The Lakeland Regional High Schools girls varsity soccer team had a record of 8-10-1 this season and were proud to make it past the first round of states as the ‘underdogs.’ This season started off rough, but the team made a comeback and pushed through to states.
According to Coach Christopher Chouljian, “We played some of the toughest competition in North Jersey and managed to hang around in those games.” The Lady Lancers played some incredibly tough teams in North Jersey this year, and pulled through with big wins against West Milford twice in their first County tournament game where they won 6-0 against Passaic. They also did an amazing job closing the gap between some of their tougher opponents like Wayne Hills (2-0) and Wayne Valley (1-0).
Junior Natalie Centurione says that an unforgettable moment during this season was the penalty shootouts in the first round of states. After having double overtime, the team had the opportunity to have a penalty shootout and even as the underdogs, they played hard, gave it their all, and were able to pull through and make it past the first round of states.
According to Coach Chouljian, some key players this 2023 season were athletes sophomore Adenlyn Smith who had a record of 17 goals and 4 assists, Centurione with a record of 12 goals and 9 assists who became an All-County First teamer. In terms of accolades, senior captain Victoria Sabatelli received All-Conference Second team, senior captain Kieran Federici received All-County honorable mention and junior Julia McCormick received All-County Second Team playing lockdown defense.
Junior Samantha Buynie shared that she hopes that next year the team can continue to bond and focus on understanding each other’s mistakes to gain more confidence as a team.
