The Phoenix have a successful fall season.
by Logan Smith, Director of Athletic Communications
The accolades keep racking up for the FIELD HOCKEY team after it finished another banner year this past November. The Phoenix opened the season with a pair of shutouts to extend their regular season win streak to 22 games, and while they dropped a few games after that, the Blue and Black regrouped to win seven consecutive contests to close out the 2022 regular season.
The Phoenix weren’t finished. They extended their overall win streak to nine games with wins over Sweet Briar and Keystone in the postseason. The result was Wilson’s third consecutive CSAC championship. Back-to-back-to-back titles.
Head coach Shelly Novak had quite the supporting cast to help the team along the way, as seven student-athletes went on to earn All-CSAC honors. Those included Alexis Pflumm (Senior), Allyson Shindler (Senior), Hailey Steele (Sophomore), Brea Kelso (Sophomore), Paige Ney (First-Year), Alexis Alleman (Senior), and Elizabeth Landon (First Year).
Pflumm repeated her spot as a first-team selection while being chosen to the postseason for the third time in her career, but what was more impressive was that she was selected as the CSAC’s Co-Player of the Year. Sharing the honors with Cedar Crest’s Kiley Marone, Pflumm led the conference with 81 shots, was second with 49 shots on goal, fifth with 12 goals, sixth with six assists, and fourth with 30 points.
A defense led by Shindler in goal and Steele on the back line joined Pflumm as first-team selections. Together they helped the Phoenix defense record nine shutouts during 2022, four of which closed the regular season with two more that followed in the CSAC tournament.
While the Phoenix bowed out in the NCAA Division III Championships to the College of New Jersey, they showed that they are still the top team in the CSAC and became just the third school to win three straight league titles (Misericordia 1994-96, Gwynedd-Mercy 2011-14).
The WOMEN’S SOCCER team had another incredible season and improved upon prior successes. After having the best season in program history in 2021, the Phoenix expanded upon that with a 12-5-2 record in 2022. Once again, they hosted a CSAC Tournament game and defeated Keystone 3-0 at home in the quarterfinals. A grand total of eight student-athletes earned postseason honors as Jade Wolfe (Sophomore), Chloe Antalek (Senior), Mia Harris (Senior), Rebecca Marakovitz (Sophomore), Halley Shaffer (First-Year), Bianca Sommers (First-Year), Bailey Miller (Senior) and Rachel Coulter (Sophomore) were all named to the All-CSAC Team. Wolfe was named the Co-CSAC Defensive Player of the Year after being the Rookie of the Year in 2021.
WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL faced adversity with a small roster during the season but finished the year on the upswing with three wins in their final six matches of regular season play. It resulted in a 4-5 CSAC record and clinched the final spot in the conference tournament. Deah Menedis (Sophomore) led a roster with just one upper-class student to receive All-CSAC First Team honors.
MEN’S SOCCER also faced a difficult season but finished strong down the stretch. The Phoenix made a commendable push for the postseason by winning two of their final three
games but just missed out on the playoffs because of tiebreaking rules in the conference standings. First-year student-athletes Aidan Diem and Martin Souza were honored by being named All-CSAC selections as an honorable mention and a sportsmanship team pick, respectively.
