Naples keeper Anais Navidad punches the ball away in front of Vicenza’s Kiera Mukai as teammates watch, in the Division II girls final at the DODEA-Europe championships at Ramstein, Germany, May 18, 2023. Naples won 3-1. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Girls soccer teams have little time to acclimate ahead of the DODEA European season.
Programs had less than two weeks starting with tryouts to the start of matches, which begin Saturday. That comes just less than three weeks from the end of the winter sports season.
Teams aren’t going to use the lack of practice as an excuse, and many will hit the ground running on fields across Europe, all looking to come out on top on May 20-23 in the Kaiserslautern Military Community.
Here’s a team-by-team look, based off all the responses Stars and Stripes received from coaches:
AFNORTH
The Lions have one of the most experienced squads coming back in the slimmed down Division III.
AFNORTH has nine returners from the team that finished third at last year’s European championships.
Seniors Bella Benedetto, Isabella Guest and Rowan Moreno will lead as captains. Guest earned all-tournament and All-European second team honors in 2023, while Moreno was named to the All-European second team.
In attack, the Lions turn to the speed of junior forward Selah Skariah, who made the all-tournament team last spring, and senior winger Finja Liebing to unsettle opponents defensively. Senior attacking midfielder Sara Nix will be charged with getting the ball to the attackers.
New to the team are 11 players.
American Overseas School of Rome
The Falcons are rebuilding this season.
With nine upperclassmen, eight returners and just 10 of 26 players who have some sort of soccer experience, that is to be expected.
Seniors Reiley Lester and Cristina Nespoli will man the center, while sophomore Laila Lester, Silvia Goldman and Evelyn Goldman will anchor the back line. Senior Elena Goldman and sophomore Zine Khan are set to play on the wings.
Sophomore Sarakshi Neupane comes back as an attacking option.
Aviano
Coach Sarah Hartman is optimistic heading into her second year in charge.
The Saints tied for fifth place last spring. This spring, Hartman said the goal is to place third during the European championships.
Aviano will bank on the experience of eight veterans to help bring along 10 newcomers.
Black Forest Academy
The Falcons couldn’t have gotten closer to advancing to the Division II title match last spring, staying even with eventual runner-up Vicenza through 100 minutes of action and the first kicks in a shootout. BFA fell on the sixth one.
Now, the Falcons are under new leadership in head coach Hannah Pineda, who has three years of experience as a varsity assistant.
Senior Jade Hernandez likely will be a key player. The all-tournament and second-team All-European athlete returns as a defensive midfielder, although she could play a more advanced role.
Senior Joy Kang will take up the right back position, while junior Anna Yancey comes back as a forward.
Eleven new players are set to join the varsity squad. Juniors Zofia Wood and Indi Atchley and sophomore Hannah Carey transferred in, while getting promoted from the JV squad are juniors Liberty Cooke, Micah Gable and Victoria Sosso and sophomore Esther Maples.
Brussels
Welcome back to girls soccer, Brigands.
Brussels played co-ed in 2023. This season, enough Brigands came out to field a team.
Just two players were on last year’s co-ed squad – sophomore midfielders Emilie Isaacson and Nino Kapanadze.
The rest of the roster will be filled with what coach Charlotte Geehreng described as a lot of promise. Those newcomers include seniors Abigail Halttunen and Irem Ozgur; juniors Kristen Baird, Lucia Martinez (goalkeeper) and Gabrielle Roher; sophomore Adrianne Chezik; and freshmen Emilia Day, Sonia Desir, Amberly Duffy, Braya Forrest, Esme Halttunen, Claire Kluis, Taegan Muller and Grace Swan.
Kaiserslautern
The Raiders enter 2024 with some turnover of the roster as well as the coaching staff.
Aaron Scalise takes over a team that finished fifth last spring.
Significant returners are midfielders Ava Gin, Ryann Phillips and Georgia Rawcliffe. Scalise mentioned sophomore Marisol Baltazar as a newcomer expected to make a big contribution.
Naples
The Wildcats ran rampant through Division II in 2023, but the players who dominated the midfield are gone.
Naples will hope underclassmen and transfers who tried out for the 2024 squad will help fill that void.
Anais Navidad returns as keeper. On defense will be seniors Amber Ozturkoglu and Rylee Rummel and sophomore Norah Hightower, while Emma Heavey is the lone veteran midfielder. Sophomore forward Va Nae Filer was named to the all-tournament and All-European first teams, while fellow sophomore attacker Emerson Shorey earned second-team All-European honors.
