From Jan. 21 through Jan. 23, the Heritage Varsity boys soccer team played a tournament in Anna. The team played three games which resulted in one loss, one tie, and one resounding victory. The games were predicted to be a decent competition and the team felt confident going into the tournament. 

“The team definitely felt ready for the tournament,” Brock Smalley (12) said. “We knew that we had several players out, so it would be difficult because we knew that the teams we’d face were good teams. We have played some of them before and knew that a few of them were top tier, soccer teams.” 

Weeks of practice and hard work led to the tournament which was viewed as a way to see where the team’s skill level is before the beginning of the season. 

“We had some good practices going over things that needed to be addressed before going into the games,” Christian Molina (11) said. “We knew how these teams were going to be based on difficulty level, so we kind of had an idea of how they were going to play. We had watched some film and communicated with other teams to see how difficult they would be.” 

The team faced Inspired Vision and won the game 5-0. They also played against Community and tied 2-2. Both of these victories were well-earned after weeks of practice and preparation for the season. 

“We’ve been working on our shape and middle at practice for the past few weeks and we were looking forward to seeing our progress on the field,” Elliot Moore (12) said. “I believe we played well together and we will continue to improve upon our strategy to win more games.” 

While the wins were rewarding, many players reflected on the game against Anna which resulted in a 0-1 loss. 

“The entire team was pretty disappointed in the results against Anna,” Molina said. “We had a lot of chances to score and put points on the board, but we just couldn’t. Mistakes were made that ended up costing us a point at the end of the game.”

Now that the tournament is over, the team is looking forward to improving their skills and movement on the field for future games and competitions. 

“I want people to know that we have a determination to win,” Moore said. “Every day in practice we continue to strive to be better and are looking forward to our run in the playoffs.”