Three games into the season, Pomperaug girls soccer sits at 2-1 behind a veteran roster and a first-year head coach who is anything but a stranger to the program.
The team returns 12 seniors and is led by captains Madelyn Martino, Regan Brooks, and Claire Fellin.
Corrado Perugini has taken over as head coach this fall, but he has spent years around the Pomperaug program, first as a volunteer coach under boys’ varsity coach Joe Mancini and then later running the boys’ JV team for a few seasons. Add in stints at Bethel, Brookfield, and Immaculate, and it adds up to roughly two decades of coaching at the high school level.
He’s been on the sidelines for deep playoff runs and conference championships, saying, “I’ve been there with Joe, with the boys. You can feel the atmosphere when you’re at that point” – a reference to the success the boys’ program built under Mancini, which he’s hoping to help replicate on the girls’ side.
That experience showed up early in the season when debating what formation the team should be playing. Initially, Perugini gave the team some leeway to run with the same setup as last year’s team, he said, but eventually took over and installed his own system.
The result is a 3-1-3-3 look built around a talented backline, with junior Samantha Montello sitting just in front of the three defenders as a defensive “stopper”. Perugini called her a “really strong takeaway artist” who goes for every ball and “stands out every game.”
The foundation of the defense starts with the team’s all-state goalkeeper, Martino, whom the coach has tasked with “stealing a couple of games” for the Panthers with her elite shot-stopping and positioning.
A group of experienced defenders, Brooks, Campbell Macumber, and Graceyn Flic, will allow the team to be “deliberately aggressive” with offensive pressure, Perugini said. “We can afford to push kids up and not get too stuck in the back,” he added.
Midfielders Eliani Dani and Eloise Hogrefe have impressed the coach with their play in the midfield, while sophomore Leila Romano looks to build off her five-goal freshman season as a forward from last year. Hogrefe earned all-conference honors last year in a season that ended in the conference semifinals against Newtown, and in the quarterfinals of the state tournament at North Haven.
Juniors Giulietta Del Signore and Avery Macumber have also started the season strong, each contributing to the box scores in the team’s wins this season.
Perugini noted that the team is full of hard-working student-athletes, never passing up an opportunity to practice, even in the pouring rain.
“I feel that we have a lot of strong offensive players that, as soon as they start getting in a little groove, will start scoring a lot more goals,” Perugini said.
Game 1 – at Stratford, W 7-0 (Sept. 8)
Pomperaug opened the season with a rout, going up 3-0 in the first half on goals from Eliana Dani and a pair from Leila Romano. The Panthers added four more after the break — two from Giulietta Del Signore, one from Sabrina Pereira and one from Campbell Macumber — with assists from Avery Macumber, Del Signore, Eloise Hoegrefe and Pereira. Martino made two saves; Stratford’s Marissa Marchetti made 17.
Game 2 – vs. Notre Dame Prep, L 0-2 (Sept. 10)
The home opener brought Pomperaug’s first real test, and its first loss to the reigning SWC champions since 2023. Truth Houston scored twice in the first half for Notre Dame Prep, and the second half went scoreless for both sides. Martino was busy in goal, finishing with 10 saves. Senior Regan Brooks had a standout performance on the back line, helping shut the door on Notre Dame Prep after halftime.
Game 3 – at New Fairfield, W 1–0 (Sept. 15)
Pomperaug bounced back with a statement win as Giulietta Del Signore scored off an Avery Macumber assist for the game’s only goal. Martino made six saves; New Fairfield’s Lalonde made ten. The win carried extra weight — New Fairfield had upended defending Class L state champion Masuk just a week earlier, and Pomperaug handed the Bulldogs their first loss of the season. The backline of seniors Graceyn Filc and Brooks, plus junior Campbell Macumber, controlled the game.
Looking Ahead
Pomperaug has a busy stretch ahead, with five games over the next nine days.
Tuesday’s match against Bunnell will be followed by a tough test at home against Joel Barlow on Thursday, September 24, at Pomperaug. Then the Panthers will travel to Kolbe Cathedral for a Saturday morning match.
Pomperaug will play host to teams like Weston, Masuk, Brookfield, and Newtown throughout the season.
With a talented roster, Perugini says there’s still some difficulty in picking who to start in each game, while also aiming to hone in on the team’s skills, which he says are good enough “to make it pretty far in our conference.”
By Evan Triantafilidis
The Southbury Record 