Archbishop Spalding and McDonogh, which battled for the IAAM A Conference soccer title in 2008 and return as co-favorites again this fall, have each turned up in the ESPN Rise Fab 50 preseason girls national soccer rankings.
Spalding, which captured the IAAM title a year ago, is ranked #6 in the preseason as it returns seven starters including Kirsten Frank, who has committed to Ohio University, and James Madison recruit Olivia Tornoff. ESPN also notes an outstanding freshman class which is expected to make an immediate impact.
McDonogh is ranked #19 in the pole, largely on the strength of an outstanding junior class. The Eagles will face a year of transition following the departure of long-time head coach Maurice Boylan, who led the squad for 18 years and won more than 300 games.
Boylan has been replaced by Harry Canellakis, who spent the last four years as the head coach at Culver Academy in Indiana where he led his team to the state finals for the first time in school history.
Both clubs open their regular seasons next week and their lone regular season meeting will take place on Sept. 25 at McDonogh.
