Both the boys and girls soccer teams have jumped into non-league play quickly this season. Each team has an influx of seniors; boys’ varsity has 18 seniors, and girls’ varsity has 11. Many of these seniors were on the teams that made it into the playoffs last year. This season, both teams will be looking to move further in the playoffs than last year.

The boys team opened the season with three straight road games. The opener was against Willamette High School in Eugene on Aug. 28, and it was a hard fought match that Cleveland lost 1-0.

On Aug. 31, Cleveland traveled to Wilsonville to take on the Wildcats. Cleveland took this matchup 2-1. Both Warrior goals came from seniors in this matchup. Filippo Gallo opened the scoring in the 25th minute with an outside the box shot into the bottom left corner. After Wilsonville equalized, Luca Vella scored from close range in the 58th minute, which proved to be the winner.

The team traveled to the capital city on Sept. 8 to match up against South Salem. Similar to the last game, seniors scored both times for Cleveland. Solomon Barnett nailed his free kick past the Saxons’ goalkeeper in the 19th minute. Near the end of the first half, South Salem equalized, but a defensive error in the 63rd minute allowed Logan Puppo to slot it in unmarked and give Cleveland the win.

The Warriors’ home opener is on Tuesday, Sept. 12 against Glencoe High School.

The girls’ team opened with a tough schedule, with the first three matchups against top 20 teams in the state, including no. 1-ranked Jesuit. In the opener against Beaverton on Aug. 28, Cleveland won 4-2, with two goals from freshman Ella Cohen, and a goal each from seniors Jaidyn Richter and Mason Bregoli.

The next game was against Jesuit on Aug. 31, which was not an easy task for the Warriors, and they took a tough 9-1 loss. However, Elsie Koehler’s consolation goal was the first that Jesuit allowed since last October.

Cleveland bounced back in their next matchup, with a 3-2 win over St. Mary’s on Sept. 5. Ella Cohen scored all three goals for the Warriors. Cleveland played South Salem at home on Sept. 8, and got a 1-0 win with Cohen once again scoring the decisive goal. On Sept. 11, Cleveland went to Putnam, and came back with a 7-2 win. Cohen, Koehler, and junior Lola Pierce all got on the scoresheet for the Warriors.

Their next game is at home vs. Southridge on Sept. 14.