The Girl’s Soccer Program at Sutton High School has a very strong team. They were successful last season as they were Central Mass Division 3 champions AND Division 5 State champions. One of their captains, Katie Wright, now plays Division 1 soccer at Fairfield University. Leah Joseph, another captain, attends the University of New Hampshire. Finally, Lindsay Kassatly is going to Merrimack College.

Filling Katie’s spot in the net will be two freshman, Madelyn Nunnemacher and Christina DeCell. Katie left big shoes to fill due to her voice, leadership, and experience from playing four years of varsity and many years of club soccer. Leah and Lindsay also left their mark and set high expectations by their mentorship and leadership as well as their ability to welcome all the younger players. These three seniors made sure the team became a “team” by showing everybody they had a role and job to fulfill.

Recently, I talked to the three current senior captains for this year’s varsity team (Natalie Smith, Caroline Howe, and Taylor Bohanan) about the upcoming season. When asked, this was Caroline’s response: “I think we’re going to be good. We’re strong on the field. We have more subs unlike last year, which means that we can get more rotations in. Everyone is always working hard at training. I think we can make it really far.”

Lots of schools, big and small, will be looking to defeat this team. Because of their efforts and achievements from last season, everybody will be looking to get after them. Every team they go against will be trying to take them down. Will the ladies be able to take it?

I asked Taylor about what the girls did over the summer to prepare for these challenges. “Many girls went to Coach Elster’s conditioning, as well as our own Coach Jenna’s training. They both ran a good program to prepare us for the tryouts and the season.”

Finally, I talked to Natalie and asked her what she hoped for the team going forward. “I hope to have a winning culture and to also continue to build our team chemistry. I think that we will have a successful season.”

Everybody putting on a Sutton jersey this year for the girls all agree on one thing: they want to win another title.

This year’s squad will also be lead by three returning coaches: Jensen Shipp, Angel Canales, and Jenna Fitzgerald. Jensen is starting his third year of coaching the team and he also is the Assistant Coach for the Division Two Assumption College Women’s team. Angel and Jenna are also entering their third year helping Jensen. All of the coaches not only coach at the high school level but coach numerous age groups at the club level. Jenna coaches at NEFC (New England Football Club). Angel and Jensen both coach teams at FC Stars.

On September 9th, the girls played Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School, winning 1-0. This was the first league game that they played. They also play today at home against Whitinsville Christian. Game time is 3:30 at the high school. Come support the Suzies!

The Suzies will have a thrilling season this year. There is definitely a lot of talent and athleticism on this year’s team to feed the girls for a great season. Good luck to the girls in all of their games. We’re rooting for you!