Vilseck girls hope turnaround season continues at Euros

WIESBADEN, Germany – Captain Ana Switala’s first two seasons with the Vilseck girls soccer team were littered with losses, and not particularly close ones at that.

It was even worse for Jaelyn Rosales, who has been in Bavaria her entire high school career and didn’t record a single win as a freshman through junior.

In fact, nobody in the program is exactly sure the last time the Falcons produced a win on the field before this spring.

The 2026 Falcons are erasing those painful memories. Not only have they gotten into the win column, but they also ended the regular season with a .500 record – and a winning mark in Division I action – with a 3-1 victory against Wiesbaden on Saturday.

Vilseck sits at 3-3-1 and 3-2-1 in the league. The program is guaranteed a Top-4 seed at the European championships May 18-21 in the Kaiserslautern Military Community, and depending on other results Saturday, the team could be as high as the third seed.

“Every year, we worked really hard and we’d try our best, and we’d see our potential. But it never transferred over to the games,” Switala said. “This year, it started transferring over to the games, so I’m just really happy.

“This is the first time that we see a chance to do something, to change, be competitive.”

The vibes are higher than ever, buoyed by players such as Elin Broughton, Switala and Ilanah Smith.

Broughton scored the first goal in Saturday’s match, dribbling along the right wing, and her tight-angle shot squeaked over the line in the 21st minute. The entire team paused for a couple of seconds after the ball crossed the line before celebrating.

It was the freshman’s second varsity goal.

Despite being a sweeper anchoring the backline, Switala came forward on a short corner in the 57th minute and floated a shot inside the upper right corner of the net.

Smith finished the scoring in the 76th minute, capitalizing on defensive miscommunication by Wiesbaden. The freshman forward had come close multiple times to scoring before that, including hitting the crossbar just a minute before her goal.

Broughton pointed to the team’s camaraderie as the main reason for their success on the field.

“I really love playing with this team,” Broughton said. “I feel really connected with them this year. We have a lot of chemistry, me Rachel (Sanchez) and Ilanah (Smith).

“We have really good relationships. That means we can play well together on the field.”

Despite being in control for most of the match, the Falcons didn’t run away with it.

The Warriors (2-5, 2-4) pulled one back in the 63rd minute to make it 2-1. Mariana Riley dribbled behind the defense and slotted home.

While that goal breathed life into the hosts, they couldn’t find the equalizer before conceding again.

“Our biggest (issue) all season is we wait until the second half to wake up, and when you get to the second half, time is no longer on your side,” Wiesbaden coach Tabitha Wildermuth said. “So, I’m hoping this week going into Euros, we start from when the whistle blows and we keep fighting until the end.”

The Falcons also turn the page toward the postseason, but coach John Switala said whatever happens in the Kaiserslautern Military Community won’t diminish this spring’s successes.

“I’m so proud of what they’ve been able to accomplish together already this season,” he said. “So, whatever happens in Euros, I think we’ll look back at (this season) and be able to say that we’ve been able to make something special together.”

The Wiesbaden Warriors admit they were agitated heading into halftime of Saturday afternoon’s match against Vilseck leading by just one goal.

“Our games before this have been going very well, and we should have been winning by much more,” captain Christian Valencia said. “It was a bit nerve-racking.”

Some second-half adjustments and a bit of feistiness just minutes after the restart turned a tight affair into a comfortable 5-0 Warrior win at Wiesbaden High School.

Wiesbaden (5-2, 4-2) played shorter passes instead of going long, and that opened the Falcon defense that held the hosts to just three shots on goal in the first half.

The Warriors did most of their damage in a 6-minute span.

In the 50th minute, senior Jaden Ruiz converted a penalty he won for his second goal of the contest. On a drop-ball restart 3 minutes later, senior Gabriel Dawson quickly got the ball to Valencia, who scored. And in the 55th minute, Valencia produced a through ball for Liam Ho that put the sophomore behind the defense to make it 4-0.

Miles Milan set up Ho for another goal in the 68th minute.

“We weren’t playing our game as a team,” Ruiz said. “We were playing a lot of through balls and trying to force it, and that’s just not our play style. When we play together as a team and build up from the back, I think that’s where we can really dominate the game.”

According to Wiesbaden coach Tariq Zangana, the Falcons (0-7, 0-6) provided the perfect test ahead of the European championships.

He said teams are going to leave everything out on the field, and sometimes his players will have to find ways to break down opponents that go into defensive bunkers.

“Now, you’re really playing for something,” Zangana said. “It’s a different atmosphere. A team that may have lost every game coming in might come in and win everything. It’s happened before.”

Although the match got away from her team in the end, Vilseck coach Summer Pickel was pleased with the defensive effort for the first half.

Being able to replicate those 40 minutes for an entire match could be a blueprint for success, she said.

“The first half, we saw what the boys are capable of,” Pickel said. “Hopefully, we bring that to Euros.”