Cape Tech Girls Off To Successful Season Start With Increased Numbers

PLEASANT LAKE – Cape Cod Tech girls soccer’s season opener last year, a win against Atlantis Charter, was the program’s first victory in about two decades.

They ended 2024 in similar fashion, a season-closing second win against Atlantis Charter. This year, head coach Eric Rondina expects more than two wins, and Cape Tech is already a third of the way to meeting that mark.

The Crusaders again beat Atlantis Charter 3-0 on Monday to pick up their first victory, a match that followed a promising 1-1 draw against Falmouth Academy in the first game of the season last Thursday, Sept. 4. 

Only two years ago, Falmouth Academy had taken down Cape Tech twice, 5-0 and 6-0. In the meeting last week though, Cape Tech battled from a 1-0 deficit on the back of an equalizer from junior Gabriela Freitas in the second half. 

“I'm really confident in our team this year,” senior goalkeeper Aria O’Neil said after the tie. “I'm really excited to see the future for us.”

O’Neil recorded 23 saves in the match as the Crusader backline bent but didn’t break. Except for one deep strike that put Falmouth Academy on top midway through the first half, O’Neil made play after play against repeated offensive attacks.

“I see the ball and then it’s like a split decision whether I go for it or if I stay back and take the chance of having to hit it out or catch it,” she said.

Even with the expectation that Cape Tech could exceed its win total from last year, there was work to be done and improvement yet to be made, Rondina said after the Falmouth Academy draw.

“As a coach, I think you always expect a little bit more, right? And that's just part of coaching,” he said. “I think we kind of were in our heads a bit and kind of played a little sloppy, but it's nothing that we can't fix and that we won't fix.”

The program has grown in each of the three years Rondina has served at the helm, going from about nine to 11 players his first season to 15 in 2024. Last year, in part due to some injuries, the team just didn’t have enough players, according to Freitas.

“It was kind of rough,” she said.

This year, 22 players are rostered. With the increased numbers, the effect on the field is that the Crusaders, knowing that substitutes are available if need be, are able to play as hard as they can. Rondina now is able to pull his starters out to take a breather and talk strategy.

“That's huge for us,” he said.

Cape Tech graduated just one senior from last year, according to Rondina, in contrast to other schools. Rondina has emphasized using that experience to their benefit. 

“I told them, I said, ‘We’ve got to take advantage of us being the veteran team now and other teams being younger than we are,’” he said.