By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Publisher
Christine Napoli likely has some trophies from youth soccer decorating the mantle at her Linwood home. The Mainland Regional sophomore will have to clear some room now, however, as both she and her father, John, took home Cape-Atlantic League American Conference titles this fall.
John is the head coach of the boys team at Mainland, and the Mustangs pulled off the sweep as both the boys and girls teams outlasted rival Egg Harbor Township in their respective conference races. For the Mainland girls, the championship was the second in a row. The boys, however, made history, taking the conference title for the first time ever.
Mainland has long been known as a football school, as legendary coach Bob Coffey led the Mustangs to several state championships. In more recent years, the baseball program, under coach Billy Kern, put together a state championship season in 2014, then won a second South Jersey title the following year. Now, Linwood is starting to become known as a soccer town.
“We actually work a lot together. Throughout the summer we practice with them and play against them, and that really challenges us. We’re always competitive and that’s helped us. There’s a culture of togetherness and competitiveness. We kind of try to out-do each other, and I think that’s helped both teams,” said Lexi Miller, a senior midfielder. “It’s cool. The guys and girls teams are always congratulating each other in the hallways, and because we’ve done so well we’ve kind of become the center of attention (around school). The boys have been talking about how they have a good group of players and have been waiting for this year. We’ve created a culture of success in soccer.”
Alex Weidman, who was an assistant for Napoli with the boys team last year, took over the girls program this season. He’s brought the same kind of philosophy, and that’s why the teams play such a similar style of soccer.
“Coach Weidman has taken a lot of things he’s learned from coach Napoli and the boys program over to us, and that’s helped a lot,” Miller said.
Both teams are solid defensively and like to play patient, possession-style soccer. Teams that have a dominant striker often will play a style of kick-and-run, launching passes into the offensive end and giving that striker the opportunity to run onto it and make a play. And although the Mainland girls have Miller and the boys have fellow senior Victor Figueroa — both capable scorers in their own right — each team has a host of players who can score, so the possession style works well. And Miller and Figueroa are the types of players who are just as happy to set up a teammate as they are scoring a goal themselves.
That kind of unselfish attitude has permeated throughout both programs, and that’s why you’ll see different players stepping up to score goals on any given day.
A perfect example of that was in a recent boys game against Egg Harbor Township. A Mainland victory would seal the program’s first league championship, but the Mustangs were at a disadvantage to start. They were going against a strong wind, and if EHT were able to put in a first-half goal it would make things much more challenging.
But, Mainland played the type of soccer that helped it rip off a streak of 10 straight shutouts at one point during the season. Goalie Matt Stellitano played well, and players such as Dan Adams, Dennis George, Josh Richards, Jimmy Kryjer and Ayden Nino kept the Eagles from putting any serious threats on goal. Then, early in the second half, Joe Palmieri — a reserve forward — came off the bench to score. Egg Harbor Township had effectively kept Figueroa, Conner Juckett, Keegan Ford and Jack Sarkos out of the net — and still came up on the short end of a 1-0 score.
“We haven’t (won the title) ever, and it’s a different atmosphere. It’s awesome,” Adams said. “It’s showing we are improving and getting better every year. This is what we’ve been waiting for since we were little kids. This is what we wanted, and we’re just trying to keep it going.”
“It’s awesome. With baseball, I’ve been through it, but with soccer it’s a whole new energy. This season, we’ve gotten used to winning, and to bring home the CAL championship is an awesome feeling,” said Nick Nutile, a junior. “Going into the summer, we knew we had some talent. We’ve been working hard since then and we knew the teams we had to beat, what we had to do, and how to accomplish our goals. The soccer programs are doing well. It’s a big step for us, and we expect to keep backing it up and going further.”
Added Richards, “This means everything for us. We worked all summer, for four months, and this is the first time in school history we’ve ever been in position to win the CAL. It feels great.”
“The guys came out in the second half and did what we said we were going to do, and that’s play with heart. I thought we really stepped it up, and I’m really proud of my boys. This is the first time we’ve ever won the CAL in boys soccer, and that’s why the boys are so excited,” coach Napoli said. “We hope we’re starting a legacy here because we have a young team. We’re mostly juniors. Granted, we do have some seniors who we will miss next year and they’ve set the tone and been wonderful leaders, and the other guys will follow.”
Napoli said he was very impressed with Adams, who helped contain EHT’s Jon Gyleri, one of the top scoring threats in the entire conference.
“They don’t make them tougher than Danny Adams. He’s smart and so athletically intuitive. He’s fantastic,” Napoli said.

Mainland’s girls team is constructed much like the boys team. A handful of solid seniors backed up by a big group of juniors and sophomores. Miller, along with fellow seniors Caitlyn Henry and Sarah McElroy, set the tone, and Mainland has some very athletic juniors with the likes of Jules Cino, Aly Nazarok, Molly O’Shea, Georgia Schoen, Sammy Williscroft, Angelina Blanchet and Emily Ziereis. The Mustangs also have some talented sophomores, such as Taylor Dalzell, Napoli, Kailyn Gallagher, Alivia Handson, MaryKate Scannell and Mary McLaughlin.

If some of those names don’t sound familiar, they should. Williscroft’s older sister, Maddie, was a star who now plays at Rowan, and Schoen is a standout basketball player along with older sister Lexi, who also is one of the top players on the Mainland volleyball team. Shea Scannell was one of Mainland’s top female athletes a few years ago and Mary McLaughlin is the last in a line of outstanding siblings that have made their way through the halls of Mainland. Older sister Shaune was a 1,000-point scorer in basketball, and older brother Matt was the starting shortstop on the 2014 baseball team that won the state title.
So, a lot of these players are no stranger to success. And the boys team owes a lot of its success to the travel team Mainland United, which is spearheaded by several of the players’ fathers and has had success on the national level the past few years.
“I’ve been waiting for these guys since they’ve been in fourth and fifth grade. I’ve known these guys for a while, and it’s a talented group,&rdquo
; coach Napoli said. “From Paul Richards, Sam Watt, Eddie Kryjer and Greg Stellitano, they brought this team from a young age. They gave them a passion and love for the game, and that’s what shows out here, that passion and love.”
“We knew this was going to be the best chance we’ve had in a while. It’s a great group of guys and we have a lot of older guys on the team, a lot of juniors who are really competitive and know what to do,” Josh Richards said. “We have a great set of coaches and a great program going. Hopefully, we can keep it going the next few years, too.”
Napoli said the key to success for both programs has been putting in a ton of hard work, and getting great support from parents, fans and classmates of the players.
“I’m so happy for coach Weidman in his first season, to do that, and then we do it. It was a mutual thing, we actually trained together over the summer,” he said. “I’m always rooting for the girls team because my daughter is on the team. It’s really cool. It comes from the hard work that was put in during the offseason, and we have so much support from our fans and the school.”
Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays