After several scrimmages, the Mount St. Joseph Academy Magic officially launched their 2025 field hockey season with a road game last Friday at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School. After a relatively slow start, the Mount pulled away to win 8-3, getting a scoring hat trick from junior Tess Hankins and two goals from her classmate Caitlin Paul.

In the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies, the Mounties finished second to Villa Maria Academy in 2024. The teams parted ways in the PIAA District 1 tournament, where the Magic compete in Class 2A while the Villa Hurricanes are grouped in the 3A bracket.

Mount St. Joe was seeded first in the 2A tourney, but suffered a 3-2 loss in the championship game to AACA rival Gwynedd Mercy Academy, a team the Mount defeated twice during their regular season.

Seeded second out of District 1 for the State 2A tournament, the Magic won their opener handily but then lost in overtime, 3-2, in a quarterfinal battle against Central Pennsylvania power Palmyra High School. Palmyra would then succumb 1-0 to the eventual state champ, Warwick High, also from District 3. Mount St. Joseph graduated five players from the 2024 varsity roster.

Prior to the 2025 campaign, several Mount sticksters already made college commitments. Senior Lydia Moy picked Haverford College, while two of her classmates chose rival college programs within the NCAA Division I Mid-American Conference. Nora Massella is heading to Appalachian State University in North Carolina, while Avery Lasky will join up with Ball State in Indiana.

Meanwhile Hankins, still a junior, was recruited by Cornell University, and she’s given a verbal commitment to the Big Red.

Lasky and Massella are varsity team captains this season, along with classmate Alexa Durand. The other senior veterans are Katie Tropiano and goalie Lexi Kelly. Joining Hankins and Paul as returning juniors are Kaitlyn Comuso, Julia McGlynn, and goalie Kathryn Pedicino. Sophomore Sara Massella (Nora’s sister) returns after making the varsity squad as a freshman in 2024.

Several seniors moved from last year’s JV team up to varsity this fall: Alyssa Foley, Willa Foley, Lily Friel, Kerri Keown, Ella Roselli, and Chloe Trainer. Also bumping up for 2025 is junior Molly Giordano.

Head Coach Kyra Castano returns for her fifth season leading the Magic, and her former college teammate Erika Stefanides is back for a fourth year. Joining the staff this fall is Kay Jordan, who played collegiate hockey for Ursinus College.

For last week’s season opener at Plymouth Whitemarsh, Coach Castano split time between her two experienced goalies, starting Pedicino and then going with Kelly in the second half. She noted that each keeper has certain strengths, which can be matched up against opposing teams with specific offensive tendencies. Each Magic netminder made one save during Friday’s game.

Plymouth Whitemarsh played aggressive hockey in the early minutes of the match, but the visitors came on a little later and emerged from the first quarter with a 2-1 edge. The clock was down to five minutes when Paul scored the icebreaker for the Magic, and Nora Massella then gave the Mounties a lead they never lost.

It was 4-1 at halftime, after Hankins found the backboard and Paul put in her second goal of the afternoon.

With a little over six minutes elapsed in the third quarter, Tropiano tracked down a loose ball near the mouth of the goal and scored, but Plymouth Whitemarsh responded just 21 seconds later to make it 5-2. The score seesawed to 6-3 as an MSJ marker by McGlynn was answered by the Colonials’ Gracie Kerns with just 28 seconds left in round three.

The Magic would have the last word in the third quarter, though, charging up the field to net a goal by Hankins with just 8.7 ticks remaining. The only goal by either side in the fourth quarter was an early strike by Hankins, who completed her hat trick just over three minutes into the final frame. PW had a chance to draw closer with several late penalty corners, but Paul, the Mount’s defensive flyer, rushed out to disrupt the Colonials’ plans each time.

For their lone game during the last week of August, the Magic travel to Phoenixville High School. They’ll open their AACA season at home against Merion Mercy Academy on Sept. 4.