Casciaro’s speed helps the Tigers light up the scoreboard
Accomplishments: Sophia Casciaro stands at an even 5 feet.
But the Tokay High girls soccer player, a junior striker, struck fear into Galt in an area and non-league game at the Grape Bowl on Dec. 21. She recorded a hat trick, with all three of the Tigers’ goals in a 3-2 win over Galt.
The Warriors scored the first goal of the game when Tara Blackwell scored on a one-on-one shot against Tokay goalkeeper Mia Misasi. Galt led 1-0, which lit a fire among the Tigers’ players. That’s when Casciaro and the Tigers stepped up their game.
“When they got that first goal, I was like ‘OK, there is no way they are going to beat us from that goal,’” recalled Casciaro.
Of her three goals, Casciaro felt that her first one was the biggest one for the Tigers.
“We just needed one goal to get back, as if it was 0-0,” Casciaro said.
The win improved the Tigers to 5-3, which includes a four-game winning streak. Tokay is off to one of its best starts under second year Tokay coach Sam Gonzalez. Last winter, Tokay went 3-10-3 and in the spring of 2016 — the Sac-Joaquin Section voted to move boys and girls soccer to the winter season in 2014 — the Tigers were 0-19-2.
“In previous years, we haven’t been on the winning side,” Casciaro said.
Casciaro, who has been playing soccer since age 7 and competitively since 9, leads Tokay in scoring with six goals and three assists.
Casciaro admits that being a shorter soccer player has its advantages.
“I’m not the type that gets scared; I relish on that,” Casciaro said. “There are times when a girl is taller than me, I’m most likely faster than them. I have to work on my footwork. They are much bigger and better than me, but I have to improvise. There are some girls who look big; they even look scary.”
The Tigers have plenty of speed this season. Casciaro feels that is a huge plus for her teammates, as Tokay goes into Tri-City Athletic League play at Lincoln on Friday, Jan. 12. Part of Tigers’ success has been the movement of five freshmen — Allison Carloni, Annika Hauschildt, Hannah Hauschildt, Lauren Frisk and Natalie Nord — to the varsity level.
“They have speed,” said Casciaro of the quintet. “Which is an advantage to us because there are a lot of teams in our league that don’t have much speed. We have a lot of small girls, but we have speed. We do have some girls with the footwork and ball control. All together, that helps us win games.”
Two schools that Casciaro is looking forward to playing is cross-town and league rival Lodi (1-8) and St. Mary’s (4-2-1), which won the league title last winter.
“I feel our team has competition this year,” Casciaro said. “We’re super excited. We’re on a winning streak. Can’t wait to play some of our competition like Lodi and St. Mary’s.”