Lancaster Country Day School no longer has a girls’ soccer team, due to a decrease in interested players.
Starting this fall, girls who are still interested in playing soccer now play for McCaskey High School through a co-op program.
Through the summer, Mr. Henkle, previous coach of the LCDS girls’ soccer team, worked diligently to find more interested players.
However, due to low numbers, Mr. Kraft, LCDS athletic director, offered those who were still interested two options: play soccer for McCaskey for the next three years, or not having a team this year and hope for the best in years to come.
Numbers for the girls soccer team have fluctuated over recent years, according to data provided by Mr. Kraft. A team needs 11 players on the field, and it is ideal to have a few subs. It is important to note that through the season injuries and absentees are common. For the 2025 season, graduated seven Seniors graduated and and five starters transfered.
To start off this season, four girls from LCDS signed up to play on the co-op team. Later, an international student signed up, as well. Currently, JPM has four girls playing from LCDS.
The girls who played last year and continue to play now see both positive and negative aspects of the co-op program.
Last year, the LCDS girls soccer program had a record of 5-7-2. With this record, the team went to the first round of districts and lost 2-1 in overtime. Considering the girls’ soccer team’s past record in the past, the 2024-25 season was a success, and last year’s Seniors played a major part in that success.
The JPM schedule can change frequently, and with the high LCDS academic workload, this schedule can be hard to manage. Games have switched from home to away with a three-hour notice.
“I never really had any time to do any of my work, especially on the bus because it would be very chaotic,” says Sophomore Noor O., who quit the JPM team mid-season. “The study halls they offered before practices and games would only help me for 30 minutes, but once more people started to show up it gets hectic because not everybody is studying there.”
At JPM, student athletes must be failing at least three classes to be ineligible to play, but at LCDS, players become ineligible to play if they are failing one class.
LCDS now has four sports that co-op with JPM, including baseball, track, soccer, and swimming. Students are transported to McCaskey via school van.
“I miss just walking out onto our own field,” Sophomore Vivian S. says, “Now having to drive there becomes a little bit of a hassle, not so much for me because a bus takes me, but for others who drive, I can see how this could become annoying.”
Coach Hershey, the JPM girls’ soccer coach, is new this year.
“I really miss our old coaches because they pushed us and saw our potential,” Vivian says. “Where I feel like this year our coach wants us to have fun, but isn’t pushing our team to become the best that we can be.”
Members of the girls’ soccer team this year say that they are extremely grateful that their voices were heard, and they had the chance to voice their opinion concerning the future of the LCDS girls’ soccer program.
“It’s a really fun experience getting to play with another school, and teammates who I don’t see every day during school,” Junior Rosa M. says. “I feel like co-oping with JPM was a big change for me, but this was an experience that will help me grow as an athlete. I would rather co-op with JPM than have a wavering LCDS team for the years to come.”
Being able to adapt to a new environment, team and coach are skills that will be beneficial for any sport environment.
By adapting to this new team the girls have created friendships they would have never had while playing Cougar soccer, playing with new student-athletes, learning new skills and seeing a new view of the game.
The LCDS group of girls have strengthened their friendships with each other, as well, and learned more about their peers as players, students and athletes during this season.
“All of my teammates are very kind,” Vivian says. “Even though we’re from a different school, they all invited us in and haven’t treated us any differently because of that, which I really love. The girls who remain on the team stay closely connected with each other on and off the field.”
