Little Flower, which pushed Archbishop Wood to the limit before bowing, 3-2, in the Catholic League girls' soccer final last week, will lose 13 players to graduation.
Seven of them started this season, so it appears that the Sentinels will have a few holes to fill before the 2012 campaign.
But Ursula Coyle, who will return next season, and Megan Cullen, a player who will graduate, think the team should still do well.
"A lot of people didn't think we would get as far as we did this season," said Coyle, a junior who finished the season with 20 goals, two coming in the championship game. "We proved them wrong. There will be four [starters] back, and I expect them to make the playoffs again."
Coyle said her own season did not start as well as she had wanted, causing her some frustration. She said things picked up for her and the Sentinels after they lost their fifth game of the season, a 2-0 setback against Wood. The Sentinels (10-3-1) had won their first four games easily, outscoring opponents by 24-1.
"We skated through those first games," Cullen said.
Cullen, who posted five shutouts in goal, agreed that the regular-season loss to Wood changed Little Flower's whole perspective.
"There was a new way of playing," Cullen said. "We came closer as a team. We stepped it up."
Coach Markos Pittaoulis, who expects to return next year for his 24th season, is optimistic his team will be ready.
"We'll need some new freshmen, but if they work hard, we should be all right, " he said. "They worked very hard this year. I think we played our best game in the championship game. That was a very good game."
Exceptional year. Friends' Central's exceptional season ended in a loss to Episcopal Academy on penalty kicks Tuesday in the semifinals of the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association tournament.
The Phoenix went unbeaten and did not give up a goal in nine Friends Schools League games, including two in the league playoffs. They won their first two games in the independent schools tourney. The league title was the Phoenix's first in 10 years.
Coach David Pettican, who once played soccer at the top division level in his native England, said the Phoenix responded well in his second year as coach. They sported six freshmen - Daphne Fisher, Lisa Bernstein, Abby Crowley, Sophie MacFarland, Emily Tedesco, and Hannah Lafferty - who played key roles along with goalie Ivana-Ajee Dolic.
"Lisa, Sophie, and Abby played every minute of every game for us," Pettican said.
Contact staff writer Don Beideman at 267-815-0733 or dbeideman@phillynews.com.
