Valley girls soccer had their first tournament of the season at ALA Ironwood last weekend from December 5th through the 7th. They won their first two games, but had an unfortunate loss to San Miguel that unfairly bumped them out of the bracket and a chance at becoming tournament champions.  

The Trojans had their first game on Thursday at 4:00 PM against Casa Grande. From the start of the game, the team was constantly beating their opponents to every ball, truly putting all their effort into the game and being aggressive. Their work paid off, as the girls won their first tournament with a score of 6-3. Trojan goals were scored by senior Abigail Stipp, senior Layla Heller, and junior Sydney Paschich. After this game, the Trojans went home to rest and prepare for two games the following day.  

The second game was against Aqua Fria. Like the first game, the Trojans won handily. The Trojan defensive line, made up of Rylan Ernst (11), Libby Juist (12), Brielle Hunsaker (11), Emma Malmin (12), and Cameron Harrigan (10), were super aggressive and did not let their opponents through their back line. This resulted in a shutout alongside goalkeeper Catherine Slyter (10). The game ended with a 6-0 score, with a hat trick from both Abigail Stipp (12) and Tatum Mitchell (10).  

The last game of the tournament was an unfortunate loss for the Trojans against San Miguel, in which the girls lost with a score of 2-0. This game was rough because it was played on a baseball field, which made it a lot smaller than their normal field. Not only that, but the girls were exhausted, so their opponents were beating them to almost every ball in the air. Center-defender Rylan Ernst commented, "I think that they were a decent team. They were able to play the ball better in the air, which ended up being a problem for us. This was 100% a learning experience for us to see what we needed to improve on."  

Despite their loss, the Trojans hoped to move on to the next round of the tournament. Scoring was point-based, and they still had more points than a lot of other teams due to their shut-out against Agua Fria and the number of goals they scored overall. Unfortunately, the girls were not able to move on. While this was disappointing, it was good for the girls to have an extra day of rest before their next home game on Monday, December 9th.  

Even though they suffered a tough loss, this will not count for their season and chances of making it into the playoffs since this was only a tournament game. They hope to continue winning their regular season games to be ranked higher for the state playoffs.  

Make sure to come out to cheer for your Trojans!