Southeastern Pa. girls’ soccer notes

The girls' soccer season for Owen J. Roberts ended with a surprising 2-0 loss to West Chester East in the District 1 Class AAA playoffs.

"With the talent in our program, we thought we would go farther," coach Joe Margusity said. "But we didn't have a good second half against East, and they beat us."

Although it was a stunning loss in the playoffs, Margusity said the Wildcats (16-4-1) have already put it behind them and are looking to next season. The reason?

"We only graduate two seniors," Margusity said. "The core of the team were freshmen and sophomores."

The personnel losses won't be insignificant - Pioneer Athletic Conference most valuable player Kate Maugle and back Jess Depaulis - but players expected to return include all-conference Emily Morgan, a transfer from Episcopal Academy; Gabby McKee, another all-conference player; Julianna Provini; and Rae Carpenter.

"Provini was our second-leading scorer, and Carpenter is being recruited by a number of schools," Margusity said. "And we have a number of very good incoming freshmen."

Encore, encore. Villa Maria had a banner season.

The Hurricanes (19-4) won both the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies regular-season and playoff championships for the first time in school history. They won the school's first District 1 Class AA title and reached the PIAA quarterfinals before losing to Midd-West on penalty kicks.

The question now for Villa is can it repeat as Catholic Academies champ and go on from there?

"We have a great belief that we can," coach Gary Christopher said. "The bulk of our team is returning. We did lose a couple of key players."

Graduating will be Kasey Schiavoni, a 22-goal scorer headed to Fairleigh Dickinson; goalie Laurie Martinelli; defender Kerry Schubert; and midfielder Maria Ferrari.

Christopher will look to defender Deanna Olsen, striker Kimmy Spavanta, and midfielder Kayla Lewis to keep the ball rolling.

"We learned an awful lot this season," the coach said. "We learned what it takes to do what we accomplished."

Building a dynasty? Shipley coach Sean Costello was asked if his team was trying to build a dynasty in the Friends Schools League. It joined the league five years ago.

"We'd certainly like to," said Costello, whose Gators finished a championship season in only his second year as coach.

After losing just one league game last year, to George School in the playoff title game, the Gators (15-1-1 overall) went unbeaten in league play this season. They beat George School in the playoff finals.

"We'll lose some key defensive players - center backs Lauren Touey and Breanna Blumenthal, goalkeeper J.B. Loomis and right back Jill Quill - so we'll have to do some rebuilding," Costello said.

Costello said part of the team's success could be attributed to moving striker Teddy Case to defense in the third game of the season.

"She played center back in the championship game for us," Costello said. "She was very effective."

He's optimistic about next season with eighth grader Rachel Shapiro moving up, and junior midfielder Sara Touey and sophomore back Sophie Katz returning. He'll also have a pair of sophomore strikers, Nanci Selig and Kasey Brida, to count on.

"I think you could say our fortunes are back on the rise," he said.