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Sports

Lady Bridgemen Soccer Team Gets Defensive

Season Preview: The Fort Lee High School varsity girls soccer team looks to return to pre-2010 form with a strong focus on defense this year.

The Fort Lee girls soccer team has the potential to frustrate many of their opponents this season with their pesky defense.

The Lady Bridgemen have been practicing hard in preparation for the season-opener on Sept. 10 at Bergenfield. The defensive side of the team is mostly intact from last year, as they return many of their major players.

Jen Valdeon and Sophia Lupino are two four-year starters returning for head coach Phil Zappel. Leading goal scorer from last season, Caitlin Mckenna, also returns for her sophomore year at the midfielder position. Natalie Mateus was the team’s second leading goal scorer and returns for her senior year, also at the midfielder position. Mateus is also a four-year varsity starter.

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The Lady Bridgemen have been working extremely hard and are ready for the season to begin.

“We’re training hard; we’re sweating it all on the field, preparing for the season," Mateus said. "Communication is really important on the field. We have to open up, be supportive on the field, try our hardest and put our hearts on the field."

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Communication will be important, but so will something else that is crucial to any team.

“Our chemistry and the seniors' chemistry," said Valdeon. "We’ve been playing a while, and we know how we work. It’s easy for us to feed off each other.”

Coach Zappel has a game plan that should cater to his team’s strength.

"The strongest part of our team is our defense," he said. "What we’re going to do is start the offense from the defense."

It will prove to be an interesting and fun year, as the team is ready to get things started and are optimistic about just how far they could go.

Least Year at a Glance

The Lady Bridgemen went a disappointing 5-9 last season after being a .500 team the year before.

"We hope to improve and get back to where we were two years ago," Zappel said.

Below are the girls on a Lady Bridgemen soccer team ready ready to return to their old, winning ways:  

  • Sophia Lupino-Back
  • Lauren Ritchie-Back
  • Jen Valdeon-Back
  • Jillian Scrivanich-MF
  • Natalie Mateus-F
  • Yaomi Lopez-MF
  • Lucy Dell'Aquila-F
  • Margo Grisanti-Back
  • Aashna Jain-Back
  • Alex Kunikoff-F
  • Larissa Anndeherz-MF
  • Summer Abdou-F
  • Jackie Ross-GK
  • Caitlin McKenna-MF
  • Daniela Molinaro-MF
  • Jessica Molinaro-Back
  • Ahley Jeng-MF
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