After making it to the third round of the playoffs, the girls varsity soccer team lost 0-3 to Lake Travis April 6 after beating them once and drawing against them in the regular season.

“I think it was an off night for us,” head coach Darci Carruthers said. “I got to hand it to Lake Travis, they brought it. They worked hard and had a better soccer game than we did. I don’t think we ever got into a groove for our game, but at the end of the day, I’m proud of the girls, the commitment from the team and the seniors.”

Senior Claire Schaffer is the only player who signed to play at the collegiate level. She will play goalkeeper at California State Polytechnic University at Pomona.

“I’m not sad about the game specifically, but I am sad about the fact that I won’t be able to play with people that I have been playing with for four years in both club and school,” Claire said. “I’ve been playing soccer since kindergarten, so having a time period where I don’t play soccer at all just sounds really weird to me. I really enjoy the sport because it keeps me in shape and is a good way to make friends. I chose to pursue it in college because it’s a stress reliever.”

With the season ending, the varsity team will lose six senior players. This year’s juniors total 12, and sophomores number 16, so next year’s roster should be deep. For the others, the Lake Travis game marked the end of their high school soccer careers.

“I hope they continue on in some level of soccer because I think you can play until you’re 105,” Carruthers said.

Over the course of the season, the players formed a tight bond which transitioned onto the field.

“I definitely think that in the three years I’ve been at Westlake, this is by far the closest this team has ever been,” junior Olympia Walker said. “Everyone on varsity is really close across all grade levels, which doesn’t always happen, and I think that our chemistry both on and off the field has been a defining factor for our success this season. While I’m really going to miss this graduating class of seniors, I’m excited to see what the rest of the team can do next season with another year under our belts.”