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Elijah Berry ’17

Miles Mendes and Luke Snider

Elijah Berry ‘17 isn’t used to losing. Naturally, he shouldn’t be, as he plays on the Jesuit High School Varsity Soccer Team, which is ranked one of the best in the nation. But on Jan. 19th, Franklin High School who is nationally ranked 665th, beat them 1-3.

“We just didn’t come out prepared,” Elijah said. “We thought we would just win easily. They have one really fast kid [and] he really just set off and scored two, no one could catch him. That was pretty much why we lost.”

After that game, Elijah was determined to show Franklin that Jesuit was,in fact, the superior team. The next time Jesuit played Franklin they shut them out and won 3-0. This is more of what was expected of Jesuit, who by the end of the season was ranked number two nationally.

Being one of the best teams in the nation obviously comes with a lot of pressure to win. People expect the team to perform at a high level every season, but.

“Personally I don’t really feel any pressure,” Elijah said. “But if we don’t win I’m going to be pretty mad. For club, we are one of the best teams in the nation too, so we’re always supposed to win. It’s just something that I’ve gotten used to.”

Elijah doesn’t let other people’s expectations affect the way he plays.

“It was very very hard to get onto the varsity team,” said Elijah,

There is obviously a lot of competition to get onto the team because of Jesuit is one of the best.

To get on the team, Elijah recommends players play to their own strengths.

“Don’t be someone you are not,” Elijah said.