Girls soccer season ends in the third round of playoffs

After an undefeated regular league season, girls soccer concluded Fresno Christian‘s winter sports season. Even before league games began, the season started strong. On Dec. 9, they played Redwood High, an undefeated D1 team that made it all the way to the valley championships, in a tournament. The score was 0-0, sending them to penalty kicks. Although they did lose, this was a really promising start for the season ahead of them. 

Keely Friesen was a senior at Fresno Christian going into this season.

“Going into this season as a senior I felt really great,” Friesen said. “Our team was great and there were many connections with many players and we had fantastic potential.”

Led by head coach Matt Markarian, the team flew through the rest of their regular season with ease. They continued winning every league game, some scores being as high as 14-0. 

“Finishing the regular season undefeated in league games was quite an accomplishment,” Markarian said. “It is very difficult to go undefeated in anything, especially in a very tough league. The girls showed up to every game ready to play and we were very happy with their focus.”

Even more impressive than going undefeated is that the team consisted of mainly underclassmen and juniors. The team showed great promise from the start considering many younger players made the varsity team. Due to there being a lot of players, there was also a JV team this year consisting more strong players.

“Every team is unique. In my 29 years of coaching here at Fresno Christian this team was one of the most talented teams I have ever seen,” Markarian said. “The high level of talent made this group a lot of fun to coach, but what was truly unique was our age. Almost the entire team will be back next season, and that will make for an exciting year next year too.”

The team pushed all the way through to the CIF Central Valley D4 Semi-finals against Lompoc, Feb. 21, which ended in a close loss of 3-2.

For many players, especially the seniors who might never play soccer again, this was a heartbreaking loss.

“That last game against Lompoc we should’ve won,” Friesen said. “The weather conditions weren’t great and there were some rough calls so unfortunately we came up with a loss, but I still feel very lucky to have the teammates I had.

Although they did not make it to the championships this year, fans can definitely look forward to seeing some incredible things for this team within the next few years. 

“Even though we came up a little short of a few of our goals, the future is bright for our team,” Markarian said. “We will miss our seniors, but with a majority of our team returning we are very excited for the future.”

This year proved to be one of the best in Eagles’ girls soccer history. So until next year, make sure to stay tuned to The Feather to get updates on all of the spring sports.

To read more from The Feather, go to Resurgence of antisemitism across U.S. or Alumni Spotlight: Ellie Koleen.