The Potomac School

The Girls Varsity Squash team placed fourth, facing a strong field of 16 teams in Division III of the High School National Championships at Wesleyan University.  They led off with a 4-3 win over Middlesex, followed by a 5-2 win over Exeter.  Aalia Husain (#1) and Layah Nasr (#2) dominated their opponents, as did Senior Charlotte Ellis who crushed her Exeter opponent 3-0.  Seniors Olivia Lyall and Jun-Young Hong also contributed match wins. In the semi-finals Saturday night, the Panthers came up against St. Marks, dropping 4 of their 7 matches.  The Panthers then faced Conestoga in the 3/4 play-.  Jun-Young Hong played her best squash of the weekend, beating her opponent 3-0.  Olivia Lyall won 3-1 and Layah Nasr added another impressive victory.  In the two toughest matches of the weekend, Aalia Husain and Mina Bahadori both fought back from being down 2-0, to take a game.  Mina lost a heart-breaking fifth match 11-9 and Aalia lost an equally tough fourth game 11-9.  The closeness of the match scores throughout the weekend showed the strength of the division, and the fourth place finish is a tribute to the hard work the girls put in throughout the season. 

Potomac’s Boys Varsity Squash team competed in the top division of boys play in the U.S. High School Squash Championships at Trinity College in Hartford, CT.  Seeded sixteenth, they faced the dominant top seeds in the first round, playing on the glass courts with video recordings of all their matches.  The second and third rounds brought a tough 6-1 team loss, with great individual wins by Matt Granovsky and Colin Lee and solid, competitive play by Alex Akbari at the difficult #1 slot.  Saif Nasr lost by just a few points in a very tough 2-3 encounter, as did Ben Choi.  The Panthers lost 3-4 to Poly Prep of the New York League in their final round, with great wins by Matt, Colin, and Ben. Chris Kang almost prevailed in a grueling 2-3 loss in round four, and Will Cunnion played creatively and with full effort in spite of injury and pain.  Throughout the weekend our short-sided team was missing Eric Lovallo and Zaid Nasr due to injury and illness.  With this year’s experience of playing against the very best in the nation, our prospects for finishing higher next year look good, although we will miss senior co-captains Colin Lee and Eddie Woo.

Congratulations to our athletics for their amazing fall season. The Panthers are...

• MAC golf champions
• ISL A volleyball regular season champions
• ISL A volleyball tournament champions
• ISL AA tennis regular season co-champions  
• Girls tennis state champions
• NoVa girls soccer Champions
• Boys soccer tournament champions and MAC co-champions

Additionally, many of our athletes were recognized for individual achievements:

Tennis
Lauren Foster – All-State First Team, ISL All-League 
Audrey Lee – All-State First Team
Moriah McDonald – All-State Player of the Year, All-State First Team, ISL All-League
Marty Hublitz – Coach of the Year
 
Field Hockey
Caroline Lay – All-State First Team, ISL All-League
Elisabeth Oskoui – ISL All-League
 
Girls Soccer 
Emma Mansfield – ISL All-League
Kelly Walton –  ISL All-League
 
Volleyball
Julia Meyer – ISL All-League
Zhané Moledina – All-State First Team, ISL All-League
 
Boys Soccer
All-MAC, All-State first team – Noah Alexander
All-MAC – Constantin Pusch
All-MAC – Chris Coppola
All-MAC – Andrew Mesa
All-MAC, All-State second team – Aidan Singer
 
Golf
All-MAC – Grant Exley
All-MAC – Ryan Huppe
All-MAC – Josh Shapiro
 
Football
All-MAC – Kevin Check
All-MAC – Jack Edens
All-MAC – Chris Gaston
All-MAC – Jackson Merrick
All-MAC – Brandon Potts

The Potomac girls varsity soccer team finished its season as the NoVa Invitational Tournament Champions! There were nine teams in the tournament, and Potomac entered as the #2 seed. After beating Paul VI in the semifinals (overtime followed by penalty kicks), Potomac traveled to Alexandria to play #1 seed St. Stephen's & St. Agnes in the finals. The Panthers scored midway through the first half and then played solid defense the rest of the way to win the game and the championship 1-0. Congratulations to the team and coaches!

