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St. Luke's Girls Soccer: Season Preview
The St. Luke’s Girls Varsity Soccer program heads into yet another season full of expectation. The 2016 campaign saw GVS claim another FAA league title so this year’s squad will be looking to defend that crown.
The Storm graduated seven of the title-winning team so there will be a number of new faces looking to contribute to the continued success of the program.
Elizabeth Laub ‘18 and Thaise Sudano ‘18 will captain the squad but head coach Dan Clarke is looking for a number of his other experienced players to take on leadership roles too. “Elizabeth and Thaise will do a fantastic job as our captains but I am looking for everyone who steps on the field to be a leader and take responsibility for our performances.” Clarke continued, “We have a wealth of experience, from front to back, with Noelle Rushil (‘18), Elizabeth Labriola (‘19), Sydney Napolitano (‘19), Lea Panagiotidis (‘20) and India Otero (‘19), so, despite graduating so many players the last couple of years, I see no reason for us not to be challenging again.”
With so many new faces some might see this as a ‘rebuilding’ year for St. Luke’s but Clarke disagrees: “We have a lot of talent within the group so it’s up to us to make sure we continue to work hard and play together. We have lost some key players over the last few years but we have also added a number of excellent players during that time so we can’t afford any excuses.”
The Storm has had a tough preseason schedule suffering defeats to Westhill High School and New Canaan High School with a victory over Trinity Catholic sandwiched in between. Despite the two losses Clarke is extremely positive heading into the regular season: “We want to play against strong FCIAC teams in preseason to see where we are and we competed well in all our preseason games.” he said. “The girls have worked hard during preseason and we have tried a number of things out so we now know what we need to do to prepare for our first game.”
St. Luke’s open up with a road game against Hopkins School on Wednesday, September 13 before their home opener against The MacDuffie School on Saturday, September 16. Clarke concluded; “We have an extremely tough start to the season so we have to prepare in the right way. I know the focus will be there from our players.”
St. Luke’s School is a secular (non-religious), private school in New Canaan, CT for grades 5 through 12 serving over 35 towns in Connecticut and New York. Our exceptional academics and diverse co-educational community foster students’ intellectual and ethical development and prepare them for top colleges. St. Luke’s Center for Leadership builds the commitment to serve and the confidence to lead.
