by Tom Utescher

Reassembling last week for the 2018 pre-season, the girls of Springside Chestnut Hill Academy are coming off an exciting 2017 campaign. After becoming the Pennsylvania Independent Schools runner-up in 2016, the Blue Devils were determined to get back to the championship game and take care of unfinished business.

They finished second in the Inter-Ac League to Episcopal Academy, but their third time playing against the EA Churchwomen was the charm. Scoring early against Episcopal in the PAIS title match, SCH made the slim lead stand up until the end, clinching its first Indy Schools championship.

Star senior striker Emily McNesby would later be named Female Player of the Year by the Southeastern PA Soccer Coaches Association, and second-year head coach Maria Kosmin was named Coach of the Year.

McNesby finished up early at SCH and was already playing off-season games for the University of Maryland this spring, and imposing back Grace Rorke is moving on to Dartmouth. Dogged defenders Lucy Lamb and Marissa Brown also graduated, as did the Devils’ throw-in ace, Destiny Rogers.

The Devils do have some solid players around whom they can restructure the defense. The two keepers who split time in goal last fall both return; senior Sena Houessou-Adin and sophomore Julia Wilbekaitis. There is also speedy sophomore back Esther Lamb, a Norwood Fontbonne Academy grad who already emerged as a superb man-marker during her ninth-grade season. Another freshman who impressed last fall was energetic striker JoJo McShane.

The captains for 2018 are Houessou-Adin and two field players, senior Mo’ne Davis of Little League baseball fame and junior Maddie Niebish, who scored the lone goal of the PIAS championship game.

The other two seniors on the roster are also veteran varsity players, Nayah Moore and Kylie Quinn. In addition to Niebish, McNesby’s sister Meghan and Rorke’s sister Abbie are members of the 11th-grade contingent, along with Alysa Akins and Dakota Carter. The three returning sophomores are now joined by classmates Kylie Hughes and Lizzie Stokes.

Already earning a starting role as an eighth-grader last fall, Olivia Myers is also part of one of the most successful club teams in the nation in her age group. Unfortunately, an injury suffered during the first day of practice last week has put her entire season in jeopardy.

The other three freshmen on the varsity are Ava DeLisle, who is moving up from the Springside Chestnut Hill middle school, and two new students, Maya McDermott and Lauren Sullivan. Sullivan is the cousin of Brendan Sullivan, who was head coach of the Germantown Academy boys’ varsity in 2016 and 2017.

Even at the high school level, assistant coaches of successful programs are sought after by other schools looking for new head coaches. Kosmin’s brother Tom DeGeorge, who worked with her at SCH during the 2016 and 2017 seasons, is now heading up the girls’ varsity team at Archbishop Wood High School.

Joining the SCH staff as an assistant this fall is Boomer Steigelman, a Philadelphia native who played for North Catholic until that school closed and then finished his scholastic career at Roman Catholic. He went on to play for Cabrini University and then for the Harrisburg Heat in the Major Arena Soccer League.