Season Preview: Edgemont Girls Soccer

School's in session, and senior forward and co-captain Rachel Hirsch is returning off an ACL surgery done her junior year. Hirsch was the team's leading scorer as a sophomore.

"We are looking forward to her finding the net frequently this fall," Coach Tom Blank said. "She is real quick and has the ability to find openings and opportunities to capitalize."

Also a co-captain for the Panthers is senior Alexa Schweitzer, who is in her second year as a sweeper.

"She is strong and well skilled with both feet," the coach said. "She reads the game well. We expect her to lead the defense."

The Panthers will also have four more returning players that should make an impact on this year's squad. One of them is senior midfielder Jessica Rashkovich.

"Jessica has started as our center midfielder for three years," Blank said. "She started as a freshman. She is aggressive to the ball, distributes the ball beautifully and makes us go."

Another impact senior is two-year returning player Rebecca Scharf.

"Rebecca has a tremendous ability to get the ball, settle the ball and distribute the ball," Blank said. "She plays real solid defense and gets our offense into gear."

Junior fullback Aelish Aoki is a second-year starter in the back who is quick, powerful and skilled with both feet.

Junior forward Jacqueline Ehrenreich was Edgemont's leading scorer last year and she is powerful, quick and strong up front.

Sophomore midfielder Barbara Levin has good skills with the ability to score from the outside.

One of the top newcomers is freshman forward Gaby Susz, who is quick and has the ability to find the net.

Stopping the ball from getting into the net is sophomore goalkeeper Carolina Sguearra.

"She is going to be new to the goal, she has limited experience," Blank said. "She's got a great attitude and she's a good athlete. She has very good soccer sense. We are trying to mold  her into a quality keeper."

If Sguearra can perform the way Blank thinks she can, that will help the Panthers immensely.

"I think we are going to be very competitive," Blank said. "We have a very challenging schedule but we bring back a lot of experience. We should be able to find the net and the defense is fairly solid. If Carolina comes along like we expect she should, we should be hopefully pretty well balanced."