The Pioneers’ 2-1 loss to Whippany Park in the sectional finals marked the end of the girls soccer team’s 2021 season. The game was constantly back and forth, but Whippany Park came out on top with a late goal off of a set piece. 

Although they were extremely unhappy, as they looked back on their season, they saw nothing but success. With a record of 14-5-2 and a conference title, Coach Murphy said: “I thought we had a chance to get to the finals and win the conference based on returning players, however I didn’t think we would go undefeated in the conference, which is amazing.” 

In order to succeed, the Pioneers faced a multitude of challenges, the biggest one being injuries.

As Murphy explained: “As one player got injured, someone else got injured too.” 

Senior captain Kavita Parekh tore her ACL during the midst of the county tournament right before facing their biggest test: Scotch Plains. Although they were expected to suffer an embarrassing loss, the Pioneers were able to hold them off and bring the powerhouse into over time.

Parekh claimed it was her favorite game to watch: “Every single person on the team played amazing and dominated against a top team in the state. I was extremely proud of everyone and it showed they could compete against any competition.” 

The Pioneers’ only losses this year were to Governor Livingston, Scotch Plains, Oak Knoll, Whippany Park, and Kent Place. Their grit and determination helped them bounce back after these tough losses, especially against Governor Livingston. They fell short by just one goal and the loss spoiled what was at that time a perfect record. 

Junior goalkeeper Carleigh Robertson took the loss as motivation for her future games and continued to fire up the Pioneers from the goal box.

She believes this year’s success was based on “all the fun we had at practice and how close the team was. We had connections on and off the field.” 

Robertson will be a senior next year and knows she is going to have to step into the leader role, because she’s always had someone to look up to as an underclassman. 

Despite the heartbreaking end to the season, Robertson remains optimistic and is already looking forward to training camp next year: “I’ll miss the seniors from this year the most because I’ve been playing with them for 3 years, but I can’t wait to go to Golden Goal next year and see what it holds.”