YORKTOWN, N.Y.—As he enters his third year as Yorktown girls soccer coach, Ryan Langkafel leads an experienced team hoping to make the next step. The Huskers return plenty of talent from a squad that went 12-2-3 and earned the No. 4 seed in last year’s Section 1 Class AA tournament, where it fell to visiting No. 13 Clarkstown North 2-1 in an opening-round contest.
“Our entire senior class is returning 11 girls, among them we have All-Section and All-League caliber players,” Langkafel said. “We have great players in all positions who are coming back with tremendous experience. I expect them to use their experiences and their chemistry with each other to lead this team to success.”
Autumn Richards (All-League, goalie), Izy Walling (All-League, co-captain, defense), Mandy Linahan (All-League, midfielder), Liv DelGaudio (co-captain, striker), Mia Chee (defense), Keira Mooney (defense), Sydney Soliz (midfield), Maddy O'Reilly (midfield), Lea Bryant (winger), Eva Monaco (winger) and Kenzie Meola (winger) make up the Huskers’ senior class.
“Our goal this year is to compete in every game,” Langkafel said. “We have a challenging schedule that is ideal to prepare us for playoffs. We were upset with our disappointing exit last year, but we are eager to prove that is not who we are as a program.”
Yorktown will open the season hosting Mamaroneck in the first round of its own tournament at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 2, with Pelham and Arlington B also in the field. The championship and consolation games of the tournament are set for Saturday, Sept. 6.
“We are returning a very good and large senior core, these girls have been starting and playing big minutes for us the last two years, so we are ready to use that experience and leadership to play to our high standards from the beginning,” Langkafel said.
Lakeland
It’s always important to have a great goalie and Lakeland second-year coach Greg Doell certainly has one in sophomore Amelia Calisi, who was All-League last season.
“She is one of the best keepers in Section 1,” Doell said of Calisi. “In her third year as a varsity player I expect her to take the step to be a true leader in the defense.”
A top returnee on the offensive side is junior All-Section and All-League forward Gianna Pace.
“Gianna has excellent technical ability, and we’ll need goals from her,” Doell said. “One of her strengths is bringing others into the game and we’ll need her to create for others also.”
Midfielders junior Margaret Keating and seniors Caroline Daly and Caroline Leonard were All-League a season ago.
“We’ll need them to do a lot of running and control games both offensively and defensively,” Doell said. “They are all technical players who read the game well.”
Lakeland will also be expecting big contributions from Emily Hahn, Kacey Chin, Mackenzie Latorre, Alexa Marricco, Payton Sauer, Isabella Ramos-Cumiskey and Maeve McConnell.
“We have the chance to have a very good season and the whole roster will need to do their part for that to happen,” Doell said.
Senior captains are Daly, Leonard, Chin, Hahn and Samantha Del Ponte, who is injured and will miss the season.
“Even though she is unavailable to play her energy and enthusiasm will be invaluable,” Doell said of Del Ponte.
Lakeland starts the campaign at home against Carmel at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 3.
“I really like the competitive nature of this group,” Doell said. “They know where they want to end up so they don’t complain when it’s time to work because they know what it will take to get there.”
The Hornets will look to improve on last year’s 7-9-2 season. As the No. 9 seed, Lakeland lost at No. 1 Pleasantville 4-1 in the quarterfinals of the Section 1 Class A tournament.
“Last year we started slow but we put it together the last half of the season and were really playing good soccer at the end,” Doell said. “Ideally, we’ll build a solid base in preseason, pick up where we left off last year, and improve from there.”
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