By Annette Aucamp

Granada Hills Charter’s (GHC) Girls Soccer team had an extremely successful season. On February 28, the varsity girls soccer team won CIF Open Division City Section Finals for the first time against Cleveland High School. Winning with a score of 3-1, the victory allowed the team progress to the D2 State Championships. Since winning CIF, the team also won against Westview High School with a score of 1-0 and advanced to Semifinals. 

These victories have been incredible for the team, especially their win against Cleveland. GHC has a history of losses against Cleveland, including the team’s second league game of this season. Triumphing over Cleveland this season has been something the GHC girls have been working toward for a long time, making winning CIF city section an even sweeter victory,

“I think winning CIF was more rewarding this year because there has been such a rivalry between us and Cleveland,” captain and senior Haley Mallas said. “They knocked us out of the CIF Semifinals in my freshman and sophomore year, and then we lost again in the Semifinals to El Camino, so it was very long awaited. No one wanted it more than this team.”

The team did not have much time to transition from working towards CIF to practicing for State which happened earlier this month.

“Everything we do and accomplish throughout the season works toward preparing us for state,” captain and senior Sophia Harutunian said. “We didn’t have much time between the city finals and the quarterfinal for state, so we really just had to apply everything we learned throughout the season.”

All of the things accomplished by the girls soccer team are remarkable as they were still adjusting to a newer coach, which can be difficult and stressful for multiple seasons.

“We went through a coach change, and we thought it would take at least two years to get used to his way of playing, and to push us into the final,” captain and senior Ana De Los Santos said. “But, if anything, he has ignited a fire under us where we are competing with some of the top high schools in the nation, and that showed right away with our State title last year.”

Through all of the trials and tribulations that this team has gone through together, they’ve forged an extremely close bond and have become very tight-knit. With an emphasis on team bonding, much of the team’s success can be attributed to how well they know each other.

“We make sure we get a lot of team bonding with all the girls, like we have pasta parties before every game because a lot of the team’s success comes from the bond that we have,” Mallas said.

The seniors on the team will leave knowing their close bond contributed to the team’s hard work and determination.

“Our team has so much grit, which shows in each one of our wins,” De Los Santos said. “The way we stand together and fight together, shows in the way we play for each other as well.”