Vail Christian girls soccer ends season with 1-0 win over Nederland
Saints' sophomore Sam Loredo scored the game-winner in the first two minutes of Wednesday's rainy afternoon contest against the Panthers
Ryan Sederquist/Vail Daily
The Vail Christian girls soccer team ended the 2024 season on a high note Wednesday, dispatching Nederland 1-0 on a rainy afternoon at Freedom Park in Edwards.
“There is no doubt about it 鈥� these girls are really tough,” said second-year head coach Andrea Juskaitis after her team finished the season with a 4-7 record. “I’m so glad we could prove that we could still win, that we can score (and) that we have a strong defense. I think we’ve really come a long ways.”
April was a tale of two halves for Vail Christian. Over the course of a five-day stretch starting on April 11, the Saints defeated Colorado Rocky Mountain School, Moffat 久久热精品视频app and Lake 久久热精品视频app to improve to 3-4. They followed up that three-game winning streak with a three-game losing streak before turning things around in Wednesday’s season finale.
“Today was definitely the best I’ve ever seen our team play,” said senior Lindsey Whitton. “We were connecting, it felt cohesive and we got that team chemistry. So, it was definitely a big growth from the start to the end.”
The Saints got on the board two minutes into the match when Whitton cut across the field and centered the ball to Rebecca Florez. Florez launched a hard kick from the top of the 18-yard box. Nederland goalie Trinity LeBlanc made a diving one-handed save, but the ball bounced off her right mitt and into the lap of Saints forward Sam Loredo. The sophomore gently tapped home the 10-yard rebound with the inside of her right foot.
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From there, it was all defense and grit as the sun only started to peek out late in the second half.
“I’d kind of describe it as a defensive battle,” Florez said. “We went into this game like ‘we have to win’ 鈥� it’s senior night 鈥� so we started off really intense and we kept up the fight the entire game.”
The Saints graduate four seniors from the 2024 roster: Whitton and Florez along with Maggie Rothenberg and Shannon Lyle, two familiar faces from last fall’s league champion volleyball squad. Wednesday’s game was the final prep contest for all but Whitton, who is slated to run a few distance races this weekend at the Western Slope league track and field meet in Grand Junction.
“It feels really weird,” Lyle 鈥� who will attend the University of Denver to study real estate next year 鈥� said when asked how she’s processing the final pages of her high school chapter.
“It’s bittersweet,” added Rothenberg, a future student at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. “Four years of all the sports and this is the very last thing.”
Florez plans to attend Colorado State University and Whitton will run track and cross-country at Boston College. Although the four-sport athlete is known for her running prowess and for winning the last three state skimeister titles (given to the best combined Alpine and Nordic skier in Colorado), she only played soccer growing up in Denver.
“I’ve had a love for it,” Whitton said, adding that she’s “fortunate to have had coaches who are accommodating for my very busy schedule.”
“We’re going to miss them,” Juskaitis said of her four seniors. “They’re our starters, our captains and they’re great leaders. They set the tone and the tempo of the game. There’s a confidence they exude when they get on the field that the younger players can see.”
Florez said she feels the seniors are leaving the program with a “new sense of motivation.”
“I think we’re leaving the program with the girls having a much bigger sense of competitiveness and motivation to keep getting better,” she said. “It’s been such a good four years. We’re all really close. It’s kind of like a big friend group more than a soccer team.”
