Cathedral Catholic’s varsity girls soccer team lost to La Jolla high School in the playoffs for the third year in a row two weeks ago. Though disappointing, the soccer players did take away a few positive lessons from the season.

The Ladies had a better season against their toughest opponent, La Jolla, this year than they have had in the last four years. They tied the Vikings twice and lost once, as opposed to only losses in past years. Also, it is quite clear that the interest around CCHS in Lady Dons soccer increased dramatically.

Senior Kendall Kraus, who has been a varsity Lady Don since freshman year, was more than happy to see the outpouring of support this year.  She said, “It was amazing to have so much support, and the fans gave us even more motivation to play and represent our school! It was great to see school spirit and support all aspects of our school.”

Most importantly, the Lady Dons will be going into the 2012 soccer season with just as much talent and potential as they have had going into any previous season. Next year’s team is sure to be loaded with talent. So, although most of last year’s starting team is graduating, the team shouldn’t experience very much of the “rebuilding” phase that many championship-caliber teams go through following a great season.

Next year’s team will feature players such as current juniors Betsy Muirhead, Brittany Eremita, Karly Loberg, Lizzie Stabile, Bella Vidana, and Monique Purner. All of these girls were featured in the offense in 2011, but didn’t play as starters.

When the 2012 season kicks off, the Lady Dons will be motivated and determined to bring home the first girls soccer CIF Championship in recent history.

In evaluating this year’s season Junior Betsy Muirhead said, “It was a great season, probably the strongest season we’ve had in the last two years. We had a lot of chemistry, and we were always supporting each other, both on and off the field.”

So Ms. Muirhead feels there’s a lot to look forward to.

She said, “The fans can look forward to us winning league, CIF, and state, because we have a young team that gets better every year, and each year we add on more incredible players.”

The Lady Dons will prepare this offseason in the same way that they have in recent years, by playing with their club teams and staying in touch with each other. This method of preparation, along with the practices that they have had with each other, have led to much success for the CCHS lady Dons.