The Palo Alto High School girls’ varsity soccer team has not qualified for the Central Coast Section (CCS) championships since the 2009-2010 season, and last winter season the varsity team was relegated.

This year however, the team is looking to the put the past few seasons behind them, and remains optimistic about the upcoming season. Despite the loss of nine seniors, the varsity team has freshmen additions to the team including Heidi Moser, Jacey Pederson, Alys Olmstead and Lauren Feitzinger. The varsity team also has strong returning starters: Nina Kelty (‘13), Sunny Lyu (‘14) and Katie Foug (‘15).

Returning varsity defender Julia Kwasnick (‘14) feels that although the team didn’t meet their expectations for last season, they have the potential to go much further than previous years.

“There’s definitely an unstated pressure to do well because we didn’t do well the past two seasons,” Kwasnick said. “ I think we have a lot of talent on the team and once we get more used to playing with each other, we’ll do well. ”

The Lady Vikes’ first game is on December 13, against Menlo.