On Tuesday the girls soccer team lost to Bayside High School at Flushing Meadow Park. Bayside is first in the division, with an undefeated record and a total of 42 goals so far in the season. Although THHS’s girls soccer team is ranked sixth in the division, they put up a strong fight and even rattled Bayside.
Coach Vaselios Sioukas said, “We woke this team up. I haven’t heard this coach yelling in a while. You guys surprised me today; you made me really proud.”
To start the first half, Coach Sioukas modified the starting lineup to adjust to injuries and also to get a more explosive start. For the first 5 minutes of the game, THHS had many attempts at goals, but all their shots fell short. The first goal of the game came from Bayside. Sophomore goalie Hallee Pell Brown attempted to save it, but missed. By the end of half time, Hallee had nine saves, half of her final total at the end of the game.
The captains noticed the hustle and hard work the girls were showing on the field after the first half against such a formidable opponent. The score was 1-0 in favor of Bayside and there was still a chance to win or tie the game. Senior captain Athina Mihaliadis told her team to “keep it up and be tough,” which is exactly what they did.
The second half opened up with more saves from Hallee and strong defense, but not much offense. Bayside made its second goal of the game, and things were starting to look more pessimistic until senior captain Olivia McFadden dribbled the ball up and shot THHS’s first goal. The bench rose in praise and the team was revitalized.
The game ended a couple minutes after Olivia’s shot and although THHS did not win, they were all proud of their performance and ability to keep Bayside’s number of goals down.
At the end of the game, Coach Sioukas shared words of encouragement with his team saying,
“We can keep this up. We can do this,” referring to the rest of their season.
Athina added to the coach’s encouragement saying, “We have to keep this up for Franny Lew. I’m really proud of you guys.”
The girls’ next game is Friday, October 18, at Kissena Park, where they will be playing Francis Lewis High School, second in the division and first in lack of sportsmanship. There, the team will look to redeem itself from last game’s 11-0 loss to Francis Lewis.
