As the reigning 4A South champions, the Eleanor Roosevelt HS varsity girls soccer team wants to continue its dominance from last season. The team is a constant powerhouse in the county, and made it all the way to the State Semifinals, where their season unfortunately ended in a 3-1 loss to Walt Whitman High School.

This season is a new year, along with a new team that has their eyes set on winning it all. As the preseason ends, Coach Bob Sowers said he “spent a lot of time selecting the team” and thinks at this point in the season that they “are a little bit ahead of last year’s team.” The team lost 10 seniors from last season, but Coach Sowers is confident that many players, even the team’s three new freshmen, will be able to step up this year to fill the leadership roles. He also noted that this year’s schedule will be more competitive for the Raiders, because “many of the teams have improved, especially the smaller schools’” from the 3A/2A/1A league which were added to their division this year. Despite a more competitive schedule, Sowers still believes the team can go far in the playoffs.

Class of 2017 midfielder and captain Inonge Kaloustian also weighed in on the team’s prospects for this season. She said the team worked hard over the summer to prepare for the season by “holding captain’s practices and playing in summer league games.” This hard work over the summer has shown in preseason scrimmages. As Kaloustian stated, “we’ve been playing good opponents and winning, which means we can make a deep run in playoffs if we keep it up.”

Class of 2016 goalie and 4th year varsity member Elaina Perry also commented on her past experiences on the team and her outlook for this year. “For the past 2 years, we’ve reached the State Semifinals and fell short, but we’ve improved each year [in that game] and we plan on continuing that,” Perry said.

She said she believes that “the team has the capability to reach a higher level and show that [they] are a force to be reckoned with.” She, along with the rest of the team, is looking forward to their game this year versus Bowie because “it is always a good game and it is fun to play our rivals.” That game is scheduled for Sept. 24.
The Raiders are ready for another successful season, that they hope will this time end with a State title.