The girls’ varsity soccer team has started out with a bang for their fall 2010-2011 season. Leading the team are head coach Jeffrey Rhodes, a special education teacher at Harriton, and assistant coach Mark Landais, an instructional aide at Harriton, as well as co-captains Senior Megan Rubenstein and Senior Ali Herman. Both captains are extremely talented athletes and bring a factor of tremendous leadership to the team on and off the field. Some other notable seniors are Sarah Hammer and Mary Keck.  “[All four girls] are very talented players that will be extremely difficult to replace,” said Coach Rhodes. When asked on how the team was last year compared to this year Rhodes replied, “We did lose important seniors from last years team but both the older and younger players have stepped up to the challenge of replacing them.” Their main scorer on the field is sophomore Anne Coyle, who plays center defense. It is quite impressive that she is able to lead the team in goals for offense and then run back in time for defense. Jeffrey Rhodes who used to coach the boys soccer team, replaced former coach Chris Schriener who had to leave the team halfway through last years season due to some internal issues.

For the incoming freshmen this year, there are three teams that they could be on, Varsity, Junior Varsity and Junior Varsity B.  The Junior Varsity coach is Dave Scanlon and the Junior Varsity B coach is Lindsey Canuso, the business teacher at Harriton.  Notably, Scanlon and Canuso had worked together at Conestoga and are good friends. Currently there are now six freshmen on the varsity team and “all of whom [have] found a way to contribute to the teams success” said Rhodes.

The girls are unable to practice at the Harriton fields due to the fact that they are currently undergoing construction and will not be ready until summer of 2011.  Instead the girls have to practice at fields of Penn Valley Elementary School.  They have to change at Harriton in the girls locker rooms, then go to the trainers room, where they pick up their coolers and medical kits, hop on a bus to Penn Valley.  Next is a grueling two-hour practice which includes shooting drills, headers, three on three, passing, keep away, sprints, and one on one.  Afterwards they hop back on a bus to Harriton with the supplies. After all this, they finally head home. Throughout all this, the girls have not lost heart or focus.  That is truly unbelievable and shows you these girls are one of a kind.

When asked on the teams goals and hopes for playoffs this coming year, Rhodes replied “We will be a contender in the Central league, and [we] have a team goal of winning at least one playoff game.”  Good luck girls on achieving your goals and having a successful season.