This year, varsity girls and boys basketball and soccer teams have qualified for the North Coast Section (NCS) playoffs.
The girls’ varsity basketball team ranked second in the Marin County Athletic League (MCAL). The girls qualified for the NCS playoffs last year and made it to the semifinals. The team has ten seniors playing this year, looking to leave a strong legacy and do their best to win.
Senior team captain Keeley Wright shared her excitement for the games, “I hope we win the championship, but I guess we’ll find out,” Wright said. “We are losing ten seniors, so I don’t know if we’ll be able to do it again next year.”
These girls practice daily and work really hard to get better, making them very difficult to beat.
“Our defense is one of the best in our league, so we take pride in that as well,” Wright said. “I think we all keep each other motivated because every one of us wants to win and do well any chance we can get.”
They won their game against Sonoma Valley High School on Friday, Feb. 17 with a score of 55-35. Their next game in the NCS playoffs will be against Pinole Valley on Tuesday Feb. 21.
The boys’ varsity basketball team has also made it to the NCS playoffs this year.
“I’m not sure if we will win or not, but I feel pretty confident that we can go far,” Cubley said.
Junior Nick Cubley is hopeful that they will make it to the championships.
“I’m very excited and proud of our team because I did not know if we were gonna make it this far,” Cubley said.
They have also bonded as a team, allowing them to play better on the court. “We came together as a team and as friends,” Cubley said.
They will be playing their first playoff game on Tuesday, February 14, at home against John F. Kennedy High School. They won their first playoff game on Feb. 14 with a score of 80-54. They will move on to the next round facing the number one seed in MCAL, Branson. The game takes place on Friday Feb. 17 at Dominican University.
Similar to the girls’ basketball team, varsity girls soccer has also had a successful season allowing them to play in the NCS games. Senior team captain Mia Nettz expressed her excitement for the upcoming games as they have not made it to NCS in ten years. Nettz is the only senior on the team this year and hopes to see that next year the team will make it to NCS again.
“I am excited, and I was in denial about the season being over, so it’s good to see that we got an extension and did well enough to do it,” Nettz said.
They will be playing at Saint Mary’s on Feb. 15th and the team is hopeful that they stand a chance. “If we continue to push ourselves in practice, work together as a team, and bring the intensity to the game, we have a really good chance of making it and hopefully winning the championship,” junior team captain Logan MacDonald said.
Unfortunately, they lost their first playoff game against Saint Mary’s on Feb. 15th with a score of 2-1.
“We all want to make it to the playoffs next year, and being united will be one of our biggest assets in beating other teams,” MacDonald said.
The boys varsity soccer team also has not made it to the playoffs in a very long time. Their first NCS game was played against Lick Wilmerding High School on Wednesday February 15th.
These boys practice for about 14 hours per week and have training almost every day as well as team meetings to hopefully prepare them to do well in the playoffs.
Junior Lars Rau is optimistic that they have a good chance in winning.
“We have a good team, we just have to focus on building together and playing together,” Rau said.
Junior Sola Takeda mentioned that it is his second year on varsity and is very excited for the playoff games as they did not get very far in NCS last year.
“It’s a little nerve racking but we’ll see how it goes,” Takeda said.
Despite all of the excitement, they also lost their first playoff game against Lick Wilmerding High School on Feb. 15 with an ending score of 5-0.
