Marblehead High girls soccer coach Lisa Wales is beginning her third season along the varsity sidelines. Last year, these Magicians ended up with a 12-1-5 regular season record, and were second in the Northeastern Conference. They were the 10th seed in Division 2, before making it all the way to the Elite 8 after beating Walpole (3-2) and Oliver Ames (1-0), only to lose to Longmeadow, 3-1. The Lancers then fell to Duxbury by the exact same score in the state championship game. After adding up all of their achievements, the Marblehead girls were the 20th best team statewide, encompassing all five divisions.
But it’s time to turn the page for Wales and her 2026 squad, and they all reconvened for the first day of practice on Aug. 24. Wales welcomed over 60 players to tryouts with 24 of them freshmen to go along with 18 sophomores.
Despite the youthfulness in this year’s program, Wales still expects to see success on the pitch. “As always, we are going to have high expectations for all of our teams in the program,” she said, “and will look to compete in every game.”
There’s definitely reason for that optimism, thanks to a solid core of returning players on the varsity roster. “We have some key veterans, starting with senior tri-captain and four-year starter AInsley McDonald, who will anchor our defense, along with (fellow) captain Cam O’Brien. They are both center-backs,” said Wales. “We also have two strong keepers in Hailey Gilmore and Lily Heller, and tri-captain Callie Gilmore, who was our leading scorer throughout the past two seasons. Her versatility will once again be an asset as either a midfielder or a striker. Seniors Lucy Church and Alma Gaunt and juniors Stella Smith and Phoebe Fontela-Tuttle will be key contributors, as well.”
Wales also mentioned a solid sophomore group of Nina Badzak, Izzie Gonzalez, Maddy Terry and Anna Cannuscio that should contribute to this year’s varsity team.
Wales envisions that both Masco and Beverly will definitely be conference threats to win it all this fall. But in her immediate future, Wales had scheduled four scrimmages to get the team ready for the season. They already went up against North Reading (Aug. 27), Bishop Fenwick (Aug. 28) and Hamilton-Wenham (Sept. 2). They will wrap up the exhibition slate on Friday, Sept. 4, against host Lynnfield, beginning at 2:30 p.m. The regular season will commence on Tuesday, Sept. 8, at Danvers, starting at 6:30 p.m. They will be at Masco two days later at 4 p.m., before going to Swampscott for a game against the Big Blue on Sept. 14 at 7 p.m. They will finally begin the home season at Piper against Peabody on Sept. 16 at 4 p.m.
