Dec. 12, 2025
By Alyssa Zaleya
Staff Writer
The girls soccer team ended its season in the first round of playoffs after losing 0-2 at home against Voorhees High School on Nov. 5. The loss followed an 11-9 regular season.
Junior midfielder Emma Amaral, a three-year varsity player, said the team did not reach its potential during the Voorhees game.
“I don’t think we played bad[ly], but we probably could have played better,” Amaral said. “One person can’t do everything, and… when we play as a team, we play so well.”
Amaral said next season the team must strengthen its offense.
“When we do have the ball up, we have to finish it and hit the ball hard and get it back into the back of the net,” Amaral said.
Like Amaral, sophomore attacking midfielder, left wing and left back Lena Marino, a two-year varsity player, said the team had the talent to win its playoff game.
“Voorhees won so easily because we didn’t put in the effort to show we wanted to win. We could have won because we knew we were better than them, and we had been playing better than them the entire season,” Marino said.
Despite the team’s shortcomings, Marino said junior center backs Nicole Marnik and Taylor Paglio and senior forward Nikalena Iacono played especially well.
“Nicole, not only in the playoffs but in every game, ran and sprinted back after [the] ball even if she was super far away, Taylor always stayed positive and kept our team up and going and happy and Nikalena took every ball she got and made an opportunity for us to score,” Marino said.
“One person can’t do everything, and… when we play as a team, we play so well.”
Junior left wing and center midfielder Emma Marnik, twin sister to Nicole Marnik and a three-year varsity player, said the playoff game showed the team what it must work on next season.
“We need to start being more selfish because we always want everyone to score and forget that we can also score as well,” Emma Marnik said. “Lots of positive things will happen [when] more goals [are] scored.”
She said the team has high expectations for next season.
“We have a big goal of winning the league and going much farther in states next year,” said Emma Marnik.
