Thursday, October 1, 2026
A hot start to the season is one of the greatest boosts Kennedy could have asked for, according to girls’ soccer coach Christine DeFilippo.
With five wins in the first seven games, DeFilippo is thrilled with the team’s direction on the pitch, and the fact the Cougars are in an all gas, no brakes situation.
“I think the girls have been really excited, especially since coming off a great season, they just continued that momentum they had going from last year,” said DeFilippo, who guided the team to a 12-5-2 mark in 2025.
That momentum is: opening with four wins in five tries against Conference AAA/AA II rivals, with a 1-0 decision over Division, 6-1 victory over Hewlett, 7-2 victory over New Hyde Park, and 6-1 win over Herricks. With a sweeping 25 goals early on, the facts are simple: the offense is strong, in your face, and not going anywhere anytime soon.
The coach lauded freshman Ava Rosen for her scoring efforts. She’s already in her second varsity season and through seven games leads the offense in points with 5 goals and 5 assists.
Another promising freshman is Valentina Blanco with 7 goals and an assist, along with sophomore Kayleigh Herlilhy who her 6 goals so far.
“Just between the three of them, that was 15 goals,” DeFilippo said on prior Kennedy’s 3-1 win over Farmingdale Sept. 23. Now, that trio has 18 combined goals.
“All three of them work hard in practice, have a good read on the game, they’ve been huge for us offensively,” she said. “Knowing that we have such young talent that’s going to continue with us, it’s promising.”
DeFilippo has cautioned her team about getting too confident, and her words were heeded.
“My assistant coach and I keep telling them that not every game is going to be like this and I think the first time they got a little bit of a taste of that was against Roselyn,” DeFilippo said. “We would certainly never like to lose; it was a bit of a learning experience for them.”
Despite that loss, the Cougars bounced back to knock off Farmingdale.
In the winning effort, Herlilhy netted a goal and Blanco scored twice, both with assists from Lindsay Nashtatik and Jordyn Epstein. On the other side of the pitch, senior Samantha Lapidus held down the defense with 15 saves in net.
Lapidus, behind a defense led by senior Daniella Schneider and junior Isabella Ryan, was lauded by her coach as being one of the more dominant forces on the field.
“The fact that she’s very direct with the players, she uses to her advantage,” DeFilippo explained. “She’s a gamer. She knows when the whistle blows, she’s all business for the next 80 minutes. And I think her having such leadership in the back has really helped the girls.”
Now, it’s about sustaining the effort for the duration of the season.
