The women’s soccer team at Chestnut Hill College has been on a roll, and the Griffins rose to a record of 6-1 in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference with their 3-0 victory over Holy Family University on Oct. 21.

The CHC roster includes four Springside Chestnut Hill Academy graduates who all have made contributions toward the team’s success. Seniors Lauren Sullivan (midfielder) and Virginia Perry (mid/forward) and junior goalie Ellie Stratz have been starters since they were freshmen. Junior defender Brigid McDonald was injured her freshman season and then started in nine games in 2024.

Stratz is the Griffins’ primary goalie, although she has shared some time in the net with sophomore Haley Esposito. After she played in the first half of the Oct. 21 Holy Family game, Stratz had logged 804 minutes in the cage while giving up only five goals.

For the team introductions before that contest, each of the CHC players filed out onto the field hand-in-hand with a member of the Philadelphia Soccer Club’s 11-year-old girls’ team, which is coached by Griffins Assistant Coach Madeline Jimenez.

When the game got underway Chestnut Hill went on the attack, sending several serves into the Holy Family penalty area. From the defensive end, Perry pounded the ball well down the field, forcing the Tigers’ goalie to charge out to grab the ball and collide with a Griffin forward.

Later on, Stratz made a diving save on a shot from the right side of the box by Holy Family’s Gyzell Rowan.

Sullivan, who always seems to absorb a lot of physical punishment, was hit hard by a ball and later was fouled by a Holy Family player who was given a yellow card. The half ended with the score still 0-0, although the Griffins had taken nine shots to the Tigers’ one.

A CHC corner kick two minutes into the second half led to a head ball that went over the crossbar. With five minutes and 47 seconds elapsed, the first point appeared on the home side of the scoreboard. Tigers goalie Jaina Preuhs had advanced out of the cage and Griffins senior Stella McCallion slipped a pass behind her. McCallion’s classmate, Rebecca Dalton, ran down the ball and tapped it into the open goal.

After a shot by Sullivan struck the crossbar, McCallion again provided an assist on a Dalton goal. Preuhs tried to pick up a ball rolling in the middle of the box but Dalton got her feet there first to get off a successful shot with 22:59 to go.

The final score was locked in at 3-0 with 3:56 remaining in the game. From near the center of the 18-yard line, freshman Hayden Johnson sent the ball down low on the left to freshman Abby Collins. Collins passed the ball back out higher toward the middle of the box, where senior Alyssa DeGeorge teed off for a shot into the right side of the cage.

In the CHC goal, Stratz had finished the first half with one save, and Esposito made two saves in the second half. Chestnut Hill outshot Holy Family for the evening, 22-3.