The Marco Island Academy girls’ soccer team spent their season breaking records and making MIA history. They won more games, scored more goals, got more assists and went further in the district and region than ever before. 

Finishing the season with 18 wins and 3 losses, they’ve had the best record of any MIA soccer team ever. They beat their previous record from last year of 14 wins, 4 losses and 2 ties by scoring 108 goals over the course of the 2019-2020 season. They scored 10 more goals this year compared to last year’s 98 goals scored. Last year they got 16 goals scored on them. This year the Lady Rays only had 7 goals scored against them all season, behind Kirra Polley’s stellar goaltending. 

The Lady Rays won the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference championship against Donahue for the second year in a row in addition to placing second in a district championship game. They also made it to regionals this year, a first in MIA history for the soccer program. 

The Lady Rays also earned two clean-sheets against two CCPS powerhouses, shutting out both Lely and Barron Collier 1-0.  

The three losses on the girls record this year came from two teams. First Baptist Academy and Outdoor Academy. One of the losses was a district championship game and another was a regional game. The Rays made it to the district championships against FBA and came in second place. They then qualified for regionals and played against Outdoor Academy in the last game of their season.

  The team will be saying goodbye to 7 seniors this year: Savannah Heimerl, Jenna Palumbo, Lauren Faremouth, Ellie Ball, Abbey Lewandowski, Emma Coppola and Chastity Miller. The roster this year was the biggest that the girls team has ever had with 18 players. 

Seniors Lauren Faremouth, Jenna Palumbo and Ellie Ball have been playing soccer together since elementary school. In the more than eight years that they have been playing together these three have learned to work hard and make things happen on the field. They joined the team together in their freshmen year and are now leaving behind a legacy of perseverance and grit.  

Despite all of the great stats the team has had this year, those weren’t their only achievements. One of the things that the girls soccer team prides themselves on is the fact that they are one big family. They played through injuries and illness and worked together to make MIA history. Something that Coach Palumbo always says is “Even though the girls don’t all hang out in the same groups off the field, on the field we are a family and we will always be there for each other.”