The 2022-2023 girls’ soccer season at Riordan has ended. This was their second season of play since Riordan became co-ed. 

Although having a rough season of 2-13 during the first season of regulation, the team grew a lot mentally and physically throughout it, with one of their wins being at the end of the season with a 6-0 blowout win against Oceana High School.

When speaking with India Bowles ’23 at the beginning of the season, the second-year co-captain of the team, she spoke on that growth, saying, “Last season of girls varsity soccer everything was new, we all tried our best but we were faced with some really tough competition. But playing those hard teams led us to grow a lot both mentally and physically and we developed a really hard-working team atmosphere.” 

She also stated her goals for the season: “We really have an athletic and hardworking team, already better than last year, so I hope everyone enjoys the season, and we win and lose together, as a team, and compete for having a better record than last year.”

Many of the players on varsity are returning players. This gives the team experience as they understand the teams they are up against. 

Being part of such a young program, Jazmin Gamez ’24 stated, “Although last year did not go the way we planned, I know for sure this year the players and coaches have so much ahead for this year’s soccer program as we have worked so hard during the offseason.” 

Now that the season is over, the team did definitely see improvements. With a final record of 5-10-3 the team is on an upward trend. This gives the school community something to be optimistic about as there is no doubt that the work they have put in during this offseason will pay off, and the team will continue to develop their skills during the off season and come back even stronger next year.