WINDSOR — The dawn of another girls soccer season is upon the Upper Valley, which means it is time for teams across the area to duke it out for a state championship.
While some teams are fighting for the right to be crowned champions, others, like the Windsor High Yellowjackets, embark on a journey to defend their title.
Last season, the Yellowjackets remained unbeaten en route to a VPA D-III championship.
As their team prepares for the upcoming season, Wendy Moody, co-head coach, said that she and her head coaching partner, Jennifer Rupp, have been impressed with how the team has come out of the gates.
“Since this is our third year going into being co-head coaches, we’re now seeing that our preseason play, even our summer play, is at an elevated level, so our starting point continues to be much higher,” Moody said, adding that it enables them to focus on tactics and nuanced strategy much sooner.
Moody acknowledged that the team is senior-heavy and experienced, but also noted that juniors and sophomores have been making some noise in the preseason. “We have a strong group of players that have already been on a state championship-winning team; a state runner-up the year before that,” she said.
With this wealth of experience and championship pedigree, Windsor will need to walk a fine line between being hungry to get back to the big dance and taking things a day at a time.
“While we do want to forward-think, we want them to think, one day at a time, one game at a time, and so we talk about the incremental goals that we need in order to get ourselves to that point,” Moody said.
This season, the Yellowjackets have several points of emphasis. Moody said that a significant challenge will be replacing the goal production from now-graduated players.
She also said that players are being taught to “[play] the way they face,” meaning they will be encouraged to play the ball to their defensive line or even the goalie, then bring it up “incrementally.”
Moody also does not want her and Rupp’s girls to get off to slow starts, something she described as the squad’s “Achilles heel.”
Ultimately, Moody indicated that rolling with the punches will be critical if they want to repeat as champions.
“A loss of one game doesn’t mean the end of the world. Learn from that experience and take that forward so that we put the best soccer on the field,” Moody said.
Windsor’s title defense begins on Saturday on the road against White River Valley.
Woodstock Wasps
The Woodstock Wasps will be one of the Vermont teams gunning for a title. The Wasps finished 6-10 last season and lost to the champs in the second round of the VPA D-III tournament.
“Experience, commitment, extra soccer in spring programs, unity, a close bond, and intense physical conditioning” are some elements that have stuck out to Woodstock head coach Greg Labella as his team prepares for the 2025 season.
This year’s Wasps are a team marked by continuity. “This is a returning team all of which had a role on last year’s varsity team,” Labella wrote in an email. “My expectation is that they will bring their sense of community and commitment to our team back this season.”
Although he did add that the team will “endeavor to intensify the defensive attitude with hopes to initiate a more creative attack.”
Some players to keep an eye on for the Wasps this season include senior captains Sierra Bystrak, Anna Fink, and Maeve Roylance on the defensive side of things, junior Amelia Hurd in the midfield, and senior strikers Bonnie Krantz and Sadie Boulbol.
Woodstock opens its season on Wednesday, Sept. 3 at home against Otter Valley.
Thetford Panthers
After a tough 2024 season in which it finished 2-11-1 and was blanked by Fair Haven in the first round of the VPA D-III tournament, Thetford Academy welcomes a new coach to right the ship.
Kevin Brooker, who previously coached the Rivendell boys team, will lead the Panthers into the 2025 season.
“Overall, what has impressed me is the depth of the team and their willingness to learn,” said Brooker.
Currently, the team is working on being confident and creative. “We’re not a foosball table, so they need to learn to adapt,” Brooker said. “Players always ask, ‘in this situation, what do I do,’ and it sounds like it’s a cop-out, but it depends. There’s like 9 billion decisions you’re going to make during the course of a game.”
Having not been with the team last season, Brooker is not looking to the past to determine what the team needs to focus on to improve. Instead, he is using the preseason and scrimmages to gauge where his team is.
Scrimmages are “super important, it gives you a chance to see what you have. … Every year you’re dealt a new hand of cards. You can’t turn anything in, right, you have to work with what you have,” Brooker said.
The Panthers open the regular season Wednesday, Sept. 3 at Oxbow.
Sharon Phoenix
The Panthers are not the only squad bringing in a new coach. Sharon Academy, which finished 3-12-2 last season and lost in the second round of the VPA D-IV playoffs.
The Phoenix welcomes Sharon Irwin as their new coach. Irwin most recently coached in Hartland at the middle school level.
Irwin was impressed with the team’s cohesiveness, as well as their off-the-field work in the community.
With the team having lost six seniors from last year, Irwin is emphasizing the importance of understanding the dynamics and skills the current iteration of the team possesses.
“What will change this season is the rise in the overall level of play through filling the knowledge and skill-based gaps,” Irwin said. “I think there will be a difference in the level of play from the beginning of the season to the end of the season.”
The Phoenix will go on the road and begin their season Saturday at Twin Valley.
Hartford Hurricanes
The Hartford High Hurricanes also bring in a new head coach, Blake Lopes, who is taking over for longtime coach Jeff Acker. Acker will remain with the team as an assistant.
Although the Hurricanes struggled last season, winning just one game, Lopes, who was previously a volunteer assistant with the team, has high hopes for the squad.
“We’re going to get a home playoff game this year,” Lopes said.
