For the 2025 Inter-Ac League girls’ soccer season, it appeared beforehand that defending league champion Springside Chestnut Hill Academy would not find traditional rival Episcopal Academy as daunting an opponent as in the recent past.

Last spring, the EA Churchwomen graduated one of their most talented classes in some time, 11 seniors in all. Most of the rising varsity athletes in the program had not played together very long.

SCH, which surprised many people by winning the 2024 title, had lost less than half that number, and last fall a number of its best players had been sophomores.

However, outcomes are decided on the field, not by the oddsmakers, and on Oct. 28, Episcopal claimed its second victory of the season over the Blue Devils, mathematically clinching the 2025 championship.

In this contest at Episcopal the teams were very well matched. The lone goal of the afternoon was scored by EA senior Sofia Gagliardi with 8:07 remaining in the second half. Springside had a chance to tie as late as the final minute, when the ball was served into the box on a restart and was headed toward the goal, but was caught by Episcopal’s sophomore goalie, Taylor Moore.

The 1-0 victory boosted the Churchwomen to a league record of 11-0 for 33 standings points (three for a win, one for a tie). The Blue Devils still had 24 points after the contest (8-3), and with just one game remaining for each team, Episcopal could not be caught.

The SCH girls played their final league game on Halloween, cruising past sixth-place Baldwin School, 7-0. This secured a second-place finish in the Inter-Ac, with the Blue Devils’ 9-3 record translating to 27 points. This put out them out of reach of third-place Penn Charter (7-3-1; 22 points). PC, which dinged SCH’s hopes of repeating as champion by defeating the Devils in the league opener, will play its final game against Germantown Academy (4-6-1; 13 points) on Nov. 8.

Episcopal made the first offensive sorties in the Oct. 28 game, but five minutes in, SCH senior Lewa White made a dash up the right wing. That led to a throw-in and then a corner kick from the same side. On the corner put in play by junior Cali Smith, the Devils got a head on the ball but it went over the cage.

On an attack by Episcopal, a diagonal shot by Gagliardi from the left side of the box strayed wide to the right. SCH junior Alex de Beaulac made a run at the other end, but as a defender closed in the ball got too far ahead of de Beaulac and went out over the endline.

Later, Blue Devils junior Ella Thomson got the ball near the middle of the box on a throw-in from the right sideline and EA’s Moore made a skillful save on a close-range shot by SCH senior Saoirse Glennon.

So it went, vigorous play back-and-forth until halftime arrived with the score still 0-0.

Nine minutes into the second half, Blue Devils sophomore Emma Schweizer flicked the ball toward the front of the EA cage, but no shot was forthcoming as Moore, the keeper, collided with junior Maris Herghelegiu. A bit later a long free kick by White sent the ball into the box, where it was caught in the air by Moore. Near the middle of the period, an attack coordinated by de Beaulac and Smith resulted in a shot outside of the left goalpost.

On an Episcopal restart, there was a touch inside after the ball was served into the box, but SCH junior goalie Anna Qawasmy quickly grabbed the ball. Next, Qawasmy stretched out a hand to deflect the ball over the crossbar on a shot by EA sophomore Mary Orobono.

Not long after that, Episcopal’s Gagliardi made an off-the-ball run a little to the right of the center of the field. Fellow senior Caroline Johnson slipped a pass through the defense and Gagliardi placed a shot into the far side of the SCH goal. The game’s lone goal was on the board with 8:07 left to play.

A few late chances for the visitors bore no fruit, and the Churchwomen came away with the win and the 2025 Inter-Ac title.

Back at home three days later, the Blue Devils celebrated Senior Day and then knocked off Baldwin, 7-0. All of the goals came in the first half, and the coaches then agreed to play a 20-minute second period with a running clock. Seniors Caitlin Bautista and Jill Major each had one goal and one assist, as did de Beaulac. The other goals came from Herghelegiu, White, senior Sammi Acuna and junior Ryleigh Bakley, and freshman Natalie DeLisle had one assist.