David Kagan and Jake Barnett

All sports teams at McLean circle the Langley game on their calendar anticipating the marquee matchup. The girls varsity soccer team is no different, as they hoped to defeat the Saxons for the fourth consecutive year when they faced them on Tuesday, April 7.

For seniors, this was their last regular season match against Langley, and could be the last of their career. So for the seven seniors on the squad the pressure to beat Langley for the third straight year was immense.

“The Langley game is really important, friends actually come out to watch the game; it’s the one everybody cares about the most so to have won under all the pressure is a really good feeling,” senior captain Maddie Dalzell said.

The Highlanders controlled the match from the opening kickoff, and maintained control the entire game, with junior Haley Mennes scoring her second goal of the year and freshman Kimberly Zhou scoring the first goal of her high school soccer career, before adding another to extend the lead to 3-0.

“Scoring was an awesome moment, when the team ran to me and we all hugged to congratulate each other on everybodys effort to score that goal,” Mennes said of her header goal off a Kimberly Zhou cross which opened up the scoring for The Highlanders.

Junior goalkeeper Lydia Erickson maintained a clean sheet, her first of the year, by stopping the six Saxon shots and the Highlanders held on to win 3-0, defeating Langley for the third straight year.

“The best part about beating them 3-0 was it is a pretty big margin [of victory] for soccer, so it was great to stick it to our rival school,” junior Meaghan O’Reilly said.

Furthermore, the victory ensured that only five players on the current squad were on varsity last time they lost to Langley, meaning a majority of players have always beaten Langley which is an accomplishment not many McLean athletes can boast.

“Beating them for three straight years means a lot to me because, being a junior, I haven’t lost to them [Langley] which is a great feeling,” Mennes said.

At the end of the day, beating Langley and bringing the Rotary Cup back to McLean, is a major accomplishment for any McLean team, even if they have become accustomed to it.

“It just makes you feel giddy,” Dalzell said, “just the ability to say ‘we beat Langley’ is fun because its such a point of pride.”