‘Team love on 3’: Harwood Girls Soccer credits undefeated season to a shared mindset

October 21, 2026 | By Katie Lyford

With snow flurries in the air, the Harwood Girls Soccer team lines up facing their coaches at the start of Saturday’s final game of the regular season. Photo by Catrina Brackett

Before every game, Stella Mayone and 20 of her teammates line up in front of the sideline of the soccer field, shoulder to shoulder, with their coaches facing them from the other side. After a few moments to collect themselves, the Highlanders take hold of the hand of a player by their side and step forward. Once all 21 players are on the line, the athletes clap simultaneously, a sign of their shared mindset.

Co-captain and center midfielder Mayone said this level of connectedness is what led to the Harwood girls varsity soccer team’s undefeated season this fall. The top-ranked Division II team capped their regular season on Saturday, Senior Day, with a 4-0 win over U-32. Playoffs begin this week. Harwood has a bye for the playdown round with their first match scheduled for Friday’s quarterfinal. 

Harwood seniors (left to right): Adelaide Sullivan, Lexi Heintz, Lyra Turkle, Stella Mayone, Marley McVeigh and Sophia DeSanto. Photo by Catrina Brackett

Senior Mayone, of Fayston, elaborated on the mindset theme. “It starts from our ‘team love on 3’ cheer we do at the end of every practice,” she said. “Just knowing that everyone there is there to support you, loves each other on the field and that we have that community to lean back on, no matter the circumstances, is really important to our success and sets us apart.” 

Despite making six trips to the state finals over the years, the Highlanders’ only championship came in 2010. The players and coaches say this year they have the right combination of community support and team chemistry to bring home the D-II title. 

For co-captain Adelaide “Sully” Sullivan, a center defender, the community’s involvement in sports plays a big role. “I know that our school, along with the parents, is so passionate about sports. Everyone follows them. Everyone comes to games. Everyone shows up to support each other,” said Waitsfield senior said. 

Center defender Bridan Merrill, a junior from Warren, said she feels the team’s confidence increase when family and friends come to away games.

Center midfielder Adelaide Chalmers, a junior from Waterbury, said it’s the balance of accountability and love for the game that sets their team apart. “We enjoy being there and we have such good connections, not only with each other, but with our coaches,” she said.

Despite having a cohesive team, there were some growing pains the past few years. “It sucks when you feel like you have a championship team but there’s still minor things to work on,” said Lynn Sobczyk, Harwood’s first female girls head soccer coach. She said she felt underprepared in her first year in 2023 when they went to the championship, but this year they are ready to go all the way.

“In last year’s final, it was just a matter of the team being young; there’s still things to learn and grasp,” she said. 

The 2025 D-II final against Rice Memorial went right down to the wire in double overtime. The matchup was a rollercoaster ride throughout the game, with Harwood briefly celebrating what they thought was a winning goal near the end, only to have the officials say a player was offsides and the point wouldn’t count. With less than 2 minutes left in the second overtime, Rice landed the winning goal, ending the nail-biter 2-1. Harwood finished as runner-up again.

Sobczyk said that memory is still fresh, but she feels strongly that the team is ready this year. “I think this group has learned consequences from losing that last final,” she said. “They don’t want to have that taste in their mouth anymore.”

Aided by Assistant Coach Amanda Olney, Sobczyk said she makes sure everyone feels seen on the team. “When you give kids that, it allows them to feel comfortable making mistakes,” the Waterbury Center resident said. “It makes them think, ‘I also matter. I also can put work in and no matter what I’m doing, whether on the sideline or on the field for five minutes, every little piece matters.’”

Photo by Catrina Brackett

Co-captain Mayone sees the benefit of this on the field. “Everybody on our team recognizes that even when you’re on the bench, that means that your role then is to support everybody who’s on the field,” she said. “A lot of our confidence when we’re on the field [is from] the positivity that we’re feeling from our bench. Hearing the cheering, the support and positivity from our bench brings a lot of life to our game.”

Mayone said that the team’s unity has helped them examine their weakness and turn it into a strength. They normally come on strong in the second half, but their coach pushes them to score within the first 10 minutes of each half. They vocalize this focus before every game. 

“Keeping our mind set on that keeps that energy super strong,” she said, “which has really helped us get our scores up in games, and put the ball away. We’re not only going out strong, we’re starting strong.”

Harwood’s first game in the playoffs will be Friday’s quarterfinal at home at 3 p.m. – a rematch of last year’s final against No. 8 Rice, who blanked No. 9 Hartford, 6-0, in Tuesday’s first round. 

Katie Lyford is a Community Reporting fellow with the Journalism New England Career Lab, which provides training in civic journalism for individuals in New England to report in their communities.