GVS Battle Hard Against League Leaders

January 23, 2026

Thursday, 22-Jan-26

Cate GVS 1 – 3 Grace School

Saves: Mimi Power (8)

Assist: Tania Molina

Goal: Violet Guilbert-Neal (34th minute)

Oooof.  Tough loss.  Tough because we were in it: tied 1-1 against the best team in the league at half-time.  Grace scored early, in the 9th minute, off a corner kick.  The field is narrow at Grace, which makes corner kicks particularly dangerous.  This one (and others!) created a literal scrum in front of the net with the ball being moved through the shuffle of tightly packed bodies.  Not beautiful, but it sure did count. Our response was beautiful.  Tania pressed high on the right side and capitalized on a 50/50 ball in the offensive third.  She found Violet open and running, slotted the ball through, and Violet finished with confidence.  Together, they embodied what we’ve been working on in practice this week and to see it come together during the game was both delightful and inspiring.  Those two not only scored, but also led in tackles, alongside Lauren Hubbs and Precious Adjei.  Precious led in shots on frame, including one literally on the frame, a beautiful arc off the crossbar that we really believed was going in (not to mention the 1-touch wall pass she had with Violet, which we thought should be worth +5 points). The indefatigable Harper Bishop nearly got a goal too, but it ended with her and the keeper both doing splits on the goal-line.  So there were some exciting near misses, but a lot of the game felt like we were playing kickball and we had to be on the end of every one of those kicks, which was exhausting and annoying.  Two goals against came early in the second half, big, loping shots from their left side.  Our team responded well, stepping into tackles with more urgency and commitment.  Lauren Hubbs, as you can imagine, was ready to run through anyone. Claire Bianchi dominated our left side and Fiona Pan held court in the middle with Coco Kliman covering behind.  Unfortunately these wonderful efforts came to nothing, which sometimes happens in the game of soccer, and we had to walk away with an unsatisfying (and upsetting) loss for a team that cares so much.  But to end on a high note, goalkeeper Mimi Power had the best save of her young career today, a dive to the right, blocking a hard shot that was headed for the nearpost (you would be proud, Taylor Kane!). For our next game, we finally get to play at home again on Saturday at 1pm.*  Come out and watch this talented and committed group play on their home turf.  It’s so fun and the team they’ve built this year feels really special.  Ewenited.