Girls varsity soccer (GVS) played King Philip Regional High School (King Philip) on Wednesday, Nov. 9 at Parsons Field in a round of 16 game. The Brookline Warriors defeated King Philip, winning 4-2, and advanced to the quarterfinals.

The Warriors began with a dominant first half as they scored three goals while holding King Philip at zero.

Senior Gianna Pentland scored two goals, both assisted by senior Maddy Moor, within the first 15 minutes of the game. Pentland said that she was greatly aided by her teammates.

“Our team has to play fantastic because I’m not scoring goals without my teammates. We win together and we lose together,” Pentland said.

Pentland said that she and Moor have worked well together this season and have been common scorers with one assisting the other in many games, including this one.

“We know each other’s plays well, and when she had it down the line, I saw the cross coming in and I was just there for the header,” Pentland said.

Junior Amara Ukomadu scored one goal in the first half, increasing the lead to 3-0. At the start of the second half, King Phillip scored two goals bringing the score to 3-2. Following this comeback by King Phillip, Ukomadu scored another goal with five minutes of play left and brought the Warriors to a 4-2 lead.

Going into the game, the Warriors’ strategy was to play for possession of the ball. According to Pentland, this strategy paid off as King Philip rarely maintained possession for long.

“We’re a possession team. We pass around every single team that we play and that’s how we score,” Pentland said. “We frustrate the other team when we do that.”

Throughout the game, sophomores Sydney Freese and Anna Leschly, along with seniors Cece Wager and Talia Thompson, maintained the defense and kept King Phillip from taking the lead.

Pentland said that Thompson, Freese, Leschly and Wager are key in the Warriors’ strategy of maintaining possession.

“Our goalie, Talia, did a fantastic job. She was making great saves and I think the way we built out of the back with our defense was great,” Pentland said. “In my opinion, we have the three best defenders in the state. They build out of the back with our center middles and then they feed the forwards and that’s just how we possess the ball very well.”

Having passed the round of 16 game, GVS Coach Ben Peters said he is now looking toward the future of this season.

“Ultimately, we would like to win a state championship; we have three more games left to get there,” Peters said.

This win gives the Warriors a great amount of hope since King Philip was widely favored to win, Pentland said.

“They were talked about in the Boston Globe as being a likely contender to possibly win the entire state tournament and we just knocked them out, so I’m proud of us,” Pentland said.