The 2023 girls soccer season was both a continuation of a program on the rise as well as another season of firsts in school history. It was also the final year for a group of seven seniors who have helped transform the program in just three short years.
Coach Andy Giordano and his staff built upon the 2022 campaign that saw the program its first-ever conference championship (they were co-conference winners in ’22 with Greenfield School of Wilson). In 2023, the Lady Saints ended the regular season with the first-ever outright conference championship after going 9-1 in conference and 13-3 overall; both of these records were bests in school history.
The season opened with a series of conference and local games before the team departed for its first out-of-state trip to play two games in the Tidewater Virginia area. The team went 1-1 on the trip against two quality opponents which helped the program take steps toward a successful regular season.
The program closed out its regular season with a game that would determine the conference championship at Arendell Parrott Academy in Kinston on Tuesday night. With a win, JPII would be regular season champions, but a loss would result in a three-way tie at the top. The team produced a gutty performance against APA and took home the championship 1-0 when freshman Victoria Hatoum connected with senior Izzy McKee for the winning goal. Senior co-captain Macy Johnson was brilliant in goal with seven saves to preserve the clean sheet.
On the season, JPII out-scored opponents 57-15 with 11 different players scoring goals and 12 players were credited with assists. The team was led by senior co-captain Kat Stanley with 26 goals and 16 assists.
The Lady Saints had three players in the top 25 points category (goals & assists) in its first season in the NCISAA 3A division:
- Kat Stanley – 68 points (tied for 1st)
- Laci Bitterman – 20 points (9 goals/2 assists – tied for 20th)
- Dee Dee Koesters – 18 points (7 goals/4 assists tied for 25th)
The defense was also a top performer with the team’s two junior center-backs combining for 168 steals (Koesters with 107 and Michelle Saucedo-Trinidad with 61). Goalie Macy Johnson had a league-best .76 goals against average.The team will start its campaign toward a first-ever state championship when seeding is announced on Sunday, May 7. The Saints will likely host a home game on Tuesday, May 9.
