Tag: girls soccer

  • Girls Soccer Looks Ahead After Loss To Mustangs

    On February 27, 2019, the Poly Girl’s Varsity Soccer Team played the Mira Costa Mustangs away and lost 4-2. Despite starting off with a convincing 1-0 lead in the first half, the Jackrabbits were unable to maintain their lead and allowed the opposition to score twice.
    Senior Allanah Cutler defended well, preventing the Mustangs from scoring a third goal. Fellow senior forward Ella Hiveley said that Cutler “was on fire, you could tell that her heart was in it.” Cutler stopped the potential goal with her head.
    She was not alone in her strong performance. Freshman Olivia D’Anna scored the final goal of the game in an attempt to bring back the game to a tie. With only two minutes left in the game, however, there was no time to tie it up.
    The Mustangs were a strong team, beating out an ambitious team looking to climb the ladder in California soccer. They pulled ahead at the 63rd minute despite a fiery effort by Poly. Forward Brittney Watkins said that they had become “too comfortable” during the first half and let the game slide out of control.
    The Jackrabbits have several strong underclassmen players that could potentially create a leading team years down the line. Even though Poly was unable to win, they’ve succeeded built a progressively better team each year.

  • Kira Ybarra

    Kira Ybarra is a student-athlete at Long Beach Poly High School. She is the goalie on the girl’s varsity soccer team. She shows great potential and is seen as a strong leader of the team.

    Ybarra has been playing soccer since she was five years old. Her parents were both athletes in their day so it was an easy decision for them to make to have Ybarra play a sport. She then grew to love and appreciate the sport of soccer. Ybarra began playing for club at the age of seven. They “threw [her] in the goal” and she hated it because she got scored on fourteen times in her first game.

    With proper training, she eventually became good at it and loved it. Now Ybarra currently plays for SoCal Blues ECNL club team, in addition to Poly’s team. Ybarra is able to juggle school work and training, but does not have much free time to herself. When she does find time, she enjoys writing “fictional stories about previous dreams [she’s] had before.”

    Ybarra has made an impact on her teammates and coach this school year. Her coach describes her as a “block wall” for the team and that she is very encouraging to her teammates. She always gives one hundred percent and has a great work ethic. Kelsey Adams is a teammate of Ybarra’s on the Poly team. Adams has been playing soccer with Ybarra for a long time and claims that Ybarra works really well with everyone.

    Ybarra is very “energetic, hardworking, and competitive” in her everyday life outside of practice. She acts like a leader of the team in the eyes of Adams and the other players. Ybarra’s main concern this season would be not getting hurt because after the season at school, she has her regular season with her club, so she’s trying her best to stay fit and healthy. 

  • The Rivalry Continues: Soccer Edition

    It’s that time of year again, where the Wilson and Poly girls soccer teams play in a rivalry game that has lasted decades. On Tuesday, December 18, the Jackrabbits girls varsity played the Bruins in what was the game that set the stage for the rest of the season.

    Last year, Poly lost to Wilson 0-2. But with a new coach this year and many returning players, it felt like a new energy was given to the team.

    “I didn’t sleep last night,” First year coach Anthony Perez said before the game. “I was so excited.” The Poly girls got out onto the field brimming with confidence, desire for this huge win the first thing in their minds.

    Poly started off strong, scoring in the first 4 minutes off a low cross by sophomore Kelsey Adams to Skylar Herrera who nailed it into the net. However, Poly couldn’t remain in the lead, and Wilson scored twice before half time was up.

    “We need to work as a team, don’t be afraid to play physical, and play with all your heart, ok? We can do this,” Junior Morgan King said in the team huddle at half time, while Poly was still behind.

    They went back out onto the field for the second half with high tension, the teams getting more and more physical as the game progressed. There were five yellow cards given out in the final 20 minutes, but Poly held their own. Despite being behind on the scoreboard, Poly was playing equally, if not better than Wilson.

    But in the final 8 minutes of the game, Poly got a corner kick. It was a perfect ball that arced across the crossbar, right to the head of Junior Aniah Cutler who drove the ball right into the goal. This goal was energizing for the team, as Poly finally had a bigger chance to comeback and beat Wilson once and for all.

    With 40 seconds left in the game, Poly got a free kick. Taken by Senior Ella Hiveley, it rebounded and was found at the feet of Sarah Santos, who was able to aim at the open space in the goal left by the goalie, and shoot. And the ball went it.

    With 25 seconds left to spare, Poly was able to pull off a win in what possibly was the biggest game of the season.

    The entire team, bench, and stands went crazy, enthused that Poly was able to pull off a win with almost no time left. “I knew we were going to win no matter what,” Cutler said after the game.

    With this huge win under their belt, Poly continues to be undefeated in both league and non-league play.

    On Tuesday, January 8 at Poly, the Jackrabbits and  the Millikan Rams girls soccer played against each other. Last year, Millikan beat Poly 3-1, but equipped with a new coach and some very strong returning players, Poly was hoping to pull off a win this year.

    This game started off strong for Millikan, scoring in the first eight minutes off of a cross by Emily Tamayo. Karli Slater headed the ball towards the far post where Samy Sierra headed it into the goal that Poly goalkeeper Kira Ybarra missed.

    Poly was able to rebound with a drving kick straight into the net by Senior Skylar Herrera in the 20th minute. But the Rams responded to the Jackrabbit goal with a cross by Sunha Park led by a shot into the goal by Oliva Tostado, putting Millikan in the lead.

    They also played Cabrillo Thursday December 20, winning 4-0.

  • Girls Soccer

    This season Long Beach Poly’s girls varsity soccer team has started off the season very well. The girls have won the first four games of Moore League competition, first beating Compton 15-0, then Lakewood 4-2, then Downey 2-1, and lastly Jordan 9-0, almost finishing off the first round of Moore League undefeated. A few players such as sisters: Allanah and Aniah Cutler have returned from not playing last year to helping the team be unstoppable this year. The team’s next game is Tuesday December 18 against Wilson High School, the game is expected to be a very challenging since both team will play with their best skills and team players. Wilson tied their last game to Mayfair High School on December 13. Junior Aniah Cutler mentioned that she is “super pumped to compete against Wilson next week and play some of the most intense soccer this season!” The Lady Jackrabbits varsity girls soccer will face off against the Bruins at 6:30 p.m at Wilson High School, December 18.