Soccer fans from Germantown Academy and Mount St. Joseph braved hot, sticky conditions on Sept. 1 to see their teams in action and get a preview of the upcoming season. GA hosted the session on the artificial turf of the Sisters Fields.

GA’s head coach of 16 years, Chris Nelson, is also a member of the faculty at the school. He has led the Patriots to both Inter-Ac League and Pa. Independent Schools championships. GA finished in the middle of the Inter-Ac pack last fall.

The Patriots’ team captains for 2026 are seniors Myree Jean-Brian and Stella McDonnell. One of their classmates, forward Piper Loney, is the reigning Inter-Ac track champion in the 100-meter dash. The other seniors on the roster are Jana Smith, Kaylin Trent and Jordan Wright. Trent is going on to play at Iowa State University.

The juniors are Jocelyn Germain, Camryn Godfrey, Tess Grim, Hannah Weiss and Adriana Wenneker. Grim is a goalkeeper, as is sophomore Liv Smith. Smith is also one of GA’s top young basketball talents, and on the soccer squad her classmates are Avery Bellano, Maggie Rink, Annie Silver and Jemma Sinni.

The two freshmen who have made the varsity team are both defenders, Nicola Evarts and Charlotte Imperiale.

In contrast to the GA program, the Mount has experienced a lot of changes in leadership; the seniors are now playing under their third head coach.

The new mentor, Derik Stover, is originally from Columbia. He has club coaching experience with the well-regarded Pennsylvania Rush organization, and he’s coached scholastic soccer at North Penn High School, Gwynedd Mercy Academy and Souderton High School.

To help him adjust to his new setting at the Mount, he has assistant coaches who are back from last fall, James Keeley and Maddie Feeney.

The Mount graduated five players from the 2025 team, and this season there’s a large crop of nine seniors. They are Bethany Arduino, Gabby Bernauer, Charlotte Felix, Carter Howlett, Logan Murray, Molly Rober, Taylor Vogel, Julia Elwell and goalkeeper Erin Romano.

Rober will continue her soccer career at Wilkes University. Arduino and Romano are team captains, as are juniors Olivia Brandon and Kendall Kryst. Other returning 11th graders are Caitlin Cavallaro, Anna Geib and Cat Gillespie, and a new addition is Nina Meierdiercks.

The three freshmen from last year’s team, Michaela Brown, Lyla Fiore and Sienna O’Brien, are back as sophomores, now joined by classmate Anna Lenczycki.

There are also five freshmen on the roster, Bryn Boniewcz, goalkeeper Alyssa DiEnno, Austyn Murray, Moira Rober and Kalyn Wirsul.