NTL GIRLS' SOCCER: NEB HAS HISTORIC CAMPAIGN IN 2022 (2022-11-20)

Northern Tier Sports Report
It was a historically good season for Northeast Bradford girls’ soccer. The Panthers set a record for games won (12-4), earned their highest playoff seed in program history (fourth), and battled for the NTL title all season long.

“It was a great season for us,” said coach Josh Thoman. “We had a lot of success this year. Even only have 13 players total, it shows how powerful and talented our players are coming from such a small school.”

They opened the season with a 4-2 win over Troy at East Troy in what may have been their best match of the season.

That put them in the driver’s seat in the league, and, even though they had a short handed loss to Troy in their tournament two games later, they followed that up by scoring four unanswered goals in a 4-2 win over Athens. 

Wins over Towanda (2-1) and Wellsboro (4-1) to push them to 5-1 on the season. However, a thrilling 6-5 loss at Wyalusing put them into a tie in the league with Troy.

They followed that up with back to back wins, including a thrilling 3-2 victory over Williamson in overtime, before falling to Troy 2-0 at home in a back and forth contest.

They’d keep their title hopes alive with a 3-0 win over Wyalusing, which started a stretch of four straight wins.

Their chances at a league title ended with a 2-1 loss to Athens, but they ended the season on a high note with a 3-0 victory over Towanda.

Senior Kayleigh Thoman hit 50 career goals during the season, while fellow senior Keirra Thoman came up just a couple goals short.

Their season ended a little more premature than they would have liked, falling 1-0 to Wyalusing in a thrilling district quarterfinal match, but it didn’t take away from their best season in program history.

Looking ahead, though, they lose six of their 13 players to graduation - both Thomans, Alena Beebe, Mikayla Post, Holly Towner, and Saydie Cubbedge. 

They return a strong junior class, led by do-it-all star Melanie Shumway, to go with defenders Lani Thomas and Malina Ramires. Sophomore Lillie Maynard had a versatile role off the bench last season, while freshman goalie Leah Beebe proved to be one of the best in the league. Fellow freshmen Lizzie Gorsline and Jocelyn Brown also helped out quite a bit.

They have a good core coming back, but they’ll definitely need some reinforcements to keep the momentum going.

“We have some younger talent coming up next year,” said Thoman. “We will just have to work hard, and go after it next year. And as for our six seniors that are leaving us, it’s going to be tough to replace them, but with hard work, and team building, we can definitely make an attempt. I can’t wait until next season.”

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