According to varsity boys basketball player sophomore Rylan See, this event was the first coeducational professional basketball competition hosted by the NBA and WNBA.

“Even though Sabrina lost, it was exciting to watch, as we got to see the best shooters from both the NBA and WNBA duel it out for the first time,” he said.

According to See, Ionescu’s ability to score at a similar level to contestants from the men-only 3-point contest is encouraging.

“(Ionescu) actually tied Damian Lillard’s score, who was the (men’s) 3-point champion this year,” he said. “(She) showed that she was able to shoot the ball just as well as the best shooter in the world, which will encourage more girls to play.”

The showdown drew 5.4 million viewers, making it the most-viewed competition during All-Star Saturday Night. According to varsity girls basketball player sophomore Lena Duggan, the contest’s popularity — combined with Curry’s — improves the WNBA’s outreach.

“People love to see Steph Curry, so seeing him associated with a WNBA player will likely bring more attention to the WNBA,” she said.

Boys junior varsity basketball coach Matt Passell hopes that Ionescu’s performance will help audiences better recognize WNBA players’ skills.

“Hopefully, other events like this — where you have good competition between men and women — (will make it) so that the people who wouldn’t tune into a women’s basketball contest get to see how talented they are,” he said.

Duggan echoed how the contest garners not only more attention but more regard for women’s basketball.

“It shows that the WNBA should be respected more because the best shooter in the NBA was competing against one of the best WNBA shooters,” she said. “This brings more attention to the talent that the WNBA has.”

Although this was the way I was brought into the world of collegiate basketball, the reality is quite the opposite. Much to the surprise of my 12-year-old self, women’s basketball at all levels has significantly fewer followers compared to men’s.

Since 2021, however, this narrative has begun to change. Over the past couple years, there has been an influx of new talent among collegiate women. Some of the biggest recent names — University of Connecticut guard Paige Bueckers, Stanford University forward Cameron Brink, University of Iowa guard Caitlin Clark, Louisiana State University forward Angel Reese and University of Southern California guard JuJu Watkins — bring so much talent and skill to the court that women’s basketball has become impossible to ignore.

In 2024, arguably the most famous of these names would be Clark. The 6-foot senior’s deadliness from the three-point line has consistently brought her national attention, but it wasn’t until she started smashing long-held records that her talent truly went viral. On Feb. 15, Clark broke the National Collegiate Athletic Association scoring record set by two-time WNBA national champion Kelsey Plum at 3, 527 points, scoring 49 points in one game to bring her total up to 3,569 points. If that wasn’t legendary enough, Clark went on to break the all-time scoring record of any woman or man in Division I basketball, set by Pete Maravich, a Louisiana State guard who went on to play in the NBA. His record had stood for 54 years at 3,667 points before Clark broke it by scoring 35 points against Ohio State University, bringing her tally to 3,684 points.

Needless to say, Clark is one of the most deco- rated women to ever pick up a basketball — and she hasn’t even started a professional career. Leading the Hawkeyes, Clark flushed the University of Connecticut out of the March Madness Final Four on April 5, ending senior Paige Bueckers’ college career. Bueckers, another icon of this current era, has been riddled with injuries for a large portion of her college career: She was out with a knee injury for most of her sophomore year, returning just in time to lead her team to a national champion- ship. There, Bueckers tore her ACL, leading her to miss her entire junior season. In her senior year, Bueckers has beaten the odds, proving she is still an elite player as the 2023-24 Big East scholar-athlete of the year, an Associated Press First Team All-American and a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s 2023-24 Women’s All-America Team.

Also on this All-American team is Stanford’s Brink. The 6-foot-4 senior is an absolute powerhouse inside the paint, her unmatched skill bringing her national attention. Selected as the 2023-24 Pacific-12 Conference women’s player of the year and defensive player of the year, Brink is just as decorated as Bueckers and Clark, and has led her team to many victories.

A new player on the scene, USC’s Watkins is carving her own path, showing endless potential in her freshman season. The 6-foot-2 guard is averaging an insane 27.1 points per game (in their freshman seasons, Brink, Bueckers and Clark averaged 9.9, 20.0 and 26.6 points per game, respectively). Although the Trojans did take a dive out of the March Madness Elite Eight to Bueckers and the Huskies, basketball fans can’t wait to see Watkins’ next season.

