The Whitehall girls soccer team made it to the EPC playoffs as well as the District 11 playoffs this year, but it certainly wasn’t easy.

The girls battled the injury bug all season, but were able to overcome that and finish with a winning record. Unfortunately, it set the girls up with tough, first-round games to open both playoffs.

In districts, the Zephs would fall 3-0 to eventual finalist, Emmaus. The Hornets would fall in the finals to Northampton, which captured it’s first-ever, District 11 title.

The Whitehall girls ended their season 11-9. As head coach Chris Bleam acknowledged, it was a solid record for a team that’s young and on the rise.

“[We] battled significant injuries throughout the season,” Bleam said. “Six starters missed time throughout the season including four games where four or more starters were out.”

Leading scorer, sophomore Collene Sommers, who made the EPC second team, suffered a season-ending injury in the 11th game. Sommers was leading the team in scoring at the time with 19 goals and 7 assists.

The timing of the injury complicated things.

“The team entered a really challenging part of the schedule at that point, and essentially had to reinvent the way we played,” Bleam said. “It took a few weeks, but the group blended together well and were very competitive as the season ended.

“While we were not able to score against the top-four teams in the EPC, we were competitive and qualified for both the EPC and 4A District 11 tournaments, which was a great accomplishment.”

The girls have an accomplished group coming back. Bleam pointed to junior Morgan Laub and freshman Larken Good (EPC third team) who stood out in the center of the defense. The backs - sophomore Olivia Tabarani, junior Audrey Muller and sophomore Kaila Wexler - complimented the center backs well to present a well-organized defensive challenge to EPC powers, Central Catholic, Nazareth, Parkland, Northampton and Emmaus, Bleam pointed out.

“In the season finale against Emmaus in the District 11 tournament, the group led the team to a solid performance,” Bleam said. “We had a few legitimate chances to score but eventually conceded a goal with 17 minutes remaining and went on to lose 3-0.”

The Hornets Gabby Powell would score the first two goals of the game and was set up by Lizzy Bender on both. Powell would assist on the game’s final goal, scored by Ella Scharper.

The Zephs will be back, though, and return 16 members out of 18 from this year’s team, nine of which are starters. Keeper Cora Musselman (So), Kyla Braun (So), Emma Potocnie (Jr) and Isabella Brogna (Jr) all performed well in the starting lineup for the final games of the season, Bleam said. Jade Snyder (Fr) and Greta O’Brien (So) saw a great deal of playing time as well late in the season and showed tremendous growth, according to Bleam.

Llyneida Otanez (Jr), Dayna Nelson (So), and Makayla Katrib (Fr) are other players who will return.

“Of course the team will miss senior captains Sage Snyder and Jade Alvarez (EPC scholar athlete nominee) as they move on next year,” Bleam said. “Their contributions were invaluable throughout the season and each continued to play despite battling injuries all year.”

Sommers lead the team with 45 points (19 goals, 7 assists) and Good added 13 goals and seven assists for 33 points. Potocnie had 11 goals and an assist for 23 points.

Sage Snyder had four goals and eight assists for 16 points and Laub had four goals and four assists for 12 points. Jade Snyder and Tabarani each added two goals and two assists for six points with Braun scoring a goal with three assists for five points. Muller had three assists, Musselman had a goal and Jade Alvarez and Brogna each had one assist.