Girls Soccer Takes First Place in Body Armor Tournament

This season the girls varsity soccer team has been performing incredibly in their recent tournaments. A highlight of the season has been when the girls took first place in the Body Armor Tournament on April 23. This win brought Niles West another trophy after their win against Niles North.

The Body Armor Tournament has been taking place for over two decades now, being first sponsored by Pepsi in the past and now by the popular energy drink, Body Armor. This is a tournament for charity, meaning that all the teams are recommended to donate money or canned goods to help show their support.

Captain and senior Maja Applequist expresses her thoughts on their accomplishment and being in the tournament.

“The tournament is overall just a really great cause and a fun way to come together with all the high schools in the area and play soccer. [Winning] the tournament felt really amazing since we had never won that before in my four years playing varsity soccer at Niles West. We also never made it past the second game, so it was very exciting to even make it to the third game. However, spraying ourselves with Coca-Cola at the end just made it all worth it,” Applequist said.

For junior Meaghan Hennessy, the victory was very exciting and an unfamiliar feeling to the team.

“It felt pretty good to win, especially cause we have not won this tournament before. It was very exciting for us especially after we got into the championship game by winning a 16-round penalty shootout,” Hennessy said.

Taking the win was not as simple as it seemed as the team faced some obstacles. During the second game, tensions rose, emotions were out of control and the pressure was surreal as the girls faced a 16-round penalty shootout. A penalty shootout is what determines the winner of a game that would have otherwise been tied. Applequist believes that the tight bond between the team really impacted the success of this shootout that led them to win and advance to their third game.

“Our team is very very close, so I think that helped us win. Our team was a lot closer in our second game when we went into sixteen rounds of penalty kicks. This means that every single person on our team had to step up and take a penalty which is extremely nervewracking, so just our team cheering for each other on the sidelines and being as close as we are really helped build and boost everyone’s confidence and come out with a win,” Applequist said.

Senior Mia Cejovic left learning about surprises in games and with the experience of winning the Body Armor Tournament.

“I learned that soccer is a crazy game and you never know what can happen.  In the third and final game, we were down 2-0 and we ended up winning the penalty shootout 6-5. No matter what just push through and keep your head up,” Cejovic said.