Five GDS teams played on Sports Saturday on Sept. 20. The day started with a women’s junior-varsity soccer clinic. After that, women’s varsity soccer, women’s junior-varsity and varsity volleyball and men’s junior-varsity and varsity soccer each played.
GDS went 5–0 on the day, with impressive performances from all five teams against Saint James and School Without Walls.
Women’s junior-varsity soccer
The Hoppers kicked off Sports Saturday with the junior-varsity women’s soccer team’s clinic, which was geared toward kids grades 3–5. For about an hour, the team led the kids through passing, dribbling and shooting drills. Four fourth-grade participants interviewed by the Bit remarked that among the many drills they participated in, their favorites were the shooting drills and monkey in the middle.
Freshman Ali Hlinko said that she “definitely saw improvement” with the kids’ passing and shooting.
“They’re little, so they’re still learning, but I think it’s helpful to teach them things like [soccer skills],” Hlinko said. “The clinic definitely went well.”
Women’s varsity soccer
At 11:30 a.m, the varsity women’s soccer team matched up against School Without Walls. The Hoppers took a quick lead, with a goal from sophomore Lindsay Fuzesi 20 minutes into the half. A couple of strong saves from senior goalie Corina Bellermann preserved GDS’ lead.
But it was the second half where the Hoppers really took control of the game. Ten minutes into the second half, the Walls goalkeeper fumbled a shot by sophomore Naomi Berger, tipping it into the goal. Just five minutes later, junior Merrell Palmer added yet another goal to the tally, putting GDS at a 3-0 lead. A couple good saves later, and GDS was controlling the game.
Although Walls got on the scoreboard with six minutes left in the match, the Hoppers easily added yet another win to their undefeated 5–0–1 record this year.
“We were just trying to have fun,” sophomore Ella Maas said. “It’s Sports Saturday—everyone was really hyped up.”
Women’s junior-varsity volleyball
The junior-varsity and varsity volleyball teams played Saint James, winning in two straight sets and three straight sets, respectively.
In the first set of the junior-varsity game, the teams went back and forth, with the score staying close. Sophomore Della Blum and junior Brooke Hughes contributed serving runs, and the Hoppers held a steady but close lead before pulling ahead to a 25–19 final score.
The second set started off slowly for GDS. The Saints took a quick lead, going 2–1 in the first three points, but the Hoppers bounced back with an ace from sophomore Drew McMillian. GDS continued to build up the score to 16–11 before Saint James came back with a run to get the score within one.
Finally, the Hoppers won a few consecutive points to get the score to 23–18. The final score of the set was 25–23, ending with an out-of-bounds serve from Saint James.
Head coach Ashley Shepard said the team “played really well. They’ve been working really hard in practice, and we’ve talked a lot about how we want to play in games.”
“I think we had good energy, and that helped us win,” McMillian said, adding that she hopes to “stay undefeated and work better as a team.”
Women’s varsity volleyball
Next, the women’s varsity volleyball team played Saint James. Saint James is especially known for their ball control and defensive plays, according to varsity volleyball head coach Brandon Wiest. When asked in a post-game interview about the team’s mentality going into the game, Wiest said that the team was “going to have to stay engaged and focused.”
Saint James was the first to serve, and the Hoppers could not get the first point. However, Saint James wouldn’t get many more points in the first set, and GDS easily finished the set 25–7.
Out of the break, junior Charlie Haft was up to serve. She served in straight over the net, and the opponent could not return the ball. Haft served again, and GDS won the point, and again, and again, until finally ending her serving run at 20–0 with a serve out-of-bounds. “It’s a skill that she really excels at,” Wiest said when asked about Haft’s serving, “and we were thrilled to let her showcase that in front of the school today.”
GDS easily closed out the set with an exceptional hit by junior Alexa Telly that filled the gym with cheers and had the Hopper mascot up on its feet celebrating.
The third and final set was not as easy as the second set for GDS. Starting off strong, the Hoppers shot out to an 11–2 lead. But then, the teams started trading points, a very different feeling from the first and second sets. As the set neared its close, the score was much closer than the previous set, 24–14.
Freshman Raquel Telly was up to serve, and the stands were silent as she hit the ball into play. Saint James made a return, and GDS couldn’t quite get to the ball in time. The Saints, rejuvenated by this point, fought their way back to 24–17 before Alexa Telly finally ended the match with another ferocious hit.
The final score was 25–17, with GDS winning all three sets.
“I was really proud of our team,” Wiest said. “It is a hard thing to do to get a little bit of a lead and still just stay locked in, focused and executing. I think there’s a maturity to that that is just not obvious.”
Men’s junior-varsity soccer
The men’s varsity and junior-varsity soccer teams faced off against Saint James to close out Fall Sports Saturday. At 2 p.m, the men’s junior-varsity soccer team took the field. The game started off slowly, with not many shots on goal. However, it didn’t take long for the team to ramp it up, getting good looks at the end of the field.
Sophomore Anthony Baez-Deras scored the first goal with a dagger into the net 15 minutes in. Freshman Christian Coates followed suit a couple minutes later.
In the second half, the Hoppers played suffocating defense, allowing Saint James very few good looks at the goal.
Saint James did get one goal, but it was deemed offsides by the officials. To finish the game, freshman Finn Taybi snuck in a goal in the final two minutes. The final score was 3–0, with the Hoppers keeping their undefeated start to the season alive.
Coates credited the team for their ball movement, saying that “they did a good job of passing the ball, getting [me, Anthony and Finn] the opportunities to score.”
When asked about the team’s hopes for this game and the season, Baez-Deras put it simply: “We want to win the games and keep it undefeated this season.”
Men’s varsity soccer
The men’s varsity soccer team played against Saint James in the final matchup of the day.
Hoping to keep GDS undefeated in Sports Saturday, the Hoppers came in hot off the bat. Their first goal came in the 11th minute from junior Nathan Tureck. Many GDS players had good looks at the goal throughout the first half, but two good saves in the 14th and 17th minutes by the Saint James goalie kept the Saints entirely in the game nearing halftime. However, after 40 minutes of play, junior William Cromer scored right before the break. (Cromer is a sports writer for the Bit.)
The second half opened with a bang, with a close shot by GDS followed by another goal by Cromer. Then, with 21 minutes left in the half, Saint James answered with their first goal of the match to bring the score to 3–1. In the 25th minute, freshman Brooks Newkirk earned the Hoppers a penalty kick, which senior Suli Ajmeri took and scored. To finish the game, junior Arlo Rising scored the final goal of the match in the last two minutes of play.
The final score was 5–1, and GDS was officially undefeated at Sports Saturday.
The Hoppers came into this game with a chip on their shoulder, looking to bounce back from their previous game.
Last Thursday, Sept. 18, the soccer team played St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, which, according to sophomore Rafa Westelius, “should’ve been a win.” Varsity head coach Quinn Killy explained that GDS was up 2–0 at the half before having a much rougher second half that ended in a draw.
“We wanted to make sure that we learned from that game, how to put away a game and not allow the momentum to shift,” Killy said, adding that in this game, the team “held pretty good shape. We recovered hard, and took advantage of our chances throughout the game. It was a good team effort overall.”
CORRECTION (Sept. 22, 2025 at 8:40 a.m.): The original version of this article said the men’s varsity soccer team’s fourth goal was scored on a free kick, not a penalty kick.