Resilient Defense, Jeeyou Jung’s 16 Saves

February 10, 2024

Cate Girls Varsity Soccer Displays Grit in CIFSS Division 5 Playoff Defeat

Jeeyou Jung has 16 saves. ‘Image by Katie’ in a earlier season game.

Team Photo. Photo by Coach Taylor Wyatt

We lost on the road yesterday (2/8) against a good team from Campbell Hall. It turns out their number 1 division ranking was justified and we will watch their progress through the playoffs. They had speed and a good first touch on the ball, especially on their hard turf field. We struggled to complete passes. Of course when we did, the play was beautiful and we were able to get a few significant challenges on their goal, most notably by Claire Bianchi ’26 and Precious Adjei ’27. Those two, as well as outside midfielder Fiona Pan ’27, led in the completed passes category as well. On the opposite side of the field, Stella Rogers ’25 shut down their best player for most of the game and has bloody knees to show for it. Our defensive line adjusted well to Campbell Hall’s style of play; Mel Davidson ’24 and Josie Frazer ’24 tallied the most tackles on our team last night, including plenty where their bodies were put on the line. But the real hero was Jeeyou Jung ’25. What. A. Performance. Sixteen saves?! She was off her line and taking command of the box in a way we’d never seen before. She was like that in practice yesterday too, leaving her feet to stop shots and working the hardest we’ve seen all year. The fact that we lost by four goals – and only four goals – is a testament to our entire defense, but it was anchored by Jeeyou. All of our seniors made significant contributions last night: Shannon Murray ’24 and Caroline Batchelder ’24 at outside left back, Mel and Josie in the middle, Jasmine Palekar ’24 and Oona Summerford-Ng ’24 up top. You’d be proud of how hard they played and led the team through the ups and downs of the cold and rainy experience right until the final whistle. They are such an amazing group and we will miss them on and off the field next year. Our team played for each other last night, right up until the final whistle, and so much of that resilience is due to our senior leadership and the character of those six girls. So with tears and laughs we finished our season and are so grateful for all the time we got to spend together. Ewenited.