Podcast: Previewing the 2024 NEPSAC boys and girls season

Players from Milton Academy and Phillips Andover battle for a header last season. (Brian Kelly/NESJ)

The latest guest on New England Soccer Journal’s “The Goal” podcast is Seamans Media Managing Editor and girls prep soccer writer Mike Zhe.

The 2024 New England prep school season kicks off in just about three weeks, and it’s sure to be another compelling fall of soccer.

Zhe joined host Matt Langone to preview the campaign, with an in-depth look at how things are shaping up in the NEPSAC, on both the boys and girls side of things, heading into the season.

The full podcast can be accessed below and is available on all major platforms. If you enjoy it, please leave a rating and a review.

Here are some highlights from our discussion with Zhe:

On the top girls team in the region heading into the season:

Zhe: “I’ve been doing this, what, three, four years now, and it seems like there’s been a pretty clear No. 1 going into the preseason every year, and that really wasn’t the case this year. We slot Buckingham Browne & Nichols into our No. 1 spot in our preseason rankings, but there really could have been three, four other teams that could have staked a claim to it. There hasn’t been a game played yet, but there’s a lot of things to like about BB&N.”

On the favorite entering the 2024 boys season:

Langone: “It’s a no brainer — it’s Milton Academy, the defending (Class A) champion. It seems like Milton has everybody back, which is remarkable considering what it was able to do last season — win Class A, beat Taft in the championship game, 19-1-2 overall record. They have two college-committed (Class of 2025) players going to a couple of big boy programs you might’ve heard of: Alfred Debah heading to Wake Forest, Josh Partal heading to Stanford.”

On the battle for the top of the girls Founders League:

Zhe: “We like talking about that league, we like covering that league. It’s been very clear the last few years that they’re sending four, sometimes five teams on to that NEPSAC Class A tournament, which is half the field. Once again, I think you’re looking at that — that big four. You’re looking at Choate, the No. 3 team in our (preseason) rankings, Loomis Chaffee, the No. 4 team in our rankings, and then Westminster, the defending Class A champion. And Miss Porter’s, the defending Founders League champion.”

On a boys team that could make a serious postseason push this season:

Langone: “Berkshire is the one that everyone kind of thinks is going to take a major step this year and you saw a little bit of it last year. They were the seventh seed in Class A, but they took Taft to overtime in the first round. They have a Class of 2026 player in Darryl Hage, who just committed to Dartmouth. He’s a really good defender on that team. They play a great style of soccer and it’s a tough road trip for some teams that go out to Western Mass and play them.”