The fall features two sports for The Heights Cavaliers: soccer and cross country. Both compete in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC), regarded as one of the most competitive high school leagues in the country. Here’s a look at the season ahead:

Soccer

The boys of varsity Cavs soccer start this season hungry and loaded with experience. With the recent memory of back-to-back seasons ending in playoff penalty-kick heartbreak, the lads are teeming with energy and excitement to get out there and chase another trophy. Boasting an unprecedented 13 seniors on the roster, the Cavs begin with a seasoned set of leaders. Notably, seniors comprise a full complement of back-line defenders and goalie, Fin Godfrey, who plan to make life very difficult for opposing teams. Other players to watch include last year’s team MVP and midfielder, Santi Bendeck, and the exciting sophomore striker, Enzo Sosa, who after earning 2nd Team WCAC as a freshman last year, has returned with even more speed and attacking prowess.

The season kicks off in exciting fashion with a home opener against St. John Paul the Great (Friday, 9/8, 4:15pm) followed by a week of IAC match-ups at home: Landon (Wednesday, 9/13, 4:30pm) and Georgetown Prep (Friday, 9/15, 4:00pm). WCAC battles begin with the Cavs playing Dematha on 9/19 in Landover, MD. A highly anticipated match will be the penultimate regular season WCAC game at Gonzaga’s stadium under the lights on Thursday, 10/19, at 7:30pm.

After an undefeated preseason with scrimmages against the big local public schools (Whitman, Churchill, Wooton, WJ, and B-CC), the Cavs are poised at the starting line. Coach Gleason, in his 13th year as head coach, said he expects that, “This squad is going to outpace opponents in a number of ways, but most importantly for me, their work rate and their heart. They are hungry, and with leadership like this, I couldn’t ask for a better team of soldiers to go fight for the title. Folks are going to want to come watch this team play.”

You can view the team’s full schedule here.

Cross Country

Entering into their sixth year as a part of the WCAC, The Heights cross country team is looking to build upon their recent string of strong performances. For the past two years The Heights has ranked third place out of eleven teams in the WCAC, coming in third place at the state championship last year. The JV squad has won the WCAC for the past two years running as well, and will be competing for a chance at a three-peat. Two Heights runners, returning senior Cregan Cahill and junior Sean Burke, were named to the WCAC’s first team all-conference list, and sophomore Joseph Cremers was the winner of the freshman race at last year’s WCAC championships.

Eight seniors will be returning to the team, captained by Cregan Cahill, Pat Connolly, and junior Jack Garvey. On the topic of this year’s prospects, longtime head coach Justin Myers says, “We have very high expectations for the team this year as we have an extremely strong senior class. This season marks the culmination of years of hard work on their part. We also have by far the deepest team ever with no less than fifteen guys running varsity caliber times. That said, the WCAC boasts a ton of talent as usual, and bettering our success of the last two years will be anything but easy. I am excited to get the meet schedule started.” 

You can see the full schedule of meets, which are held mostly on Saturdays throughout the DC area, here.