It’s almost time for fall sports, and while the focus has been put primarily on football, the Mid Penn has a ton to offer in other fall sports. Field Hockey delivered three state titles, as well as boys and girls soccer each hoisting a PIAA championship in the postseason. Lots of girls soccer teams have the potential to have success this coming season.
1. Central Dauphin Rams
Central Dauphin were state champions last season, defeating Pennridge 2-1 in the final. The state trophy was even sweeter for the Rams, after losing the District 3 final in double overtime to Manheim Township. One of the biggest dates this season will be September 30th, when they face Manheim Township again in the regular season. They’ll also have a big out-of-conference matchup on October 16th, when they match-up with defending 3A District 3 champions Lower Dauphin. CD returns Drexel commit Sammy Widnick in the net, and Isabella Zulli will lead in the field.
2. Northern Polar Bears
The Polar Bears will only lose out on one of last year’s starters this year, and that’s Anderson University incoming freshman Sophie Lodovici. Other than Lodovici, Northern will retain all of last year’s core. Of course this includes Liv Goretski, the incoming senior who will head to Myrtle Beach next year to become a Coastal Carolina Chanticleer. With the returns Northern will see in 2023, I project they’ll see a lot of playoff success in the 3A District 3 playoffs. Lebanon Valley College signee Camryn Porter will be a key piece at goalie for the Polar Bears, and Sydney Waits, a University of Albany prospect, will help carry the load in the field. Northern will host rival Greencastle on September 14th, visit the Blue Devils on October 11th and also visit Mechanicsburg for their opener on August 26th.
3. Camp Hill Lions
Here’s another team that has reloaded with familiar faces this season. They lost out of defender Paige Owens, but Camp Hill has lots of underclassmen who will provide success in 2023. Sophia Shaw had a breakout freshman season in 2022, scoring the only two goals in Camp Hill’s District Championship win, defeating Harrisburg Christian in the 1A District championship. Shaw then scored once more in their first round win, before losing to the 1A Champions, Southern Columbia. Camp Hill hosts Southern Columbia September 23rd in a playoff rematch. They’ll also face off against tough divisional competition like Trinity, McDevitt and East Pennsboro. The freshman to watch will be Cecelia Battisti, who finished up a star-studded performance at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports in Florida, competing for a national club team championship, and will be yet another freshman looking to model Sophia Shaw’s breakthrough freshman year. Sophie Ceo will take over as goalie for her 4th and final year.
4. Trinity Shamrocks
Not to sound like a broken record, but the Shamrocks are another returning a lot of key pieces from last season. Kari Powell, who will begin her college career at High Point, is a big loss, as well as Utica signee Grace Maury. However, Grace’s younger sister, Frances Maury will return to COBO Field this fall, in addition to Julianna Prokop, Monmouth University prospect Grace Notarfrancesco, and Caroline Cunningham. Trinity was seeded #1 in the 2A District 3 bracket, but ultimately lost to Wyomissing at CV’s Mountain View Middle School. Both teams were then entered into the 2A state tournament, and Trinity took a loss to eventual champs Central Columbia, who also beat Wyomissing one round later. Trinity visits Wyomissing on October 12th in a big rematch game. Senior Caroline Cunningham said “We are definitely motivated. We don’t want to lose to (Wyomissing) again.” The Shamrocks will try and weave through a tough capital division this season.
5. McDevitt Crusaders
McDevitt has a recovering squad this season, losing out on George Mason freshman Jazmine Bennett, and Monmouth’s Lindsey Husic after graduation. Amber Liu, Cat Mooney, Maya Dickerson and Emma Flickinger will look to fill the gap this season and get the job done in the playoffs. Speaking of playoffs, McDevitt has plenty of motivation to work hard in the postseason because of their lack of success last year. They were the top seeded team in the 3A District playoffs, and got past #16 seed York Suburban with a 3-2 win, then lost to #8 seeded Twin Valley. There were 7 Mid Penn representatives in that 3A District bracket, and the top 3 advanced into the state tournament: Northern, Greencastle and Lower Dauphin. McDevitt will fight through a tough Capital division with key match-ups against Camp Hill and Trinity. They’ll start with a visit to Camp Hill on September 12th.
6. Cumberland Valley Eagles
Cumberland Valley has a lot to prove in 2023, with a trio of three big college signees. Kameron Rase (La Salle), Evalyn Stoner (Kutztown) and Alicia So (Yale) will provide a solid 1-2-3 punch for the Eagles this season in a tough commonwealth division. A division which includes #1 ranked and defending champs Central Dauphin, #9 ranked Red Land and others. Cumberland Valley will host defending district champions in 3A, Lower Dauphin on September 21st in their biggest non-divisional game, and face off against Central Dauphin at Landis Field on September 11th and host the Rams on October 5th.
7. Greencastle Blue Devils
Greencastle will fight to return to another District championship at CV’s Eagle View stadium this year, but another focus will be returning to another state semi-final game, which they did last season for the first time in program history. In the process of Greencastle’s run through the playoffs, his team passed around more than a soccer ball. It was a stomach bug rummaging through the Blue Devil roster, which forced coach Chris Noblit to dig deeper into the depth chart, which should serve them well this year as younger players come into 2023 with more experience than normal. Rylee Henson was a force on the basketball court, but even better on the soccer field, and will be a gigantic defensive loss for the Blue Devils this season, as she’ll become a La Salle Explorer this fall. The Blue Devils will have rivalry match-ups on September 14th and October 11th against Northern, and a big out-of-division game with Trinity October 16th.
8. Lower Dauphin Falcons
If you were a fall sport athlete in 2023 at Lower Dauphin, there was a solid chance that you put a medal around your neck, as LD got the job done winning a District trophy in girls soccer, and a District-State Championship win in Field Hockey. Laylah Snow, Jolie Revenis and Katelyn Economopoulos are the senior losses for the Falcons, while Ella Clark, Lexi Serrago, and Talia McFarland will fill the holes for the Falcons. LD has their opener against 4A District champions, Manheim Township on August 29th at home.
9. Red Land Patriots
Red Land is thrown in the commonwealth with big schools like Cumberland Valley and Central Dauphin, and are up to the challenge with motivation from last year’s District 3 playoffs. The Patriots were ranked #5 in that Mid Penn loaded 3A bracket, but lost to #12 seeded Hershey. While they aren’t slated to face the Trojans from Hershey this regular season, Red Land will have big games against divisional opponents like Cumberland Valley and Central Dauphin.
10. East Penn Panthers
The Panthers tally the 4th team from the Capital division on this pre-season top 10, and they proved just how loaded the division was when they faced Trinity three times last season, ultimately falling in district playoffs. East Penn also has Susquenita, which they list as a key match-up, slightly because they both fell in the District 3 playoffs to Trinity. The Panthers will look to “work together as a team” to fill the hole of Towson’s incoming freshman and EP graduate Paelyn Bayer, the Panthers’ star of last season.
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