The Dreyfoos girls soccer team picked a good time to play its best game of the season as the Jaguars beat Forest Hill 5-1 Friday night on Senior Night, sending off five seniors who played their final home game.
The game was played in a constant rain storm as band seniors Kaitlyn Svopa and Jayden Jones-Gamboa scored two goals each and visual freshman Helena Torres had one. Dreyfoos, playing in an extremely competitive 5A district, improved its record to 2-6.
The referees stopped the game in the middle of the fourth quarter.
“The referees stopped and pulled the plug because of the weather,” coach Stephen Anand said. “But it was a very emotional night anyway.”
The five seniors who played their last home game were Svopa, communications senior Naomi Kelly, digital media senior Madelyn Winchester, band senior Riley Gore, and visual senior Catherine Chen. After the game, there was a brief ceremony to celebrate the seniors.
Svopa, as well as all the seniors, are going to be hard to replace.
“Svopa is the most technical player we had,” Anand said. “She has an incredible skill set.”
There will be no more Winchesters playing soccer at Dreyfoos.
“It was tough to let Maddie Winchester go,” Anand said. “She is the third sister to play for me. She was a great leader, a caring leader, and one who gave 100 percent the whole time.”
Kelly is another player who had siblings in the soccer program.
“I coached her sister and her brother,” Anand said. “She was always reliable.”
Gore is a multi-talented athlete who played on the volleyball team and also plays travel softball.
“She is finishing her fourth year,” Anand said. “And she always gave 100 percent.”
Chen came out for soccer for the first time this year and played important minutes against Forest Hill, according to Anand.
“She came out and smartened up the team,” Anand said.