Boys and girls soccer competed in their first matches of the soccer season Tuesday night. The girls’ team played at Cedar Rapids Washington, and the boys’ took on Gilbert at home.
The girls team won the varsity game with a score of 4-1. Sophomore Emma Meyer marked her varsity debut with two goals, and Kaya Whipple (’25) and freshman Magalli Gonzalez (’28) each had a goal apiece to round out the scoring.
“I believe our game was a great opener for the season,” said Annaka Bjugan, one of the three senior captains. “Our team worked really well together!”
“I thought it was a good beginning. We have a lot of kids in new spots, a lot of learning, and I thought that everybody came with a focus to just get a good start and get a good one day better,” said head coach Shannon Dykstra.
Throughout the game the girls battled a combination of wind, hail, rain, and sleet. Afterwards, the junior varsity game was discontinued due to lightning. When the game ended, the JV team was ahead with a score of 1-0. “The weather was definitely a challenge, but the team adapted well to the conditions,” said Bjugan.
“We don’t like to talk about the weather,” said Dykstra. “While it was difficult, with the wind and the ball and the turf,” he continued, “I felt like it did not affect our players’ mentality, and that’s important to us.”
The boys competed at home against Gilbert to a score of 1-1. After the first half, neither team had scored. It wasn’t until the middle of the second half when the Riverhawks broke onto the scoreboard with a goal by Noah Ruiz (’25). However, Gilbert equalized off of a penalty kick with less than ten minutes remaining.
Head coach Bryan DeGabriele was pleased with the overall performance. “We already had had two scrimmages,” said DeGabriele, “So it was kinda like our third third game we played really well.”
The boys varsity also played in a variety of conditions throughout the game: snow, rain, sleet, wind. “We battled through it,” said DeGabriele, “We didn’t go outside until twenty minutes before the game started… we warmed up in the gym to stay warm.”
Girls soccer (JV/V) will be competing on Thursday, April 3rd at Humboldt. Also on Thursday, boys soccer will take on Waverly-Shell Rock in the Riverhawk Stadium.
