While winter in Chicago is still here in full force, Northside’s girls varsity sports captains are looking ahead to their spring seasons.
Softball
Mustang softball is coming off a rocky season. They started strong in 2024, winning their first four out of six games but dropping their last six games in a row. They had some notable wins—a team-favorite mid-season 11-7 win against Payton (their third meeting of the season and first win) and an extra-inning 5-4 win against Regina Dominican just two days later.
Coming into this season, Captain Payton Phoxay (Senior) , 2024 first-team all-city, said, “we lost seven of our last year’s starters this season, which will definitely be an adjustment. Payton also echoed her whole team’s excitement for the new turf field. Many of last year’s spring sports got to play on the new field, but softball did not get as many opportunities.
This year, Payton is excited to have more home games at Northside; she’s excited for “people to be able to come to our games more easily” and support her team!
Looking forward to this season, Payton hopes her team will “improve our hitting as a whole and be more aggressive on the bases.” The final goal is to make it to (or through) the semifinals of the city tournament!
Tryouts: 3/3 – 3/7
3/19 vs. Juarez (4:30)
4/2 vs. Payton (4:30)
4/9 vs. Hancock (4:30)
Lacrosse:
Northside’s Women’s Lacrosse team is coming into the spring season off the back of a rough 2024 performance. While they came in fourth in their conference with a 6-13 record, Senior Avery Cohn said last year wasn’t all bad. The team bonded well which led them to a “senior night win, followed by a team barbecue party”. While captains haven’t officially been announced, Avery is already leading the team through twice-a-week conditioning in preparation for tryouts. This year may be a little different for the Mustangs, Avery said: “we may be co-oping with Disney High School and playing with new girls since we are low on players”. While teamwork may be a challenge for the girls, Avery still has high hopes that they can “make it past the second round of the city tournament” and have an all-around good season! Women’s lacrosse is looking forward to more games on the new turf in warmer weather.
Tryouts:
4/4 vs. Highland Park (6:30)
4/17 vs. Lane Tech (4:30)
5/1 vs. Whitney Young (4:30)
Soccer
Mustang’s soccer’s first season in the Premier North Conference–the top in the city–did not go to plan. The girls ended 0-5 in the conference and 6-13-1 overall, relegating them to the middle conference for this season. While it might be seen as a failure, Captain Phoebe Phonwiang (Senior) has a different outlook: she thinks that being played down will be to the advantage of the Mustangs, who are “losing a lot of good players this year and most likely going to be switching up positions”. With the loss of their top two goal-scorers and co-captains from the 2024 season, Phoebe hopes to “grow as a leader, be someone that the team looks up to, and step up my [own] game”.
Last year, the Mustangs ended their rough season on a good note, with a hard-fought tie against Resurrection and a great senior night win. This year, Phoebe is looking forward to co-captaining the Mustangs with Allie Roubik (Senior) and Angie Vasquez (Senior). All three girls have been on varsity together since their freshman year and, as Phoebe put it, “we’ve been through a lot together, so being our last year, it’s bittersweet”.
Phoebe is looking for her team to “give it their all and be committed, not just to the games but also in practices and drills” so that they can improve on last year’s record and have a great season all around.
Tryouts:
3/3-3/7
3/17 vs. Resurrection (4:30)
4/10 vs. Foreman (4:30)
4/16 vs. Regina Dominican (4:30)
