performance during the season both in school and club came from the hard work she put in over the summer to perform well during her matches. She individually got private lessons with her coach that helped prepare her for college soccer, and she also went on summer camps in colleges, such as Stony Brook University and Columbia University to get scouted by D1 and D3 coaches. She was invited to many college events and camps that allowed her to paint her future.
She started from a little league in town to the dream of playing in college, and she said, “As I gained more confidence and commitment to the sport I truly love, I want to play at a collegiate level to have more years of friendship and play the sport I love.”
