Securing a spot on a varsity team as a freshman is a rare and impressive achievement. Most athletes spend years working their way up, starting their athletic journeys on the freshman team, then junior varsity (JV), before finally reaching varsity. However, a select few athletes with exceptional talent manage to break through early and make varsity in their first year of high school. While their skill sets them apart, being a younger athlete on a top level team comes with its own unique set of challenges.

This 2025 girls soccer season, a remarkable 6 freshmen made varsity, which is a significant amount. All 6 of these young athletes were thrilled to make the top team, yet expressed several of the struggles they faced.

The physical aspect of the game was a shock to many freshmen who came straight from lighthearted fun games of middle school soccer.

freshman Fiona Kennedy, a starting defender for girls varsity soccer shared her experience playing at a higher level. 

“It was definitely scary at first,” Kennedy said. “The coaches are a lot tougher than I expected, and the girls are a lot bigger. It’s a big physical challenge playing against 18 year olds because they’re really tough and hard to push around.”

Freshman Kayla Parks, a forward, felt similarly to Kennedy.

“Playing against higher level physically stronger defenders as a striker is way more difficult,” Parks said. The same moves that worked in middle school don’t work anymore against 18 year olds.”

Parks also elaborated on the mental struggles that many of the freshmen faced.

“I get a lot of mental challenges. I often go home sad when I don’t perform well, and Coach Cejovic yells at me a lot for not using my left foot.”

Lots of the freshmen also had to deal with the fear of upperclassmen.

freshman Bridget Lantry shared her fears going into the varsity season.

“In the beginning, I was pretty scared of the upperclassmen, especially Briana Tatar,” Lantry said. “I was also really scared of Ashley Mancera, because she would always challenge me to pushup competitions, which I thought was rude.”

freshman Isabella Escobedo shared similar struggles.

“I was really scared of Brianna and Anna during indoor soccer because they were very intense and yelled a lot,” Escobedo said. “Luckily they ended up being very sweet and they really encouraged me throughout the season. They even gave me the nickname esco.”

Most importantly, these young athletes had to grow thicker skin, and get used to harsh comments made by varsity coaches. 

“The coaches always call me a baby giraffe because I’m tall and fall a lot,” Lantry said.

freshman Penelope D’Andrea also experienced some harsh comments.

“The coaches always scream at me and say they want to chop my hands off (a joke of course),” D’Andrea said.

In the end, the freshmen felt like they grew immensely from this season, and the experiences tied with it.

Freshman Gaba Gomez ended with a heartfelt quote.

“This season has overall been amazing. I’ve grown a lot physically and mentally. The girls on the team were also very welcoming and sweet, and I really enjoyed my first ever high school soccer season being a freshman on varsity.”