While the Varsity soccer team may get most of the attention, the JV team has had one of the best seasons in recent history, and it has gone nearly unnoticed.

The team had a great overall season winning nine games, losing three, and tying none. This record is an improvement from last year’s record which was orgasmehaemmere six wins, four losses, and 0 ties. The team obtained this year’s record through skill, chemistry, and hard work. 

Alex Davies, JV soccer co-captain, had the same thoughts on the team’s successful outcome.

“There was togetherness amongst the players during the season. Even if we lost, we lost as a team,” Davies said.  An example was the game against Gonzaga, a 2-0 loss, the players gave positive comments to each other and did not blame anyone for the loss. But when the team earned victories, such as the Sidwell game, a 3-1 victory the sense of unity was prominent in the compliments and language used between the players. 

Jose Padilla, last year’s and this year’s JV soccer coach, had a conflicting view to Davies. 

“We need to play as a unit we need to play as a whole WIS team and that’s something that takes time,” Padilla said.

Jack Huffard, JV Goalie, was a new addition to the team and agreed with Davies’s opinion on the team chemistry, “Despite being from different grades the team communicated and played well with each other.” Therefore the chemistry was an aspect of the team that could be improved but the condition it was in was not detrimental to the team.

Padilla considers the chemistry a weak aspect of the team, but also states that the team was not perfect as it had many other weaknesses as well.

“We need to improve on our finishing, our scoring, our possession, building up the play from the midfield up, be more comfortable with the ball,” Padilla said.

The team had instances where goal opportunities would be wasted because of bad execution as well as turning the ball over while trying to set up a play. During the game against Wilson, the ball was being held in the back and an opposing player stole the ball leading to a goal for Wilson. During the game against Gonzaga, the offense did not create enough opportunities to score and failed to capitalize on lead balls and other plays that were intended to get a goal. But the team had aspects that aided them when the offense did not work.

“The obvious strength of the team is the defense,” Padilla said.  

The team’s defensive players played according to Padilla’s playstyle, where they would gather the ball and send it up to the offense. This style worked well as it got the ball out of the team’s half and created opportunities for the offense to score.

“(The defense was) Really pleasing to see … winning 50-50 balls, winning the air game, even the backline scored 2 goals in the last game of the season, that tells you we are improving getting a little more aggressive really that was the strength of the team” Padilla said. 

Padilla’s statement exemplified the actions that the defense performed to support the team throughout the entire season. In soccer, the offense is the part of the team that scores the goals and goals are what wins the game. But the defense protects the team’s goal and creates opportunities for the offense to score, so the offense and defense are both critical to a team as they work hand in hand with each other.

The JV team had a great season and there were events that made the season memorable. There were some games where the JV team and the opposing team had bad blood between them, such as the game against Sandy Spring, 6-1Win, an opposing player threw the game ball at a WIS player’s head causing the two teams to get heated which made the win even more memorable.

Also when players would achieve certain feats, such as a high number of goals, a clutch save, or anything of that sort it would be highlighted and remembered by the team, such as Sophomore Jasper Courtney’s first goal in a game against Edmund Burke, a 15-1 Win.

There was also an altercation between the bus driver and a cyclist during the bus ride to Gonzaga, a 2-0 loss, after the driver reportedly cut the cyclist off. Davies said it was “one of the most surprising things [he had] seen in recent years,” as it was something that was not expected. The event stuck with the team and added to the season’s memorability. 

To top it all off next years JV season will come with its difficulties, “Problem with JV is we always face a new crowd of students … it’s always a young team to develop, so that’s always going to be an issue, building play and continuity” as said by Padilla. 

But Davies has high expectations of the JV team next season. 

“Freshman and rising freshman will carry on our legacy” 

Most of the sophomores and some freshmen will be moving up to Varsity so it will be up to the current freshmen and the incoming freshmen to support the team, but with the help of JV veterans and the coaching abilities of Padilla, the team will be in good hands.

A quote from coach Jose Padilla, that sums up the entirety of the season, “This was a great JV season that was indubitably demonstrated out on the field.”