Hayfield Girls' Soccer Recognizes Nine Seniors

Before kick starting their futures, the public address announcer at Hayfield High School read through the superlatives and lasting impressions for nine senior Hayfield girls’ soccer players and one manager. The messages were simple and clear and represented more than a game, but the overall experience of memories that were established for four years on the soccer field at J. Victor Lutz Stadium.

As midfielder Claudia Acha’s name was announced, her message said, “Who would’ve thought that all ten little freshmen would be standing here ready to start our own journey?”

Reminiscing about their achievements and looking forward to what’s yet to come, the mantra was that it seemed like it was yesterday that some of the players were playing together since the orange slice days of youth soccer.

Hayfield lost 2-0 to West Potomac on Senior Night, but the non-district game took second fiddle to the pregame senior salute and a season in which the Hawks compiled a 4-2-1 record in the National District, finishing the regular season at 5-7-1.

Even with the defeat, the senior Hawks will have one more chance to get another victory at home. According to first-year varsity head coach Ruben Bolognesi, Hayfield will host a home playoff game on Monday, most likely against Mount Vernon.

“It was a great season for us,” Bolognesi said. “They [the seniors] were all leaders of the team and it was a pleasure to be around them. I’m very happy how they led the team on and off the field.”

For some players, this will be their last week of organized soccer. For others, the journey will continue on to college.

Defender Jordan Long will take her game to the next level in-state at Division III Ferrum College. With three years of starting experience as a forward and defender, Long is proud of where she came from both personally and athletically to get to play collegiately.

“I’ve been broken a lot and to get to go to college, I never thought that I’d be this far in my life and actually get to play at a college and start every varsity game, “ Long said. “Memories are just being with the team, those times off the field where you just relax and having a connection where you didn’t have before. Here you have some kind common thing to enjoy.”

Two players, goalkeeper Paige Gilliland (who listed saving a penalty kick her freshman year as her greatest accomplishment) and defender Tarah Coley (whose memorable moment was a goal against Washington and Lee) will play together next year on East Carolina University’s club team. Coley leads the team with seven goals on the season.

The Hawks have had two impressive offensive scoring games this season, when they defeated T.C. Williams 4-0 and dominated Washington and Lee 8-0. They have a rematch against Mount Vernon in the district playoffs, which would appear to be a good draw since Hayfield beat the Majors 2-1 on May 4.

“To even pursue [the playoffs] after the season is amazing,” Long said. “Since we’ve been known as Hayfield, nobody has ever looked at us as a strong team and we’ve proved them wrong this year and we hope to get to districts and regionals.”