TJ girls aiming for lengthy playoff run

By JOSE NEGRON

jnegron@yourmvi.com

In his first season as Thomas Jefferson’s girls soccer coach, Sean Richter helped lead the Jaguars to a 14-win season and an appearance in the WPIAL Class 3A quarterfinals. 

A year later, Richter is expecting a more impressive encore. 

“The expectations are high, I’m not gonna lie,” he said. “I know we’ll be competitive in the section, it’s just a matter of hopefully getting a higher seed in the playoffs, getting a good draw and making a run.” 

The Jaguars are fresh off a season in which they advanced to the playoffs for the seventh consecutive year. 

They went 14-3-1 overall and 10-2 in section play a year ago. All three of their losses came at the hands of Plum – two of which came during the regular season and one in the playoffs. Their lone draw came in nonsection play with South Park. 

Only three players have moved on from last year’s team and 37 players are listed on this year’s roster, giving Richter a reason to be optimistic about a potential eighth straight postseason trip.

“We have a big roster with a lot of girls who have played,” Richter said. “Last year, we had 27 different goal scorers and this year we have a good mix of senior leadership, size, speed and IQ. Those are all positives.” 

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