The Lancers’ first day of the 2025-2026 school year ended with the first preseason flag football game.
With a final winning score of 41-0, the Lady Lancers earned a shutout win over Woodrow Wilson High School on Monday, Aug. 11.
Head coach Troy Nelson said this game showed much improvement from the previous year.
“We beat them 14-0 last year so in order for us to flip that to 41-0 this year means we made a lot of improvement as a team,” Nelson said. “That’s a testament to the amount of work the girls put in but also the caliber of athletes we have now.”
With no one marking her, receiver senior Kaia Tundukasiri said she caught a pass from quarterback sophomore Solaio Arredondo on the left side of the field and sprinted up the sideline into the end zone, adding another touchdown to the Lady Lancers’ lead.
“I was super excited when I first scored my touchdown,” Tundukasiri said. “My teammates are so encouraging and enthusiastic, which makes it so much more fun to play.”
The momentum continued when Arredondo fired a 20-yard pass to wide receiver and outside linebacker junior Mia Ramirez, who completed the play with a touchdown. Linebacker and safety senior Sophia Takaki later added to the scoreboard with a pick-six, widening the Lancers’ lead.
“Everything happened so fast [when] I saw that Mia was open, and in that split second, I just trusted my throw,” the quarterback said. “I definitely felt accomplished but it was more than that, I felt excited for the team [since] that play worked because everyone did their job, and that’s the best feeling.”
Tindukasiri credited the win to strong chemistry on both sides of the ball.
“Even though it was our first game, the team meshed really well together and it seemed we were all playing on the same page,” she said. “On offense, Solaio’s throws were accurate and our defense had great cover to where Wilson’s offense wasn’t able to score.”
Takaki said the team approached the game cautiously.
“We knew the team we were going up against so it was what we expected,” she said. “We tried to stay focused though because we hadn’t seen them play before and our team looks a lot different this year so it could’ve gone any way.”
However, team captain and cornerback senior Elly Sweeney said there could be some areas for improvement during their next game.
“I would just work on some of the plays where they gained yards due to missed flag pulls,” Sweeney said.
The Lady Lancers’ next game will be against the Troy Warriors on Monday, Sept. 10 at the baseball field at Sunny Hills High School.
