I arrived at Memorial Stadium at around 7:35, five minutes after the kickoff of a much anticipated exhibition game between the defending 4A state champs of Eastlake and our own very young, talented, and good looking ladies repping the purple and white harder then the CD in a firefight against the South End. Upon entering the stadium, I had much anticipated and envisioned a sea of student fans creating a brouhaha very similar to the Gryffindor fans at Quidditch matches facing off against Slytherin, while moving to the beat of some large drums stolen straight out of the Jazz room. However, much to my dismay, there were no drums, no sea of fans, and no announcer named Lee Jordan speaking into a magical microphone.

Nope, it was just about fifty or so parents and the diehard soccer fans, which included myself and the four other guys I came with. Even looking across the field turf I could tell that more fans had traveled the hour or so from their suburban mansions, to come and support their team whereas the Garfield tribe decided not to migrate 10 – 15 minutes from their houses to come support possibly the most talented Garfield Soccer team that has played at Memorial for the past five years.

Senior midfielder Arielle Paulson said later after the game, “we have a lot of potential and chemistry on this team but very little confidence.”

This lack of confidence later began to show as the Eastlake Wolves jumped out to a 4 – 0 lead by the end of the first half, led by a couple of players that actively participate for the U.S. Girls Soccer National Team. These chosen few continued to place balls up and around the corners of the goal from anywhere between 20 to 30 yards out, as one forward was able to net a 31-yard shot.

Although Eastlake continued to run up the score, the Bulldogs had a number of chances on the offensive end throughout both the first and second half. They were still unable to finish until midway through the second half, when senior midfielder Catherine Means was able to break free of the defense. This was partially due to one of a number of awesome setup passes by sophomore Lily “Headgear” Hansen to finally put the bulldogs up on the scoreboard.

Although the game finished with a final score of 7 – 1, I walked away with a number of impressions.

One aspect of the team that became readily apparent to me at that momemet was the fact that this team was an experienced squad, returning eight seniors, including senior forward and captain Megan “Seabiscuit” Chapin. Last year, Chapin led KingoCo as a junior in goals scored with ninteen.

The other captain, senior Mackenzie Harrison, remained sidelined as she recovers from a serious ankle injury suffered in the blowout victory against Highline last week. Harrison is one of three senior Bulldogs who have been sidelined for the near future, due to either injury or ineligibility.

However, despite the lopsided score against Eastlake, the margin didn’t appear as large to most of the bystanders, as both teams seemed for the most part evenly matched.

Coach Dave Griffiths provided an explanation for the score after the game by saying, “for the first few games, which are preseason and don’t count towards the standings, were just doing a lot of experimenting with different players in different positions.”

This game plan to experiment became apparent as midfielders were constantly being moved to the forward or defensive positions on multiple occasions. On top of this, Chapin and a number of other starters and seniors were placed on the bench for most of the second half in order to prevent any unnecessary risks of injury before the season started.

Despite the loss to Eastlake, team morale remains high as all eyes look in anticipation towards the upcoming season.

Team manager senior Kurt Benirshke said later after the game that, “the girls are working real hard and I have no doubt in my mind that it will pay off in the long run as they will hopefully continue to enjoy a lot of success this season.”

When the season comes rolling around with the first game taking place against Juanita on September 20 at Memorial, all eyes will turn to the soccer field as great expectations will either be fulfilled, or the girls will fall short of their goal as they have for the last few years. For the seniors on this team, making playoffs is all that is on their minds, as they realize that this is their last shot at a state berth. But for the moment, they will take it one step at a time.

“Once we’re done experimenting, we’re going to be really good so everyone should come watch our games, because were so ghetto fabulous!” said Chapin.

For the girls of the purple and white, the future looks bright, but then again, so does senior captain Charlotte White’s jersey.

As I overheard her saying after the game, “I have the shiniest jersey ever!” And if you don’t believe me, then go see so for yourself, and cheer on this great team of girls while you’re at it.