Off the back of straight losses in their debut tournament, the JLA Jaguars were after one thing in this game against Cushman: a goal. Not only did they achieve this goal, but they did it four times over in a riveting game for all of the home fans to see.
The match began unfortunately, with the Jaguars conceding an early goal. This wasn’t ideal, but the crowd kept cheering them on which resulted in Laura Benichou netting the first goal in JLA Jaguar history from a Cushman goalkeeping blunder. JLA’s spirits rose as the playing field was level, leading to a goal by Ruby Cohen off of a corner and a great finish from Chloe Benichou, older sister of Laura. Cushman wasn’t backing down, though, scoring another two goals to level the score at 3-3 by half-time.
The team looked solid defensively, with Mila Simon, co-captain (along with Chloe), closing down on the Cushman attack. However, Cushman were able to take full advantage of some cracks in the defense with a long free kick and a good run from one of the players, resulting in the level game. The midfield battle was an especially intense one, with Chloe showing her well-rounded playing style by carrying the ball up the field and providing crucial passes to her teammates. Despite this, our rate of conversion was low from long range, which was unfortunate.
As the second half began, things began taking a turn for the worse, with another two Cushman goals coming after the players made their way through the defense. JLA did not have much of a physical advantage against the other girls, but they held their own to a great extent. Eventually, Chloe produced an astounding finish after getting past all four of Cushman’s outfield players and got the team back in the game. It was a bit too late though, as the opposing team closed down defensively and didn’t allow the Jaguars to get closer to goal. Although we have not yet recorded a win, things seem a lot brighter for our team. If we can strengthen up our defense and keep up our output in front of goal, I’m sure that our fans will be looking forward to our next games where we will be fighting to get the first victory for our squad.
After the match was completed, I had the privilege of getting an interview with our hard-working Head Coach Martinez. The coach seemed impressed with our performance after making history in our first home game. “It was an electric performance,” he said, “the whole crowd could feel it, the whole crowd was riled up. I’m so proud of my girls.” He also highlighted the player of the match, Chloe Benichou, one of our co-captains, who netted a JLA-first two goals in one game as well as providing two assists. Coach then acknowledged some of the things the girls could work on to improve for the next match: “Our focus and our mentality is everything. Throughout the week, [that’s] what I’m working on. I think we need to stay facing towards the ball, and keep on marking tight.”
Not only did we get the opportunity to speak to Coach, but we were also able to get both captains’ opinions on the game. “I think it went really [well], it went a lot better than our other games by a lot,” explained Mila, the star defensive player for the squad, “I think I played good defense, but I could’ve thought a little more when I was kicking the ball forward.” Chloe, this game’s MVP, had this to say on the team’s overall performance: “I think it went really well, it was a team effort, and we improved a lot since the beginning [of our season]. We’ve been practicing a lot, putting a lot of time and dedication into the team, and we [were able to make] a huge improvement from our other games.”
Overall, this game was a great display of talent and teamwork on our home field for the team to introduce themselves to the fans. The students here at JLA will be ready to show the Jaguars our support and trust in them. We’ve already improved so much, and there’s still a lot of time to improve even more. Go Jaguars!
