The Mount soccer captains for 2017: (from left) Liana Alcaro, Maddie Feeney, Grace DiGiovanni. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

As a new soccer season gets underway, Mount St. Joseph Academy is fortunate to have another large senior class coming in on the heels of the players who graduated this spring.

A total of 11 players are gone from last year's squad, including the team's starting goalie and a pair of four-year varsity mainstays - a midfielder and a striker who will both be playing college ball.

The 2017 Magic will have nine seniors on the roster, including captains Liana Alcaro, Grace DiGiovanni, and Maddie Feeney. Feeney has already decided that she will continue her career at Franklin & Marshall College.

Also back from last year's varsity are Lizzie Friel, Megan Prue, Ella Patackis, Deirdre Regan, and Caitlyn Vesey.

Another 12th-grader, Annie Princevalle, will be stepping up from the 2016 JV to provide depth at the goalie position. The varsity reserve keeper from a year ago, Gina Sassane, is back for the Mount as a sophomore.

Current junior Molly Kate McDonough returns for the Magic, and now she'll be joined by classmates Ryan Good, Allie Prue, and Rachel Shields, as well as varsity/JV swing players Brigid O'Neill and Libby Patton.

Among the sophomores, both Sassane and Madison Hornig saw varsity action as freshmen last season, while Angelina Alcaro and Kate Taulane are stepping up from former JV roles. One incoming freshman, Friel's sister Emily has earned a full-time varsity position, and two others, Tara Boyd and Cayla Higginson, will be swing players.

Bill Naydan, a member of the Mount faculty, is embarking on his second season as the MSJ head coach, and his father (also Bill Naydan) will guide the JV. Back as a varsity assistant is Kerriann Kane, and the new face on the sideline belongs to Lisa Roman, a former Mount standout who went on to play college soccer and recently graduated from Marquette University.