With the district tournament draw approaching Oct. 11, it’s the time of the year when Ohio high school girls soccer teams are tuning up for the postseason.
Upper Arlington won central Ohio’s only state
title last season, in Division I. Columbus Academy lost in the Division IV state final and Watterson lost in a Division II state semifinal.
Several area teams have high aspirations for the 2026 postseason, including Academy, which is now in Division V.
Here are five girls soccer storylines involving central Ohio teams:
Dublin Jerome working to get on same page
Coach Georgi Petrov believes his team has the potential to reach its third Division I state tournament and first since 2011, when it lost 1-0 to Strongsville in the final, but there are variables.
Petrov said the Celtics (10-2, 3-1 OCC-Cardinal) have “some special players,” but health and team chemistry are key. A handful of players have been dealing with minor injuries.
“We have to be playing as a team,” Petrov said. “We have a lot of personalities. We need everybody to work together as a team and put [the] team first rather than me, me, me.”
Jerome has another Division I contender in its league. Olentangy Berlin (4-0) leads Jerome by a game in the OCC-Cardinal standings after beating the Celtics 3-2 on Sept. 22.
Jerome closes league play Oct. 6 against Thomas Worthington, while Berlin plays Olentangy the same day.
Junior midfielder/forward Blake Sobczak, a Mississippi State commit, leads Jerome in scoring with 16 goals and four assists. Senior forward Gabby Wesolowski, a University of Chicago commit, has eight goals and five assists after sitting out her sophomore and junior seasons to focus primarily on club soccer.
Junior Anna Sebastian has handled the majority of the goalie duties.
“We have to play perfect defense in not allowing shots, but when you go against the top competition, that could be a game decider,” Petrov said.
Grove City seeking OCC, district titles
Grove City (9-1-3, 3-0-1 OCC-Ohio) can lock up its first league title since 2019 and second overall with a win against Central Crossing on Oct. 6.
Fourth-year coach Chelsea Hyatt was expecting a strong season after last year ended with a 2-1 loss on penalty kicks to OCC-Ohio rival Pickerington North in a district final. The Greyhounds have never won a district title.
“We’re very happy with how things are going,” Hyatt said. “We definitely knew that this team was going to have the potential to have a great season. I’m not sure that we expected an undefeated season to this point [before losing 2-0 to Upper Arlington on Oct. 1], but we knew that we were bringing back a lot of our talent from last season, which was obviously successful making it to the district final.
“We knew that we were primed for success, but it’s been the work and all of the effort that the girls have put in in the offseason, and what we learned from last season to put towards this season has helped the run that we’re on.”
Junior forward Stella Weber (12 goals, 3 assists) and senior forward Heidi Keeney (5 goals, 4 assists) have led the offense.
“The girls got a little bit of a taste of success in the tournament last year for the first time ... and that experience from last year has them really hungry for a tournament run,” Hyatt said.
Freshman forward driving Canal Winchester
Freshman forward Emmalyn Jewell has played like a veteran for Canal Winchester, scoring a single-season program-record 28 goals and also contributing seven assists.
Jewell scored four goals in a 6-0 win over Logan on Sept. 22 and two goals in a 3-all tie against Lancaster on Sept. 29.
Jocelyn Nelson, a 2026 graduate, set the previous record of 23 goals last season. Now a freshman forward at Gannon University, Nelson finished a program-record 54 career goals.
“I had heard of [Jewell] because she’s also a very good basketball player,” said Larry Sullivan, who is in his seventh season as head coach and 11th year with the program. “The results have been better than I expected. I have four freshmen starting for me. We also have a solid group of seniors, juniors and sophomores.”
The other freshman starters are forwards Sophia Coe and Adrianna Hairston and midfielder Sylvia Brackett.
Canal Winchester (7-6-1) is second in the OCC-Buckeye (4-1-1) behind Teays Valley (6-0), which has clinched the title.
Sullivan said a challenging schedule has prepared his team for the Division II postseason.
“We’ve been able to score a lot of goals [52] this year,” he said. “Our defense has to tighten up a little bit, but I’m confident in the players that we have.”
Watterson looking to return to state tournament
After winning the Division II state title in 2024 but falling two wins short of a repeat last year, Watterson is having another strong season.
The Eagles (10-0-2, 4-0 CCL) locked up their ninth consecutive league title with a 5-0 win over Hartley on Oct. 1.
“We have a lot of talented players, and everyone is working hard to get [to the state tournament],” coach Scott Dempsey said. “Things that we talk about in terms of our program culture and our standards is we want to improve every day whether it’s through practice or games or watching film or in the weight room. Whatever we’re doing, we want to make sure that the next day out is a little bit better than the day before.”
Watterson’s ties came against Division I programs Dublin Coffman (2-2) and Grove City (1-1).
Through 11 games, Gwynn Griffin led the Eagles in scoring with 14 goals and four assists, followed by Sophie Scott with 10 goals and three assists. Both are junior forwards.
Junior goalie Anna Boiarsky had allowed eight goals for a 0.73 goals-against average with six shutouts.
“We’re progressing nicely,” Dempsey said. “We play a pretty competitive schedule year in and year out.”
Columbus Academy continues to excel
Academy hasn’t missed a beat in its pursuit of a second consecutive state berth.
A competitive Central Buckeye League schedule has helped the Vikings (7-1-3) get ready for the postseason. Their 3-1-2 record puts them fourth behind Bexley (6-0), Grandview Heights (5-1-1) and Worthington Christian (4-1-1).
“We’re feeling good,” coach Grant Stegner said. “We worked really hard over the summer. It’s been a really strong start to the season. We have a lot of awesome players on our team and it’s a really good culture.”
Academy has a new goalie in junior Tegan Murphy, who succeeded 2026 graduate Taylor Gillett. Murphy is in her first year of high school soccer, but she is also the starting goalie for Academy’s girls lacrosse team.
“She’s really stepped up and learned the position and brought what she knows about lacrosse to soccer,” Stegner said. “It’s a really cool story. She’s done a really good job. She has a really high ceiling. She has really good instincts from playing as a lacrosse goalie.”
Lexi Forchione leads the Vikings in scoring with 12 goals and 11 assists, followed by Sydney Smoot with 12 goals and two assists. Both are sophomore forward/midfielders.
High school sports reporter Frank DiRenna can be reached at fdirenna@dispatch.com and at @DispatchFrank on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 5 storylines in central Ohio girls soccer ahead of OHSAA postseason
