Taylor Weiss, cub writer
Two minutes left in the game. The Santa Clarita Canyon Cowboys are in control of the neon orange soccer ball. They draw closer to the goal, keeping the ball in their possession. They shoot and score, leaving the Norman goalie in the dust.
The Beverly girls varsity soccer team lost 5-0 on Wednesday, Dec. 4 to the Santa Clarita Canyon Cowboys, breaking their winning streak.
The Normans stepped onto the soccer field in their all white uniform, looking ready to conquer their opponent. They started out strong, kicking the ball downfield to the forward and midfielders, heading the ball to get it out of the “danger zone” and stopping the ball from hitting the white netting behind the goalie.
“Regardless of our loss, I think we played okay. We have a good season ahead,” forward Lily Manavi said.
Coach Rinaldi Djafar stood on the sidelines in his black Adidas warm-up suit. He paced back and forth with his hand over his chin, watching his players every move, only yelling instructions when they were near the goal.
“I don’t think we played to our potential today,” Djafar said.
The two Norman goalies, Amanda Manaster and Alex Denton, both played in the game on Wednesday. Their strong, straight kicks out of the goal, after the Cowboy’s scored, just weren’t enough to help their team win.
Midfielder Tess Reinhardt was constantly getting the ball in her possession and away from the Cowboys. She had two or three attempts at making a goal throughout the game.
“I think we could have connected more passes and took more shots,” Manavi said.
At half time, the players walked over to the metallic silver bench and grabbed their waters out of their personally made soccer backpacks. After gathering in a circle and chanting the words “go Normans,” he sent them out to play the second half of the game.
Soon after the second half began, the Cowboy’s scored bringing the score to 2-0. After that they scored two more goals making the score 4-0.
Defender Shayna Stein blocked and cleared multiple balls from the Cowboys. In the second half she was trampled by one of the Cowboy players. She got up and kept playing like nothing ever happened.
“We tried. Try, try and try again, regardless of what the score is. Unless you try you never know,” Djafar said.
With only 2:05 left in the game, the Cowboys scored again. The game ended with a final score of 5-0. The Cowboys cheered and the Normans did the same. Both teams lined up and went down the line high fiving each other.
“The girls never give up. Everything in sports is you keep trying. Trial and error trial and error until you get it. If you keep doing that you will get better. As simple as that,” Djafar said.