The Lady Cavaliers Varsity soccer team got another win Wednesday night, December 3rd, against the Coral Park Rams. With a final score of 4-2, the game provided a much needed confidence boost to the team, which recently lost against Lourdes Academy. They played very strong, but hope to get better as the season goes on so that they are able to defeat teams they have not beat in the past.

“It was a very close game, but we played well and won. It was a great game and it will hopefully prepare us for the rest of the games to come,” freshman Gaby Vazquez said.

It was a slow start for the Cavaliers, with both teams going back and forth. No one really got close to scoring in the first quarter, but after 18 minutes, Jade Mallea (#2) scored the first goal for Gables with an assist from Amy Ransom (#4). However, the Rams quickly responded with two goals, both only six minutes after the Cavaliers’ first goal. The Cavaliers still played strong despite being down and in the closing minutes of the first half they manged to score one more goal with Marianna Babboni (#7) to get a tied score at the end of the half.

“We knew that they were a good teame and it made me nervous that we were tied at the half. We weren’t playing our best, but our coach talked to us at the half and we were able to play better in the second half,” junior Lauren Kerzner said.

The team did not see many opportunities to take the lead early in the second half. Both teams went back and forth with some shots on goal for both teams until Mallea broke through the Rams’ defense to score her second goal and give Gables the one point lead in the 21st minute of the second half. Isabella Izquierdo(#12), the goalie, also made a few saves to keep the Rams from tying the score up again. The game got much more intense with both teams getting closer to scoring when Mallea managed to score her third goal of the night with less than 15 minutes left. The girls were then able to take the advantage and keep the game at 4-2. The Cavaliers had a strong defense throughout the rest of the second half to shut out the Rams and take the win.

“The game went pretty well. We weren’t at our best and were a little unsettled in the midfield and backfield, but we adjusted in the second half and managed to get the win,” junior Gabi Saliamonas said.

The girls managed to keep only one loss on their record and are looking forward to playing some stronger teams as the season progresses. They are getting ready to play some bigger games, move on to regionals and possibly states. They are also very hopeful for the years to come because they have a very young team, of which they hope most will be returning to play next year. Be sure to attend their next game as they take on Miami Springs on Monday, Dec. 8,  at Miami Springs at 3:30p.m..