With high ponytails whipping the back of their necks, the sweat drizzling down their foreheads, and their piercing cleats pressing into the cool, cushy grass, the girls’ soccer team keeps its game face on and shoots for a goal, a very large goal that is, the Southwest Preparatory Conference (SPC) Division-I Championship trophy.

According to senior co-captain Avery Rape, the team’s continuous aspiration is to win SPC, and judging by its past accomplishments, winning the championship seems to be more of a prediction rather than a goal.

“Going into SPC as the defending champions definitely sets high expectations,” said junior Holly Reilly. “With such a strong senior class, we really want to take full advantage of our team and come out with a championship.”

The team’s past achievements have raised its standards drastically. The players said they feel the need to always strive for nothing less than excellence.

“As a senior, I have very high expectations for the team considering I have already won SPC twice, and I don’t think the team will be satisfied with anything except another win,” Avery said.

While the team has experienced a very strong season and is anticipating success at the tournament, Avery said she believes the competition will still be tough.

“The Hockaday School, The Kinkaid School, and Fort Worth Country Day School are our toughest opponents,” Avery said. “They all have very strong athletes.”

The team is 14-2-2 (4-1-0) as of Feb. 4 and is confident that if it maintains its focus and determination, the season will end with great strength.

“As long as we keep up the intensity that we have now, we should finish the season off well,” Avery said.

Many outstanding individual achievements have enriched the team’s dynamism. Avery has scored the most goals and obtained the most assists of any girls’ soccer player since 1997 when statistics started being kept.

Along with these individual triumphs, the team possesses great chemistry and has portrayed exemplary teamwork.

“The team’s chemistry has definitely grown as the season went on,” Holly said. “I feel like this year’s team is the closest one I’ve been on at Greenhill in the past three years.”

Senior Amanda Garcia also said that the team’s chemistry has made considerable advancement, and she is pleased with the teamwork portrayed this season.

“Getting everyone in sync was kind of shaky at first, but we’ve definitely progressed over the season,” Amanda said. “We’re getting used to where each of us will be and hopefully by the time SPC comes around, this will be second nature.”

Although SPC is a very important goal, it is not the only focus of the year. A major theme that has been enforced throughout the season is intensity. The team hopes to improve its skills throughout the remainder of the season by keeping its concentration.

“One thing we’ve discussed a lot in practice recently has been having greater intensity during the game,” Amanda said. “We are guilty of sometimes playing to the level of our opponent, which can cause the game to get off to a really slow start and ultimately makes everything harder than it needs to be. We’ve had the most success when we come out strong and keep up that level of play.”

Girls’ soccer has experienced a successful season on and off the field. Whether they have shown excellent teamwork, set records, or won games, their future at the SPC tournament seems to be bright.