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The girls soccer team lost their first game in over two years Monday night, bringing their 35-game winning streak to an end with a heartbreaking 5–0 defeat by the Churchill Bulldogs.
The Vikes, who at the start of the season were ranked number one by the Washington Post’s All Met Sports, had only allowed two goals in so far this season, with a winning streak dating back to October 9, 2013, when they fell 2–1 to BCC.
Churchill had always proved themselves to be tough competition for Whitman, and in 2012, the Vikes, who later went on to win states, lost to the Bulldogs 3–2. However, the Vikings were able to redeem themselves last October with a 1–0 victory, knocking the Bulldogs out of their first place division ranking and securing the title for themselves.
The Bulldogs, who are now 8–1–1 on the season, maintained an extremely fast-paced offense that kept the Vikes under constant pressure throughout the game, putting up the first goal 18 minutes into the match.
“They counterattacked extremely well and found lots of open space on the offensive third,” defender and captain Cristina Valianatos said. “They put high pressure on our team which caused us to make mistakes and created numerous opportunities for them.”
The Bulldogs’ offense dominated the game, and though many of their shots were outside the penalty box, they were kicked with an extreme accuracy that brought them past goalie Katie Stender-Moore.
As a result of Churchill’s playing style, the Vikes were not able to maintain possession of the ball, and had very few scoring opportunities.
“We were always outnumbered by the Churchill defenders,” Valianatos said, “and we did not have players to step up defensively in order to break down Churchill’s counterattacks.”
Because the game played out in a manner so unlike all the others this season, the girls felt that there were many takeaways from the match.
“You cannot compete against the top schools if we do not put the effort and heart into the game,” Valianatos said. “We need to step up as a team in order to adjust to difficult situations.”
The Vikings, now 9–1, head out to take on the Northwest Jaguars today at 5:15.