Heading into the season, Lopes wanted to change the “vibe and culture” around the team and has been impressed with how her players have been receptive to her demands for accountability and responsibility.
Lopes noted that the incoming freshman class is talented and that in recent scrimmages, the team has shown well, including beating Oxbow.
“The team in general is doing very well this year,” Lopes said. “I’m very proud of them.”
The Hurricanes open the regular season at home on Saturday against Otter Valley.
White River Valley Wildcats
Another team trying to reverse the fortunes of last season is the White River Valley Wildcats. The Wildcats finished 3-11-1 last fall and lost in the first round of the VPA D-III tournament to the eventual champions.
Head Coach Kim Prestridge explained in an email that the team’s record was not indicative of its potential. “This year, I expect to see even more improvement upon our positives from last season, especially our athleticism and ability to rebound,” she wrote.
Prestridge wrote that she was impressed with this season’s iteration of Wildcats. “They aren’t afraid to dig in and work hard,” she wrote. “We have a heavy contingent of returning players and they are really working to show a unified and intimidating front. They are focused on good communication which benefits us on and off the field.”
Some players poised to make a jump and have an impact for the Wildcats are sophomores Anna Stone and Liberti Bollman. Stone, on the defensive end, and Bollman, offensively, are players whose minutes increased over last season, Prestridge wrote. “Both players have been key in our early scrimmages,” Prestridge wrote.
The Wildcats open the regular season at home and host Windsor on Saturday.
Rivendell Raptors
The Rivendell Academy Raptors head coach, Jason Knowles, said his team exceeded their own expectations last year. The Raptors finished 11-3, but bowed out of the VPA D-IV tournament in the second round.
While the Raptors lost some key attacking players to graduation, the squad will retain considerable continuity, with 13 players returning.
“I anticipate we will take many of last year’s strengths forward with us,” Knowles said.
Even knowing the capabilities of his squad based upon the results of last season, Knowles indicated that there was no pressure to match last season’s record, noting that the Raptors have more Division III opponents on their schedule this time around.
Knowles’ expectation for the team this season is to end in a stronger place than it did last year. “Those 13 athletes are all faster, stronger, and wiser than they were this time last year or where they ended the season,” Knowles said. “I’m going to go there and quote Ted Lasso, I think, as a team we just have to believe that we can go far this year.”
The Raptors open the regular season at home against Green Mountain on Sept. 8.
Lebanon Raiders
Over in the Granite State, the Lebanon High Raiders will attempt to turn the tide after finishing 5-7-4 and missing the playoffs last season.
Heading into the regular season, head coach Breck Taber said, “The camaraderie is really good, there’s good chemistry on the team.” “I think we’re a more balanced squad as far as skill goes than we’ve been in a long time,” he added.
A central point of emphasis for the squad this year is scoring more goals, which Taber thinks is a real possibility with the players they have.
The key for the Raiders to make the playoffs this go-around is to capitalize on opportunities. “There were games last year that we should have scored multiple goals and came away with zero,” Taber said.
The Raiders begin their 2025 trek on the road at Hollis-Brookline on Friday.
Stevens Cardinals
The Stevens High Cardinals have been facing some adversity off the field as they prepare to take the pitch in 2025. Budget deficits in Claremont put the season in question, but fall sports are safe, at least for now.
Stevens’ athletic director, Doug Beaupre, estimated the school district would have to raise $80,000 to finish the fall season, the Valley News reported on Tuesday.
Tim St. Pierre, the Cardinals’ head coach, is confident he and the girls will be able to finish their season.
“I believe there’s some really good leadership amongst coaches, our athletic director, and our administration, going sideways in both directions that are going to allow us to pull this off with the help of some amazing community members,” said St. Pierre.
On the pitch, one goal for the Cardinals will be to return to the NHIAA D-III state title game, a place last season’s squad reached but ultimately fell short of securing a championship.
“We’ve had a very productive off-season, summer season, coming into our preseason,” St. Pierre said. “Our kids are very dedicated to the cause.”
This season, the Cardinals will aim to replicate their success from last year and return to the big dance.
“I don’t think we need to do anything different,” St. Pierre said. “Our challenge is going to be able to try and do it just as well because it was pretty high level.”
The Cardinals start the season on Friday when they host Trinity.
Hanover Bears
The Hanover High Bears enter the 2025 season with considerable turnover. Head Coach Doug Kennedy, entering his 18th season, said that pretty much half of the team is new.
“That’s probably the biggest turnover I’ve ever had in my years at Hanover,” Kennedy said.
Last season, the Bears boasted a 10-5-2 record, but were eliminated in the first round of the NHIAA D-I tournament.
With a new crop of players, Kennedy indicated that his coaching approach has shifted. “There’s more back-to-basics work… on defensive technique, passing technique, tactical, just movement on the field, understanding our system,” he said.
The back defensive line will be a key factor in the Bears’ success this season. “I certainly believe that a good soccer team comes from the back,” Kennedy said, whether that is through defending or initiating the offense.
“To me, that’s it, keeping the other team away from the goal and then converting that into offensive opportunities. If we can do that fairly consistently, I feel good about our opportunity this year,” said Kennedy.
The Bears take on Nashua North on the road Thursday to open the season.
