Girls’ soccer, 17-2-3 overall, lost 1-0 to the Granada Hills Highlanders in the first round of CIF Open Division L.A. City Section playoffs February 11.

According to coach Chaka Forman, the loss was “very challenging.” 

An obstacle the team seemed to have faced during the match against the Highlanders was to get their “offense going in that game,” Forman said. 

Even though the Gondoliers did not advance far in the playoffs, the girls’ soccer team earned their first Western League title over the Palisades Dolphins for the first time in girls’ soccer history at Venice. 

The Gondoliers tied the Dolphins 2-2 with senior Khalia Rodriguez, a captain alongside seniors Charley Leal and Somer Staley, scoring the final goal resulting in the tie.  

“We showed a lot of real grit and resilience to come back and actually tie that game,” Forman said. 

This is only one of many accomplishments the team had this season, Forman said.

“We were undefeated in the city section until the last game of the season. We accomplished a lot of things,” she said. 

Throughout the season, the girls showed a tremendous amount of effort.

“A lot of us got together willingly and practiced on our own to obviously get better and get ready for the playoffs,” said Rodriguez. 

Although all of the girls put effort as a whole, there were some outstanding players such as senior Julissa Pacas and junior Breanna Villalpando, Rodriguez said.

With Pacas being committed to play soccer in England, she helped the team “a lot in technical things,” Rodriguez said.

With 13 seniors leaving this year most having spent all four years in the program 

“It’s been a long, emotional season,” he said. “At the end of the day, you know, we’ll come up and realize all the great things that we did for the school and for the program and for the team.”