Spa Catholic Soccer Squad Has Miraculous Season

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Perhaps it’s fitting that the Saratoga Central Catholic girls soccer team is called the Saints; it’s a small miracle that the team exists in the first place.

While other Spa Catholic sports have modified, junior varsity, and varsity teams, the girls soccer program has been struggling just to put together one varsity team, Coach Brian Venn said.

“Sometimes we don’t have enough for a full roster,” Venn said. “Our first couple of games this year, we didn’t have enough subs, so we were sometimes playing shorthanded.”

Despite the team struggling to recruit enough players to take the field, they’ve managed to win 7 games this season and have a realistic shot at finishing with a .500 winning percentage.  And some of the Saints’ notable on-field contributors include several girls who had never even played organized soccer before.

“Word of mouth is powerful, especially for kids that have never played before,” Venn said. “Having their friends say, ‘don’t be nervous, don’t have anxiety, just come out and have fun.’”

One senior, Sydney Caracci, decided to sign up for soccer despite not having much experience on the field. She soon became one of the team’s leaders in both goals and assists. At the Saints’ October 14 game against Mekeel Christian Academy, she was the squad’s starting striker.

But Caracci isn’t the Saints’ only success story. Sophomore captain Addison Quail leads the team in assists and is credited with helping first-year players. Senior Grace Venn, a second-year captain, solidifies the middle and right sides of the team’s defense, while also offering guidance to younger players. And juniors Ava Brown and Allison Fuller are poised to become standouts next year as the team continues to grow, Venn said.

The biggest success story, however, may be Coach Venn and Co-Coach Tony Nucera’s determined efforts to revitalize the school’s soccer program.

“[The goal] is to make Spa Catholic a destination for soccer, not only girls, but boys as well,” Venn said. “I think a lot of our planning is going to have to do with creating a smaller pipeline where we can look at some of the other, not only diocese schools, but also public schools, and make it more appealing if your daughter or son is playing soccer to come to Spa Catholic. Up until this year, we really haven’t had the momentum to make it a soccer destination and that’ll take four or five years, I’m sure.”

In the meantime, the Saints are focused on winning their final game of the season. If they do, they’ll enter the postseason as a third or fourth seed, something the team hasn’t done in nearly a decade.

It would be just another small, unexpected miracle for the Saints.