Beautiful weather greeted Springside Chestnut Hill Academy fans last Saturday morning as they gathered at Landreth Field to see their girls’ soccer team take on visiting Archbishop Ryan High School.

Scoring twice in the middle of the first half, the host Blue Devils cruised to a 3-0 victory over the Ragdolls, raising their record in non-league matches to 5-0. So far, the local booters have not even been scored upon in these engagements.

The SCH girls have a new head coach this season. Norman “Boomer” Steigelman was already familiar with the school, having been an assistant coach for the team during the 2018 season. At the collegiate level, he’s served an assistant coach for the University of Pennsylvania.

He’s also technical director for the Ukrainian Nationals Soccer Club, so Steigelman already knew some of the current Springside Chestnut Hill players from their club soccer activities.

One of the SCH assistant coaches, Tom Carlin, is general manager of the “Ukies” organization, and another member of the staff is 2018 SCH grad Emily McNesby. A standout for the Blue Devils, she went on to play for the University of Maryland and also played professional soccer in Europe.

The 2026 SCH team captains are seniors Ryleigh Bakley, Alex De Beaulac, Cali Smith and Ella Thomson. Bakley will go on to play for Virginia Tech, while De Beaulac will sign with the University of Virginia and Smith will head south to play for the University of Florida.

Thomson, who has an older sister who played for SCH, has two younger siblings on the 2026 squad, Kit, a junior, and Caroline, a freshman.

Senior goalie Anna Qawasmy has also committed for college, choosing Youngstown (OH) State University. Ella Thomson and fellow senior Penny Rice are expected to make their college decisions shortly.

All six seniors mentioned above started in Saturday’s game against Archbishop Ryan. The other starters were junior Emma Schweizer, sophomores Natalie DeLisle, Lillian Maloney and Bridget Stokes, and eighth-grader Maggie Stokes. The younger Stokes is one of four eighth graders on the varsity roster, three of whom are new students at SCH this fall.

Archbishop Ryan attacked at the very beginning of the game, but the Blue Devils soon reversed the flow of the play. Just under 10 minutes in, De Beaulac let go a strong shot from the right side of the box that just missed at the far post; then the Ryan Ragdolls made a rush up the field and sent a shot wide to the right of Qawasmy and the SCH cage.

At the other end, Smith and Thomson had shots saved, but when a third shot was blocked, the ball rolled loose in front of the Ragdolls’ goal and De Beaulac stuffed it into the cage from a few steps inside the right post. The Devils had the eventual winning goal on the board with 24:01 remaining in the first half.

With the clock down to 17:36, Smith scored off a rebound after an outside shot hit the crossbar of the Ryan goalframe.

Smith appeared to score again early in the second half, but an offsides call was made on the play.

The hosts remained on the attack almost continually, as a very active Schweizer frequently disrupted Ryan’s transition attempts. Maura McGarry, one of the eighth graders, hit a shot wide to the right, and a great cross from the right endline by De Beaulac was intercepted by the Ryan goalie. Maloney, a defender, got up the field for a shot around the middle of the second half, but the ball strayed wide of the cage.

The Ragdolls had their best chance to score with a little under 14 minutes remaining. SCH’s Qawasmy stopped an outside shot but lost the handle on the ball, and there were some tense moments before the Devils were able to clear it out beyond the left goalpost.

The hosts were back on the attack down the stretch, with a second marker by De Beaulac putting the 3-0 final up on the board. With 10 seconds left, their final offensive gesture as a shot by Schweizer struck the right post.