The girls varsity tennis team finished a stellar season by clinching a State Championship title! The team played 12 regular season matches and won 11 of them, falling only to Bullis in a tight 3-4 defeat and ending the regular season as ISL co-champions. The Panthers won the majority of their regular season matches by a score of 7 lines to 0, and were dominant in ISL play, winning 76 lines overall and dropping only 10. They dominated in doubles play, where they went 34-2 during the regular season. In the ISL tournament, they beat Bullis in a tight 4-3 victory, but fell in the finals to Sidwell 4-3.

In the march to the state finals, they quickly defeated Madeira and Collegiate in the first two rounds, beating them 6-0 and 5-1, respectively. In the final round, they upset top-seed St. Catherine's 5-4 in Richmond. Moriah McDonald ’20 struck first with a tidy singles win. Emory Wilson ’23 pulled off the second win in a tight battle. Audrey Lee ’22 continued her winning ways (16-2 for the season!) in a competitive match. An especially amazing win came from Lauren Foster ’23, who was up against St. Catherine’s senior team captain and star player. Foster played her opponent close for half the match, then raised the level of her game, forging a three-game lead. Potomac then needed only one doubles win for the victory. Anna Lerner ’20 was put into the line just for this occasion, as a doubles specialist with McDonald. The duo performed flawlessly, smoking their opponents 10-1 and clinching the state title. Read the Washington Post story here.

At the end of the regular season, the team celebrated its five seniors. Team captain McDonald played #1 singles for the last four years, giving the Panthers consistently strong play at the top. Bliss Davis and Anna Lerner are both veteran doubles players with four years each on the varsity team. Jodie Kuo’s spirit and leadership will be missed, and her doubles play provided great depth. And Nicole Garibaldi ended her varsity career undefeated in regular and postseason doubles play, with a record of 28-0.

Last week, the boys varsity soccer team beat Sidwell Friends to win the MAC Tournament Final. The Panthers took the lead in the first half with an unassisted goal by Noah Alexander ’21, but with three minutes left in the game, the Quakers tied things up with a late goal. Tied 1-1 after regulation and a scoreless overtime, the game was then decided by penalty kicks. Alexander, Scott Landry ’23, Aidan Singer ’21, Andrew Mesa ’22, and Patrick Morris ’21 converted their penalty kicks, and goalkeeper Ryan Selig ’21’s amazing saves brought the Panthers to victory.

Congratulations to the varsity volleyball team, who were undefeated in the ISL A division. They beat National Cathedral School 3-1 in the finals of the tournament to finish as ISL A Division champs and ISL A Division Tournament champs!  

The 2019 varsity golf team concluded its season by winning the MAC Championship. The Panthers last won the tournament in 2002. The team finished with 8-1 overall record. In the tournament, the team was lead by Grant Exley (2022) who came in second overall with a score of 77. He was followed by Ryan Huppe (2022) with a 79, Josh Shapiro (2022) with an 80, and Robert Cantus (2021) with an 83. Teddy Ross (2022) and Michael Djorup (2020) played well with scores of 84 and 85 respectively. The final team score of 318 came in seven strokes lower than second-place winner Maret.

Last Thursday, the boys varsity soccer team squared off against Maret, resulting in a 2-0 win for the Panthers. Goals were scored by Erick Richardson ’20 and Patrick Morris ’21; both were assisted by Noah Alexander ’21. Click here to view a photo gallery.

The cross country team travelled to the Oatlands Invitational this past Saturday to face the best teams in the surrounding states – a group that included perennial national powerhouse Loudoun Valley. A total of 2,641 runners competed, making this one of the largest meets of the year. The boys were led by Jud Cummings ’21 and Charlie Ortmans ’23, while Nate Boyle ’23 made the team’s most noticeable improvement. Returning All-League runner Tayloe Friedrich ’21 led the girls’ charge, closely followed by captain Izzy Zhang ’20. Emma O’Reilly ’23 established herself as an immediate impact runner among a veteran group consisting of Olivia Agolini ’22, Caroline Osborne ’21, Kat Plaza ’20, Windsor Smith ’20, and Megan Wenig ’20.