Field Hockey
Captain Tia Obermeier ’23 was an impactful forward for the Field Hockey team. She focused on bringing the ball down the field and sent it into the center. Obermeier mentioned that as a captain, she tried “to aid the team in communication … and to help better the younger players.” Obermeier led the team with 3 goals.
Maya DeAndrea ’25 plays midfield for the team, and has been playing with MFS since her 7th grade year. DeAndrea scored the first goal of the season for the team, leading the team to a 3-0 win against Pemberton on September 9. The midfielder said she tried “to work with the defense, the offense and whoever is behind me and to communicate with them to get the ball.” Obermeier said DeAndrea was an amazing player and midfielder. “I can count on her to get the ball if I lose it, and she has a great attitude towards field hockey.”
Olivia Neri ’24 accompanied DeAndrea in the midfield. Regarding Neri’s abilities on the field, Obermeier said, “she can bring the ball up and down the field with ease … she has really good stick skills.” Neri led the team with 3 assists.
Boys’ Soccer
Captain Jonah Bierig ’24 was this year’s varsity goalie for the Boys’ Soccer team. An experienced player, Bierig has been playing soccer for 12 years. This season, he’s had 179 saves in 16 games, compared to his 79 saves in last season’s 17 games. Preston Galanis ’25 described Bierig as a “great leader who knows how to hype up a team.” Captain Sulayman Hussain ’23 added, “I’m very happy to have [Bierig] behind me. Whenever we made a mistake, he picked us up and made an amazing save. He was one of our best players.”
As of November 1, the team’s leading goal scorer is Galanis, with seven goals. Galanis is a competitive midfielder who has been playing for nearly 12 years.
Galanis often worked on offense with Jared Kolaris ’25, another midfielder, and spoke of his camaraderie with Kolaris. “We help each other out … I’ve known [Kolaris] for a long time; I have a lot of chemistry with him.” Bierig said Kolaris had “grown over the past year … he’s coming up from not a lot of playing time last year, and this year, he’s playing the whole game.”
Hussain played center back for the team, but he had experience in other positions as well. Hussain said that the team had been “improving every game. We’re playing better and results are going to start going our way … I try to keep everyone positive.” Hussain added, “We can’t change the past. Being positive now can only help us in the future.”
Galanis said Hussain was “kind of like a dad to the team … after a loss or a tough training session, he’ll tell us what we need to work on, and if we’re feeling down he’ll bring us up.”
Boys’ Soccer went 3-6-1 in the Friends League.
Girls Soccer
Macey Wilkins ’23 was a versatile player who has experience playing center, midfield, and forward. A captain, Wilkins described herself as “a very vocal player … There’s no doubt that you can hear me all around the field, and people watching can hear me.”
Additionally, Wilkins felt “like it’s important to lead by example and to talk to my teammates and communicate with them but also make sure they’re doing the right thing.”
Chelsea Mohammed ’24 was the starting varsity goalie. Mohammed had 89 saves last year over 17 games, while she boasts 168 saves over 15 games so far this year. Wilkins described Mohammed as “a communicator … [she’s] a great goalie but also a great field player. She’s a really important addition to our team because of her footwork and her ability to lead.”
The star forward of the team, Foluke Balogun ’24, has had an impressive 30 goals this season, as well as an additional 8 assists. Wilkins said Balogun is fierce on the field: “[Balogun] is literally a fireball … She works hard, she’s strong, she’s mighty, and she is the top goalscorer and her mentality is just amazing … she strives to continuously score for herself but also [for] the team.”
Girls’ Tennis
First singles player Julia Tourtellotte ’23 was entering her fourth year on the Girls’ Tennis team. Tourtelotte mentioned that the team looked very different this year, saying, “We had 10 seniors on varsity that graduated, so we have a completely different team with the exception of me and Avani [Verma ’24]. I think the dynamic is great; our team gets along really well.”
Additionally, Tourtellotte noted the importance of the new ninth graders, specifically Sophia Lo Re ’26 and Makenna Wakahia ’26. “I think [they] have been really great. Obviously, this is their first year and they’re starting on varsity, which was a little daunting to them at first, but now they’ve really come out of their shells.”
Avani Verma ’24 was the other captain on the Girls’ Tennis team. Playing for 11 years, Verma played second singles for the team. Verma mentioned that “the team dynamic is great considering that Julia and I are the two returning players from last year’s varsity team … Many people think tennis is an individual sport, but in reality it’s a team sport.”
Verma played an impressive match in the Moorestown Classic Tournament. After losing the first set 6-2, she fought back and won the second set 6-2 and won a third set tie break 10-5. Verma said that Sophia Lalani ’25, who played on JV last year, is playing third singles, and that “she’s really coming out of her shell, and she’s really gotten great at [playing third singles.]”
Girls Tennis was 6-10 in the Friends League
Cross Country
The two cross-country captains were Vanya Weinstock ’23 and Andrew Mercantini ’23. Mercantini started running for the team his freshman year and claimed his first win on September 13 in a race against Friends Central and Abington.
Mercantini touched on the importance of the team dynamic. “I think we have a good team culture. It’s been like this since I was a freshman. The culture is always the upperclassmen helping the lowerclassmen. I think we do a really great job of supporting each other.”
Isaac Linden ’25 had a strong first half of his second season. He had his first win on September 20 against Westtown School. Linden also won first place against Germantown on September 28, proving himself to be an important part of the team.
For the first time in Moorestown Friends School history, the Boys’ Cross Country team placed second in the Friends School League Championships on October 18 with both Mercantini and Linden coming in the top 10 of all runners.
Cross country also ended their regular season undefeated on October 27, going 10-0.
Note: An earlier version of this article was published with the incorrect Boys’ Cross Country regular season record; the team was 10-0 in the regular season, not 8-0-1.