Whether it’s stewing over the next All-Star 3-point contest (possibly involving Caitlin Clark), or keeping an eye out for courtside Warriors guard Stephen Curry (who is the son of Dell Curry, Brink’s godfather) at the Maples Pavilion, collegiate women’s basketball is catching fire and no one can look away. However, this ground-breaking talent isn’t the only thing raising the audience numbers.

Women’s basketball has shown it has a flair that men’s basketball just can’t match, whether that be the unbelievable outfits Louisiana State head coach Kim Mulkey wears while leading her team, or the increased intensity of play. Being the animated coach that she is, it only feels right that Mulkey has the craziest style of anyone in the realm of college basketball, from bedazzled and feathered blazers to tiger-print suits. Countless videos of her circle the internet, with her screaming herself hoarse at a referee while the ruffled sleeves of her jacket shake and her pump heels click against the court. A true icon of women’s collegiate basketball, Mulkey is just one non-player aspect that keeps viewers wanting more.

As for the increased intensity of play, there’s been an uptick in physical altercations in women’s ball over the past couple years — and the publicity surrounding them. Not uncommon in men’s games, fights between players are a rarity in women’s games. As to be expected, the NCAA has a zero-tolerance policy toward unnecessary violence, but that doesn’t stop the fact that an explosion of emotion can sometimes be one of the most interesting parts of a game. Viewers (including myself) go wild for a good, juicy fight and love seeing passion and emotions running high on the court.

While March Madness may be over, with the University of South Carolina Gamecocks coming off an undefeated season to take the tournament win over Clark and the Hawkeyes, the fame of women’s basketball will continue growing. All eyes may be looking at the collegiate competition right now, but fans will follow these idols past graduation — Clark, Brink and countless other collegiate firecrackers have already declared for the WNBA draft on April 15, with Clark projected as the top pick.

My 12-year-old perception of the popularity of women’s basketball was plainly incorrect, but the tables are turning. A new era of basketball is upon us — one that brings women’s sports one step closer to the recognition that they deserve. One that lets little girls stand at the three-point line and not dream of being the next Stephen Curry, but the next Caitlin Clark.

According to the Palo Alto Police Department, the initial incident occurred between Gunn students and the Wilcox basketball team. Several Gunn parents and school staff intervened, which caused an altercation among parents. One Wilcox parent was arrested.

Tuesday’s game — held in Titan Gym beginning at 7 p.m. — was close, with Gunn clinching an 82-81 victory in overtime. According to several student spectators, tensions had been running high prior to the end of the match, although there were no physical confrontations.

A little after 9 p.m., however, a Gunn student descending from the bleachers and a Wilcox player on the court approached one another, with the Wilcox player’s teammates assembling behind him. Spectators, along with Assistant Athletic Director Kevin Johnson, pushed the two parties apart, with Athletic Director Curt Johansen escorting the Gunn student off of the court to avoid further escalation.

A few minutes afterward, a Wilcox parent shoved Gunn boys basketball head coach Brandynn Williams and a Gunn parent. Video footage shows a different Wilcox parent trying to end the altercation while repeatedly yelling “calm down” before pushing a Gunn parent — who had been filming the fight on the court — to the ground. 

As things became physical, the athletic directors called 911. According to boys varsity basketball team member Dylan Lu, Gunn players were told to go to the locker room, where they remained until the police arrived. 

“I was really scared,” he said. “We were all locked in the locker room — we locked the doors. The coach was like, ‘No one go out, no one walk home, just stay here until the police come.’”

As spectators began to exit, the fight moved to the Titan Gym lobby. Video recordings show the Wilcox parent who had shoved Williams throwing air punches before grabbing Johnson. The crowd dispersed after the police’s arrival.

According to PAPD, one Wilcox parent was later arrested for battery and subsequently released on a criminal citation. Officers are sending a report to the District Attorney’s office to review charges for another adult. 

The following morning, on Feb. 14, Principal Dr. Wendy Stratton notified parents and students that the Gunn administration was working with the Wilcox High School administration, as well as Santa Clara Valley Athletic League officials and local law enforcement, to investigate the incident. She added that there are no confirmed reports of physical altercations between students.

While such events may be anomalous at Gunn, Stratton notes that they’re part of a larger pattern of post-pandemic spectator misbehavior. In August 2023, two Bay Area high school games ended because of fan violence. The year before, in September 2022, administrators canceled a Gunn vs. Paly football game due to student spectator misconduct. 

