On a warm, sunny Saturday in September (alliteration much?), the Taft Lady Rhinos descended onto Katie Jackson Morrison '92 field to some Quebecois rap song that has become an unofficial anthem for the team (and whose lyrics are unkown to all but Coach Sullivan and the French-Canadian trio of Leila Douglas '27, Sofia Lombardo-Varisco '26 and Melina Kennedy '26). Echos of the Taft Student section's vevuzulas echoed over the field like the ringtones of forbidden cell phones in the hallowed halls of Main Building. The light and dark green stripes of the freshly mowed field were giving very Steve from "Blues Clues" vibes (huge shout out to Mr. Dunn for always making sure our facilities are in top shape. Rumor has it he attached mower blades to his golf cart and cut the grass himself. "Non ut sibi" at its finest, right?). Blues Clues visuals aside, no Thinking Chair was necessary for this Rhino Squad: they KNEW they had to score early and often and just go out and be DOGS on the field against Sacred Heart. The first whistle blew and the game began. For 80 minutes, the Tigers and Rhinos faced off at such a fast pace it was like watching the whole game on 2x speed. New Taft Junior Leila Douglas put the Rhinos on the scoreboard after 9 minutes with a header goal off a corner kick from Captain Sofia Lombardo-Varisco. Word on the street is that Douglas' goal was so beautiful Miley Cyrus retroactively named her 2013 album "Bangerz" after it. The Sacred Heart Tigers responded quickly with a copy cat goal against Taft Senior goaltender Sofia Smith. Both teams held each other out until the very end of the first half, when Taft center back Harper VanMaanen '28 took a free kick and the Notorious R.U.T.H Amponsah '27 walked the ball over the Sacred Heart goal line, sending the Rhinos into halftime up 2-1. For the first 29 minutes of the back half of the game, the Tigers and Rhinos rapidly exchanged possession of the ball and challenged each other's goalies, with both teams doubling their shots on net. Like a witch's curse (or some foreshadowing from Mother Nature), the sky quickly cloudied and turned a dark purple: a storm was coming, the tide turning. Then, in a chaotic moment in the box, the Tigers slipped one past Smith to tie the game up 2-2. After a series of uncalled fouls and handballs, a Sacred Heart forward made a full field run at 34 minutes to send a third and final rocket to the back of the Taft net. Much like the threat of extinction in the wild, the Taft squad still remained optimistic that this loss will only fuel their fight towards playoffs as the season continues. Final score: 2-3.