Podcast: NEPSAC midseason check-in

Choate and Worcester Academy in a recent NEPSAC girls game. (Jack Dunbar Photography)

On the latest episode of the New England Soccer Journal’s “The Goal” podcast we provide a NEPSAC boys and girls midseason check-in.

The 2025 prep season is just about at the halfway point and the NEPSAC playoffs are just six weeks away, so it’s an appropriate time to look into where things stand. 

Hosts Matt Langone and Matt Doherty were joined by New England Soccer Journal girls prep writer Mike Zhe, and they discussed the prep season to this point, which teams and players have stood out, and surprising storylines to keep an eye on.

Here are some highlights from our discussion:

On a general theme on the boys side of things so far:

Langone: “Really, the thing that jumps out in my mind after the first month of the season here is, man, we — I –got some things wrong. There’s been a lot of surprises this season, I feel like things could be more open in the NEPSAC on the boys side this year than maybe it seemed in years past. Now, I say I got things wrong, but that doesn’t mean teams that we thought, or I thought, were going to be spectacular back in late-August, still won’t be spectacular come November.”

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On a general theme on the girls side of things so far:

Zhe: “I think I’ve gotten some things right and there’s things that I have gotten wrong. But look, these teams have played — on the girls side — five, six or seven games. So, we’re approaching the midpoint, but we’re certainly not there yet. We’ve had some early returns and one of the great things about our season is just the head-to-head battles between so many of the top teams.”

On a surprising result on the boys side:

Langone: “I would actually say, as a whole, what Belmont Hill has done in the Independent School League — unbeaten. Another team that I knew was going to be pretty good, actually. Truth be told, when I was putting together the preseason top 10 rankings, Belmont Hill was on my radar a bit. Probably just kind of on the outside, maybe that 11, 12, 13 spot. They had a great season last year in the ISL, but didn’t make the Class A tournament.”

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