Given this trend, Stratton hopes to partner more consistently with administrators from opposing teams to curb concerning behavior, as well as hire additional security for athletic events that may draw bigger crowds.

“Proactive preventative action will include increasing our vigilance when monitoring spectators — in order to redirect unacceptable fan behavior early and often,” she wrote in an email. 

In light of the violence during the players’ senior night, Stratton will be holding a luncheon with the boys varsity basketball team next Wednesday to celebrate their accomplishments. 

“That was their senior night, and it should have been — the whole evening should have been — nothing but fun and a great memory,” she said.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

—Additional reporting by Chris Lee.

The Gunn boys basketball team is divided into three groups — freshman, junior varsity and varsity — each with their own coaches and athletes of all skill levels. The freshman team, as its name suggests, is a team for freshmen. The JV team’s roster mainly consists of sophomores, and the varsity team comprises predominantly upperclassmen. However, depending on skill level, students can be moved by coaches: For instance, there are freshmen on the JV team and sophomores on the varsity team.

Although I am a junior, and as such should have joined the varsity team, I decided to join the freshman team first and make my debut bullying the ninth graders. Luckily for them, a friend recommended I would have more to write about by focusing on the JV team instead, before moving on to varsity. My original plan was to go from the bottom up, so this revised plan actually sped up my schedule.

Still contemplating a suitable headline for my story, I forgot to send an email in advance asking the coaches if I could show up to exert dominance over the sophomores. Fortunately, they welcomed me with open arms, and I happily skipped onto Titan Gym’s basketball court.

The first thing that greeted me was the color orange.Let me clarify: A basketball was hurtling straight toward my face at supersonic speed, and I saw my days of basketball glamor end before I even took my first dribble. I instinctively used my reflexes from my days of fighting crime in Gotham and narrowly avoided a career-ending injury. Unfazed, I walked toward what I assumed were my teammates for the day with a confident smile. My smile widened into a full grin as the basketball I narrowly avoided tripped a freshman behind me. As you can probably tell, I’m a very virtuous person.

I joined the JV team in their stretches and made small talk as the coaches prepared for practice to start. After some dynamic stretching and casual dribbling, I was already exhausted and ready to head home. A shrill whistle marked the start of practice, and everyone started warming up as I struggled to catch my breath. The warmups consisted of five ball-dribbling drills followed by “Suicides,” an exercise in which one runs back and forth across the court. Then came shooting drills, in which I proceeded to prove Newton’s first law of motion — objects in motion tend to stay in motion unless acted upon by a net force — with none of my shots coming remotely close to the hoop.

The team’s contagiously energetic mood, however, encouraged me to keep going. Even with my limited time on the team, I could tell that all of the players respected one another and would not hesitate to lend a hand if anyone were struggling. The competitive yet supportive atmosphere truly showed me the athletes’ team spirit and what it meant to be a member of the basketball team. It felt like a family — only, I was that creepy uncle who fails miserably trying to fit in.

Blinded by nausea and on the verge of collapsing, I finally found a moment of respite when the coach yelled, “fast break!” in the middle of a play. I hurried off the court to find a water fountain that could quench my sorrows, only to look around and see my teammates’ dumbfounded stares. Apparently “fast break” is a basketball term for when a player quickly takes the ball and drives to score a point, not a signal for time-out. Recovering briskly, I resumed my position and explained myself to an opponent.

“Stay on your toes,” I said. “I bet you guys won’t know where I’ll pop up next — it’s my secret play.”

I proceeded to almost get sent to the hospital by a nasty misdirection crossover, but hey, at least it looked natural (I think).

Halfway through the practice, I found an opening to escape and hurriedly whipped out a notebook — specially stored in an easily accessible location for times like these — and got to writing. I made up my mind to slam the article instead of a basketball, and walked over to the coaches to catch my breath.

I was assaulted with a battalion of sores and bruises when I woke up the next morning. I pleasantly spent the first 30 minutes of the day contemplating my life choices and making pitiful attempts at coming up with headlines. Right on cue, a message from my planner reminded me of the varsity practice I still had to attend. With the deadline for my article coming up, I begrudgingly limped my way to Titan Gym. After all, never giving up is my strong suit.

