On Sunday, September 8, the girls soccer team geared up for their first game of the season against Flushing High School, who last year held a record of four wins and five losses.

As the captains led the team’s warm-up, junior Nicole Gleizer was constantly giving pep talks and pumping her teammates up by saying things like, “What time is it? Game time!”

Before the girls took the field, Coach Vaselios Sioukas made sure everyone was properly equipped and explained their game plan. He named the starters and gathered the girls for a huddle, and then the game began.

In the beginning of the first half, sophomore goalie Hallee Pell Brown dove on the ground, making a spectacular save and preventing Flushing High School from scoring the first goal of the game. Instead, senior captain Olivia McFadden, scored the game’s first goal off an assist from teammate Paula Fraczek. Olivia skillfully dribbled past three defenders to score the first goal of her last season.

Then, barely two minutes later, Flushing retaliated, scoring a goal on Townsend Harris in a moment of miscommunication where the only defense standing between Flushing senior Chevaneice Lawrence and the goal were the goalie herself and the rock of the team’s defense, senior captain Athina Mihaliadis.

Right before halftime, sophomore Ivanka Juran brought up the ball alone against what seemed to be the entire Flushing defensive line-up to score THHS’s second goal. After kicking the ball, Ivanka fell on the ground, looked up, heard her teammates’ cheers signifying that she had made the goal, and fell back down, smiling. At that point, THHS was up 2 to 1.

By halftime, the 2 P.M. sun began to take a toll on both teams. The girls were bright red and sometimes gasping for air.  Captain Olivia saw this and offered her team words of encouragement, saying, “I like our hustle girls. Great way to start the first game.”

In the halftime huddle, Coach Sioukas gave his team constructive criticism. Jokingly Coach told the girls not to be shy “to use the shoulder,” as unlike the Townsend Harris team, the other team was not afraid to be aggressive on the field.

To start the second half, sophomore Kristine Guillaume passed the ball to sophomore Dina Goodger who passed the ball back to Kristine for a goal. The show of teamwork and selfless passing between fellow sophomore teammates put Townsend up 3-1.

To wrap the game up, Olivia scored a corner shot against three defenders once again. With the game 4 to 1 in favor of Townsend Harris and the minutes of the final quarter winding down, Chevaneice Lawrence tried one last time to score for her team, coming up short, as goalie Hallee grabbed the ball before it could enter the goal.

Sunday’s win against Flushing was a great way to start off the season for the team, giving the coach both a chance to play all his players and for the freshmen to prove themselves on the field.

Junior Paula Fraczek agreed that their first game of the season was a good one. “I think it was a great start to the season. There was a lot of action on the field, we had a lot of good passing combinations, and we communicated with each other. We played as a team, and that’s what won the game for us.”