Photos: Zack Beavers, Lennie Malmgren, Donna Eckert, Kathy Leister & Zamani Feelings

By: Jerome Taylor

PHILADELPHIA – The Inter-Ac kicks off league play this week, and in a league with so much parity, a lot can change in one year. So let’s take a look at how each team positioned itself heading into this season:

As the defending champions, Germantown Academy can expect to get the opposing team’s best effort every time they lace up their cleats.

“The senior class and returning varsity players know they have a target on their backs,” 5th-year head coach Kurt Wetzel said.  “We know we will surprise no one this year and expect to be challenged in every match.”

When you bring back that much talent from a championship team, depth comes naturally. For GA, that depth starts with seniors Jack Strauss, Eli Torrey, and Tyler Weiss as midfielders and defenders. Meanwhile, their classmates Nickolas Venziale and Colin Leon man the forward positions.

GA’s talent extends to other classes, too. Junior midfielders Roan Harrington and Aiden Trabosh will also play an essential role in getting the Patriots back to the PAISSA state title game. This is the ultimate goal for Wetzel’s squad as they look to avenge last year’s 4-2 loss to the Kiski School in the state championship. But he also knows other goals need to be accomplished if the Patriots want to be in a position for some get-back.

“The first goal would be to defend our [league] title,” Wetzel said. “After that, providing we stay healthy, the goal is to get back to the PAISSA state title game. This all starts with taking everything a game at a time.”

Another team with a nice mixture of upper and underclassmen is Penn Charter. The Quakers come into Inter-Ac play with the most non-league wins (7) this year. And after last year’s loss in the Inter-Ac finals, there’s undoubtedly a ton of motivation to return and change the result this season.

The Quakers were scheduled to open league play against Springside Chestnut Hill on Oct. 3, but their match-up against the Blue Devils has been postponed to Oct. 20. 

In contrast to DiBenedetto (the longest-tenured coach in the Inter-Ac), Keith Cappo is in his first year as head coach of The Haverford School. Cappo spent the last six seasons as the head coach of Ursinus College. Though it’s his first year on the sidelines for the Fords, he’s familiar with the competitiveness of the Inter-Ac, considering he was an all-league player for Penn Charter and was a part of their ‘98 championship.

“[Kirwan ] leads by example and is dependable in all situations,” Cappo said.  “If we need a goal, we can ask him to get it, or if we need to protect the lead, we can ask him to defend deeper.”

The Fords’ leadership extends to their back line with seniors Papi Harris, Ryan DiRocco, and junior Thomas Kaplan in front of junior goalkeeper Connor Cresswell. This defensive unit has been largely responsible for the team bouncing back from last year’s 2-12-2 record.

Their non-league play has been a good start, and their first league test will come from Malvern Prep on Tuesday, October 4. 

Speaking of Malvern Prep, the Friars are coming into league play with a 5-4 record. But it should be noted that each of their losses have come by one goal, and two have come in overtime.

All that to say, even after graduating 12 players, this Friars’ team may be young, but it’s dangerous.

“While we graduated 12 seniors from 2021, our program is gaining depth with many talented young players impacting on the pitch,” fourth-year head coach Susan Barr said.  

The team’s upperclassmen lead this year’s youthful yet deep squad, including senior captains Cole Watts, Joaquin Alban and Drew DellaVecchia. Additionally, senior goalkeeper Patrick Conway serves as the last line of the defense.

The Friars come into league play on a two-game losing streak, one they’ll be looking to snap when they take on The Haverford School.

Last year, SCH finished the Inter-Ac regular season with the second-best league record after dropping three of their final four games. Head coach Brian Zalasky says that experience played a role in his team’s offseason preparation.

“That experience, losing the league when it was in our hands, informs everything our boys have done in the off-season and pre-season,” Zalasky said.  “We want consistency, and we're resolved to show grit when our backs are against the wall.”

Coming into league play, the Blue Devils will have to show a lot of grit to put a demanding non-league schedule behind them. They go into league play with a 1-7-1 record; however, their schedule consisted of games against nationally-ranked Pennington School and Philadelphia Catholic League power Father Judge. Both of those matchups resulted in one-goal defeats.

Even though those results were less than ideal, the Blue Devils will have to put those losses behind them. And seniors like Daniel Heep, Colin Woehlcke, Ryan White and JT Hughes will have to apply their experiences to turn their season around.

They’ll get their first opportunity to do just that when they take on Germantown Academy at home on Friday.

Wednesday, Sept 28th

Haverford 0, Hill School 1

Malvern Prep 2, Archbishop Wood 3

Friday, Sept. 30th

Penn Charter 1, Holy Ghost Preparatory School 0

Episcopal Academy 2, Germantown Academy 1

Saturday, Oct. 1st

Springside Chestnut Hill Academy 1, Hill School 2

Tuesday, Oct. 4th

Haverford @ Malvern Prep

Thursday, Oct. 6

Malvern Prep @ Episcopal Academy (6 pm)

Friday, Oct. 7

Germantown Academy @ Springside Chestnut Hill

Penn Charter @ Haverford School