I gave up halfway through varsity practice. Although I should’ve expected it, varsity was every bit as strenuous as JV practice. I sat out the warm-ups but joined in on the shooting drills, which I deemed would provide the least strain on my aching body. Everything was going as expected. My partner nailed three-point shot after three-point shot. I missed it again and again. I blinked the sweat out of my eyes. My vision blurred. Next thing I knew, I was on the ground with a ball-shaped bruise on my face. As my partner knelt down next to me and asked if I was all right, one thought was on my mind: “Kelvin beats the buzzer in boys basketball.” What a perfect headline.

Although Kuartei didn’t start out enjoying basketball, the sport grew on him over the years. “(Even though) my dad picked (basketball) for me, I did learn to like it,” he said. “I just put more energy and time into basketball and ended up being better at it.”

Committed to honing his craft to the best of his ability, Kuartei has spent countless hours practicing, shooting baskets and working on ball handling. Along with playing on the Gunn basketball team, Kuartei spends time outside of practice to work by himself. Commitment and consistency remain core values in his mindset as a player, as does team spirit. “Whenever I want to stop, (my) obligation to (my) teammates keeps me going,” he says.

Still, staying committed can be difficult at times, especially when physical injuries pose risks. Kuartei injured his knee while practicing and has not been able to play for over a month. Maintaining a healthy mindset around his relationship with basketball has been a struggle during this time. “(It’s hard) being forced at one time or another to take a break (from basketball), whether wanting to or not, and then just feeling like I’m never going to come back,” he said.

Trying to balance academic responsibilities with basketball practice is also a challenge. At times, Kuartei has considered dropping basketball to devote more of his attention to school in the coming years. “I’m taking a lot of APs next year, and focusing (more) on my instrument,” he says. “Balancing a ton of (responsibilities) will be pretty hard.”

Still, love for the sport is unquestionable. “I’m just a person who enjoys doing physical activities, and I’ve always had a lot of friends in the sport,” he said. “Playing the sport itself is (also) really fulfilling for me.”

Senior wrestler Amar Srivastava is surrounded by teammates during a match against Saratoga High School on Jan. 11.

The girls varsity soccer team celebrates their senior night during a game against Paly on Feb. 16. The game ended in a 1-1 tie.

Baseball player Ryan Barahona pitches the ball during a game against Fremont High School on April 14. Boys varsity baseball won the game 9-5.

On Nov. 20, the girls water polo team poses at the D-III CIF NorCal State Championship after winning first place.

Players fight for the rebound in the Paly vs. Gunn game held on Jan. 25. Gunn narrowly beat Paly with a score of 33-31, marking the first victory against the high school in 24 years.

Girls varsity track and field compete in a meet against Los Altos High School on March 2.

Softball player Kylie Liu hits a home run in the April 28 game against Paly. Gunn won with a score of 8-1.

Athletic trainer Gagan Cheema helps injured athletes recover and emphasizes the importance of not only full rehabilitation and recovery, but also preventative measures. “There are some coaches who ask for preventative-type strength programs that they give to their athletes,” Cheema says. “A lot of [Gunn] coaches have experience in a variety of strength training, plyometric training or conditioning to certain degrees. It’s really nice when those coaches can implement that in their preseason and spend time with their athletes to make sure that they are ready before the season begins.”

Gunn offers many high intensity sports like basketball, which consists of running and contact that makes athletes more prone to injury. “I cover all sports here at Gunn, and I would say the most common [injury] that I [treat] is probably ankle-related,” Cheema said.

According to girls basketball coach Daniel Wentling, the junior varsity team suffered from various finger and ankle injuries throughout the past season. Although training and experience can help prevent injury, Wentling views some injuries as unpreventable. Basketball, he noted, is an injury-prone activity in itself. “Part of it comes with the [sport],” Wentling said.
The injuries not only affect the individual player, but the team as well. The injured players get substituted, shifting the team’s strategy and collaboration. “It is obviously disappointing to the team when a teammate is unable to play,” Wentling said. “[However,] the next player needs to be ready to go.”

