The Firehawk girls soccer team is going to the CIF playoffs for the second time since 2020 after defeating the Compton High School Rising Phoenix 2 – 1 last Sunday. 

They will face the Garey Vikings at 5 p.m. today at Garey High School in Pomona. Anyone is able to attend Thursday’s game, however Shalhevet will not be sending buses, partly due to the fact it is 90 minutes away.

The Vikings have 17 wins and four losses on the season, while the Firehawks have four wins and seven losses, so it would be an upset if Shalhevet wins. 

But sophomore goalie Adi Liebenthal said the team has already exceeded expectations so far this year.

“If we don’t do so well we’ll be fine, because we already pushed ourselves and did better than we thought we could,” said Adi.

Coming into Sunday, the Firehawks were tied with Compton in third place in the Mulholland league. They had played the Rising Phoenix twice already this season, winning 6-3 on Jan. 13; losing 0-2 on Feb. 2. 

Only the top three teams in each division qualify for the playoffs. That meant the game on Sunday was win-or-go-home for both teams, with the loser being eliminated from playoff contention. 

Sophomore Chana Light, who plays defense, said the team felt pressured going into Sunday’s game, especially after losing one week prior to the same team. 

“Spirit was a little down but we kept our heads up and we went into the game and we just tried our best, and having a lot of teamwork, in the end it paid off,” said Chana. 

Noa Talasazan, who is a junior and the team captain, said the team isn’t in need of more success and all they can do now is go out there, try their hardest and have fun. 

“We made our coaches proud, our school proud, and most importantly we proved to each other that we can compete,” said Noa. 

In CIF (California Scholastic Federation) soccer, teams are separated into divisions based on the size of the school and how well the team performed the previous season. There are seven divisions in total, Division 1 being the highest ranked, and the Firehawk girls team is in Division 7.