The Tenafly Girls Varsity Soccer Team pulled off its first winning season in 10 years with a record of 11-8-1, marking another significant achievement in Tenafly sports. The victory was confirmed with the girls’ last win against Dwight Morrow on Nov. 1. 

Ella Plotkin (’27), a member of the team, expressed her joy in this historic accomplishment, citing the team’s remarkable improvement from last year’s record of 5-13. 

“I’m very happy,” Plotkin said. “We doubled our season win average—you can just see that we just improved as a team.”

Hannah Benowitz (’27) also expressed her excitement at her team’s success.

“We’ve been practicing six days a week,” Benowitz said. “We’ve just been really looking forward to being able to say that we have won a season.”

Both players enthusiastically cited their new coach, Mr. Matthew Mirabito, as being the biggest reason for their victorious season. They described Mirabito as a dedicated coach who rallies the team with an extraordinary amount of care.

“I feel like he puts in a lot of effort with us to make us want to do better,” Plotkin said. “Even after practice, he’ll go home and watch films of [our playing] and just fill us in [on what we could improve on]. He picks out the little things that we’re doing wrong and researches specific drills for us to [fix our mistakes]. He also looks at other teams and observes what their weaknesses are to [help us] capitalize on that.”

Aside from his enthusiasm, Mirabito also taught the team to have a confident mentality—that no matter how strong the opposing team is, there is always a chance of winning.

“Mr. Mirabito said from the beginning that we were going to [have a winning season] and that it was going to be accomplished,” Benowitz said. “I feel like he made us so excited at the end that we were going to have this winning season. He believed in us, and he would never not tell us [that] we’re going to lose.”

This season, the team also formed an unusually close bond with each other—another integral factor to their successful season that was heavily influenced by Mirabito’s coaching. 

“I think we were able to work together and communicate [well] on and off the field,” Benowitz said. “We’ve all grown as friends in a way, and a huge part of it is [Mr. Mirabito]. He created this camaraderie.”

Plotkin and Benowitz credit the players’ teamwork for  their strong performance these last two months, not just the prowess of a few players. 

“So many girls on the team are so talented,” Plotkin said. “All of the starters contributed to winning the games in their own way, and the whole team acted as one. It’s such a good community, and we all want to see each other succeed.”

Currently, the Tenafly Girls Varsity Soccer Team is one of 24 teams to make it to the state tournament. With their current momentum, the players hope to enter the state finals and even have another winning season in 2025. 

“We saw how much we improved over a year, going from five wins to 11,” Plotkin said. “So, if we continue to put in the hard work and grow as players, 11 wins might turn into 15 or even better.”