Gunn’s cheer team also suffers from various injuries through the season due to the intensity of the sport. Their routines often contain elements that can be very dangerous if executed incorrectly. Gunn alumni and current cheer coach Arianna Denson has seen her share of injuries out on the cheer mat. “I’ve seen quite a few [accidents] that really stick out,” she said. “Ambulances are called way too often. I’ve seen someone get hit and bite through their bottom lip to a point where there is a hole you could look through. I’ve seen plenty of broken bones where the limb looks like jello, and that leads to surgeries. I’ve [also] seen piercings get ripped out, teeth knocked out and, of course, really bad concussions.”
Concussions, according to Denson, are one of the most common injuries among cheerleaders. “Lifting and throwing people is very dangerous,” Denson said. “Oftentimes [it] isn’t perfect, [resulting in] a weird catch, an elbow to the head or even falling. On my team, we teach you to catch your flier no matter what. [Fliers] are coming from 10 to 20 feet in the air sometimes, so for them to hit the floor is never good.”
In cheer, one injured person means adjustments for the team. “If someone is out for an injury, their group can’t do anything because you need every piece of your stunt group to make it work,” Denson said. “[Injuries] can make others nervous and lack confidence because we have to change routines up [at] the last second.”
Like any Gunn sports team, coaches must ensure that their athletes are fully recovered before they can return to practice or competitions, and the emotional trauma can often be harder to treat than the actual physical injury. “[There is] always the mental aspect that comes with it, which can affect your success,” Denson said. “If someone gets dropped, they lose trust in the people who didn’t catch them and become scared to try anything again.”

Athletic trainers like Cheema make sure that injured athletes slowly build up intensity in rehabilitation to prepare them for going back into their sport. “Psychologically, they feel that along with their strength training, they’ve already done some of those movements,” Cheema said. “That way, when they are cleared, they don’t feel like that’s the first time they’re doing it.”

Cheer

Cheer flyer freshman Nia Porter hopes the cheer team can continue to improve in the winter season. “I think the cheer season is going to go well because the fall season went really well,” she said. “I think we’ve come really far and can just continue to improve. I’m looking forward to accomplishing more and seeing how we grow as a team this season.”

Girls basketball

Point guard and team captain senior Mollie Kuelker has high expectations for the upcoming season. “I think [the season] is going to be better than last season because we have a lot of new players who are going to be a great addition to our team,” she said. “We are hopefully going to bond as a team and get wins from that [chemistry]. We’re also looking to just build our program from previous years because we have had some really low numbers [in the past].” Their current record is 2-0.

Boys basketball

Girls soccer

Outside forward senior Sawyer McKenna is looking forward to the upcoming soccer season. “I’m excited to see how we can keep improving by the end of the season after having spent longer building our team chemistry,” she said. “It’s really cool to see how we’ve already been growing as a team after just three preseason games.” Their current record is 3-0.

The second wave of feminism, commonly known as the women’s liberation movement, took place in 1960s to the 1980s and brought attention to the significant inequalities and discrimination women face in all aspects of their lives. Like the first wave, which gave women suffrage, the second wave also had a major accomplishment: the Title IX law. Title IX, an education amendment, was a major breakthrough for female athletes because it made sex-based discrimination in education illegal.

As a result, girls’ and boys’ teams were required by law to receive equal resources, social studies teacher Phillip Lyons explained. “If schools did not treat women equally as men, they were in legal jeopardy with the federal government,” he said. “So they didn’t have a choice. Even if they did not want to offer something, they had to. Title IX made it a matter of law, so they could not deny equal rights to women in schools.”

But Title IX’s accomplishments didn’t just stop at the secondary school level; it also opened up opportunities for women athletes to play college-level sports and receive scholarships.

Although Title IX prevents women athletes—and women in general—from being discriminated against in education, the change stops there. According to junior Ana Schremp, former hockey player and current soccer player, women still face micro aggressions at school. “In P.E., when I used to play hockey, I’d always be like, ‘Oh yeah, like I play hockey,’ and guys would always be like, ‘Oh, I bet I’m better than you,’” she said. “And then I would feel this need to prove myself to them, because they automatically assumed that they would be better than me because I was a girl.”

Interactions like this show how cultural factors, societal teachings and stereotypes still create an inaccurate belief that women cannot be athletes, which, according to Schremp, is reflected in the words and actions of young men. “I’ve had so many guys openly say that women’s soccer isn’t a real sport,” she said. “As a female soccer player, that pissed me off. When they say that, they invalidate everything that I work towards.”

