2021 team among the best to wear a Windsor uniform
Legendary football coach Vince Lombardi once said, “If you chase perfection, you can catch excellence.”
The Windsor High School girls soccer team completed their chase last week to end a historical 2021 season that can only be described as generational.
The Jaguars put the icing on the cake in their final match with Cardinal Newman on May 25, as senior Bailey Campanella scored the go-ahead goal to lift Windsor to a 2-1 victory.
The win gave Windsor a final North Bay League record of 7-0-1 to complete an unbeaten spring campaign. Although no official champion will be crowned this year because of revised schedules due to COVID, the significance of the team’s accomplishments was not lost on players, coaches or fans.
“I’m really proud of these kids — they bought into our style of play and many were playing new positions that we felt would be best for the team,” first-year Jags coach Ralph Montes reflected. “The girls put in a lot of work on their own in preparation for the season and we were able to hit the ground running from the start.”
The Jaguars, who outscored their opponents 25-7, were the perfect blend of experience and youth, fielding a roster that included seniors Olivia Holdenried, Emily Moberly, Jordan Hume, Carmi Dotario, Kate Merical, Lola Gugel and Campanella; juniors Jaelynn Pinero, Emma Corcoran, Sophia Colombana, Vanessa Cordova, Emily Ott, Olivia Hohnstein, Mandy Howard and Jaycie Levar; and sophomores; Jadyn Holdenried, Elsa Nolen and Guilianna Colombana.
The brutally tough NBL Oak Division has been akin to navigating a minefield for teams each season, having to play the likes of nationally ranked powers Montgomery and Maria Carrillo.
The Jaguars were not intimidated, handing Carrillo a pair of losses, while forging a 2-2 tie with Montgomery. Windsor also beat Cardinal Newman and Santa Rosa twice to finish the year as the only team without a loss.
“We had one monumental win after win, and the girls started to believe in themselves more and more as the season went on,” Montes said. “Everyone on the team contributed a big goal this season and those goals are what made it such a special season.”
Bright future
The success was not confined to the varsity team, with the Windsor JV squad also going undefeated this year. With so many quality players moving up to varsity next year, the sky may be the limit for a soccer program that has ascended to an elite level.
“We’ll graduate eight players but with a great JV team, we should be able to keep our success going,” Montes noted. “The future looks bright.”
