By STEVEN BARAN
Staff Writer
UHS ended preseason play with victories over Corona High School (CHS) in the Sunny Hills Tournament and Costa Mesa High School (CMHS).
Despite finishing 1-3 in the tournament over winter break, the Trojans ended 2015 with several positives to build on, including a crucial performance from Junior Varsity call up Louisa Hansen (So.) in the 3-2 win over CHS.
“We knew going into the season that we were going to need some JV girls to come up and fill in key spots for us throughout the year, so it was nice to see Louisa do what we needed her to do,” head coach Martin Stibolt (English Dept.) said.
The Trojans also benefited from key performances from center-mid Paige Metayer (So.) and forward Emma Goolsby (So.), whose contributions helped give UHS its second win of the season.
UHS ended preseason play with a 4-1 win over CMHS two days before its first Pacific Coast League (PCL) game against Beckman.
“Coming into this game, we wanted to build on our success from the last game of the Sunny Hills tournament and start 2016 on a good note,” forward Mackenzie Zambo (Jr.) said. “Thanks to the application of what we learned from the tournament over Christmas break we were able to catch Costa Mesa off guard, and walk away with a nice victory as we enter league play.”
The key to the Trojans’ second victory in a row seemed to stem from the tournament over winter break, which gave the team some valuable experience.
Commenting on the team’s willingness to play during a break, Kerri Lutrell (Jr.) said, “If we had just enjoyed our time off and didn’t compete against other schools over the break, we would have never been able to come out and communicate so well against a tough opponent like Costa Mesa.”