Boys doubting girls’ athletic abilities isn’t the only reason girls are discouraged to pursue athletic careers. It’s also hard for women to see themselves as professional athletes when they’re older, making them more reluctant to participate in sports beyond their high school and college years. “If you can see yourself with a paying career for after college doing this game, then you’re more likely to do it when you’re young,” Lyons said. “For men, you can see yourself with a career in baseball or football or basketball. But, if you’re looking at [sports] careers for women when they get out of college, there just isn’t that same level of opportunity.”

One of the most significant events in college sports is the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) March Madness Tournament, which generates millions of dollars for the NCAA. In past years, the main focus of this tournament was the players and the games; this year, however, it was on the women’s weight room and how it drastically differed from that of the men. A women’s basketball player at the University of Oregon was the first to point out this inequality on TikTok. Her viral video showed how women were only provided with a few dumbbells and some yoga mats, while the men were supplied with a warehouse full of world-class gym products.

Within 48 hours, the NCAA vice president quickly released a public statement and upgraded the women’s weight room to an actual gym. However, many argued that the fact that it took a viral social media post to create tangible change reveals serious flaws in the NCAA’s system. Despite the outrage in the media, the weight room contrasts were no surprise to Stanford women’s basketball assistant coach Katy Steding. “The discrepancies were more obvious this year because of the prevalence of social media, but I’m sure it’s been happening all along,” she said. “There are deeper issues of how money is divided up and how much the NCAA actively promotes a women’s tournament versus a men’s tournament.”

After decades of fighting for equality in sports, women continue to face obstacles on the field. “Although some are hopeful that what happened to the female collegiate basketball players will not happen again, Stanford women’s basketball coach Kate Paye believes that these issues will continue to occur with the same NCAA leadership. “An issue like this starts at the top,” she said. “What happened, and what has been happening, is unacceptable and sexist. We all deserve better.”

At t he same time, the attention that the problem received shows optimism for women athletes gaining equality with their male counterparts. “Hopefully, student-athletes and coaches fight for change, and it’s going to be an uphill battle,” Paye said. “These are deep-seated, systemic issues that have been going on for a long, long time, and changing them is going to be extremely challenging. But hopefully, we’re on the path to doing the work.”

Media coverage is one of the biggest ways athletes and teams gain attention for their accomplishments, making it no surprise that women athletes do not get the same recognition male athletes receive. According to a study conducted in 2019 by the International Association for Communication and Sport, in 2019, women’s sports only accounted for 5% of airtime on televised news shows. Even then, when women’s sports do receive media attention, the attention is not angled at women playing sports, according to Paye. “A lot of times, when they cover men’s basketball, they talk about the game or the coaches or the player; they talk about basketball,” she said. “If they cover women’s basketball, they don’t talk about basketball. They’re going to talk about what a coach is wearing or something cute that a player does.”

When television networks comment on a woman’s outfit or body rather than their athletic talent, they drive the focus away from her athletic abilities and accomplishments. On the national stage, these comments can send a message to all other young women athletes: their bodies are valued more than their passion or dedication for their sport.

According to Schremp, that type of coverage harms female athletes’ views of themselves, which is why it’s time for the content to change. “[Focusing on] what your body can accomplish is what we should aim towards,” she said. “With that, female athletes will feel more confident about their bodies. They’ll know that the value is placed on what you’re able to do with your body and what you’re able to perform with it, instead of what it looks like in a bikini.”

Paye also hopes that a new type of reporting on women’s sports will soon take hold. “There should be more coverage of our incredible female athletes in so many different sports,” she said. “Their stories are incredible, and their accomplishments are incredible.”

Despite some of the discrimination women athletes still face in the media, there have been some valuable advancements. “From a marketing standpoint, if you look at Venus Williams, she’s a draw as much as any male tennis player,” Lyons said. “If they want to sell out a tournament and they get her to go, it’s the same as getting [male tennis player] Roger Federer to go. She’s going to get the same attention from female and male fans. I don’t think that would have been the case a long time ago.”

Developments like these are only the beginning of gender equality in sports, and Schremp hopes that progress will continue in the coming years. “It’s the responsibility of all athletes, men and women of all ages, to support each other,” she said. “Obviously, there’s a women’s soccer team, and there’s a men’s soccer team, but we’re all soccer players. We all want to play at the highest level. If we keep talking like men versus women, that’s never going to get us anywhere.”