Junior Ava Williams rounds out the veteran Naples attackers.
Transfers include Gracie Grannis, Belle Merhar, Jasmin Miranda and Noya Dillard, and six freshmen are looking to make their mark.
Ramstein's Julia Adkins prepares to launch a shot from distance during Saturday morning's match against Wiesbaden at Ramstein High School on Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Trailing the play is the Warrior midfielder Bridget Pidgeon. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)
Ramstein
The Royals still think about last season’s semifinal loss to Lakenheath – their lone defeat of the campaign – as well as the co-championship the year before with Stuttgart.
This spring, the team seeks to lift the crown on its own, which hasn’t happened in 10 years.
Seniors Julia Adkins and Jillian Buckley and junior Abigail Belote will lead as captains. Also returning are seniors Brianna Creamer (defender), Isabel Fischer (midfielder), Yasmin Martinez (midfielder) and Mary Lowe (midfielder/defender); juniors Kyndra Brown (midfield) and Liberty Snyder (keeper); and sophomore Olivia Davis (midfielder).
Claire Boyton and Isabelle Donkin transferred in, while Abigail Bennett, Cloe Dorado, Amelia McCrory and Nailya McLeish are making the move from JV.
Rota
The Admirals expect to be improved after tying for fifth at the 2023 European championships.
To do so, Rota will bank on veteran central midfielder Emma Montoya, all-tournament striker Jourdan Timmons, center back Madison Lewis and left midfielder Quennette Kirkconnell.
Aviano's Kylee Moncur tries to elbow her way to the ball past Sigonella's Ryleigh Denton in the Jaguars' 4-1 victory over the Saints on Saturday, April 15, 2023. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Sigonella
Coach Andy Reardon called this campaign a rebuilding one after winning the Division III title in 2023.
With all the firepower returning, though, the Jaguars could find themselves repeating.
Three players earned postseason honors, beginning with senior Laney Reardon and junior Ryleigh Denton. At goalkeeper, Reardon was named second-team All-Europe, while at winger, Denton received all-tournament awards in 2022 and 2023 and a second-team All-European selection.
Senior striker Isabelle Balleza has made all-tournament teams the past two seasons. Fellow seniors Anabel Vaiciulis in defense and Isla Robertson in midfield and junior winger Charlize Caro round out the returners.
Three sophomores and seven freshmen also will be looking to play roles.
Stuttgart
The Panthers took care of business in the 2023 postseason, beating Lakenheath twice – including in the final – to bring the outright crown back to Stuttgart.
The problem is the squad lost key players, such as tournament MVP Bella Henderson, and its coaching staff, turning to John Bowman and Chris Kelly in the coaching box.
Junior all-tournament honoree Eva Eaton will step up in midfield and at fullback. Also retuning are junior Ella Engelke, senior Ella Kirk, senior Anna Roth, fullback Isabella Gelerter, sophomore Reagan Smith, Serenity Brown, senior Ayana Gomez and junior Ruthie Thompson.
New to the squad are Leeba Curlin, Sienna Miller and Maddie Fleming.
Vicenza
The Cougars lost four seniors from last year’s squad that made a run to the title game, but the players coming back have coach Philip Paniagua raising expectations for 2024.
It begins and ends with Maya Fitch. The junior forward totaled 27 goals in 2023 en route to all-tournament and first-team All-European selections.
In the midfield, senior Tyler Holt, junior Julia Rudy and sophomore Kiera Mukai will lead the way. And senior Laurel Gill, juniors Avonlea Sparling and Dariadna Lopez-Nieves and sophomore Hannah Pratt bring experience to defense. Both Fitch and Gill suffered injuries in February that kept them from finishing the basketball season.
Emeline Rodriguez and Gabrielle Gaspard enter as the two choices at goalkeeper. Forward Natalia Lopez adds a second forward option, and Raya Arhin and Andrea Alvarez-Rodriguez add defensive depth pieces.
Kayla Steimle, Penelope Gaspard, Seren Sparling and Ayanna Valentin will see time in the midfield.
Vilseck
The Falcons had 38 try out for the team this year, the most in recent years. That’s a good sign after the club went winless in 2023.
From that squad, senior midfielder Rheanna Salo returns, as do juniors Phoebe-Sue Dean, Kayla Azevedo and Donelle Druitt, and sophomore Jaelyn Rosales, Brenna Allen and Nyja Flournoy, the latter of whom played keeper last spring.
Freshmen hoping to impact Vilseck this season include Mayela Lokeni, Farrah Daley and Adanya Folarin.
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