When the women’s soccer team was getting ready for its flight to Chicago, there was no fear in flying or leaving home.

With good reason, it left with a perfect record.

The women’s soccer team emerged victorious from its Illinois tournament, which took place Friday, Sept. 19, to Sunday, Sept. 21.

“It’s a learning experience being with a big group, so it was a good trip and a good experience,” head coach Ruben Gonzalez said.

After the women came home, they had and still have a perfect record of 6-0.

Nayeli Requejo, a forward and midfielder, said, “I feel good, I feel really proud of my team, I knew we can do it. It’s what we are supposed to do. We’re defending national champs, back-to-back, so we have a target on our backs, but we work really hard in practice.

“We worked really hard in the summer, so there was no doubt that we can beat these teams and we can come out undefeated. That’s what we should be doing. No excuses for us to be beaten at all.”

There is a reason behind why these women have come out with a perfect record – defense.

Gonzalez said, “We base everything on being fit. Our fitness is always at a good level and we always try to be the fittest team out there so we can cover some more ground defensively.”

Ashley Webb, who is the team’s forward, summarized the whole trip, “We had a really good performance overall. The trip was good; definitely a trip that proves a lot of things to us as a team … it showed us our weaknesses and our strengths …”

The team has all the expectations to keep its perfect record and defend its national championship, as well.

Gonzalez said, “You always need a little luck, but we put in the work. We work really hard and we hope to continue to work hard and we continue to get the results; ultimately, accomplishing our goal of winning another national championship and state.”