HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS OF SOCCER AT GMVS — FACT 8 of 50
GMVS is known as a premier ski academy in the East, with some student-athletes arriving eager to participate in the fall soccer program and others who step on the field for the first time to be a part of the team. As we wrap up the 2022 fall soccer season and our athletes prepare for ski camps out West, we find ourselves reminiscing about teams of the past.
Since 1973, GMVS has fielded a boys’ team and a few years later, a girls’ team was also formed. While soccer isn’t the primary reason student-athletes choose GMVS, it is one of the offerings that brings together a community of mixed-age athletes in the pursuit of one common goal – to win. Over the years, both boys and girls have fielded incredibly powerful teams and each has even gone on to win division state championship titles.
In 1987, under the leadership of coach Jared Cadwell, the GMVS girls’ team won its first Division III State Championship 2-1 over Hazen. In the words of Jared Cadwell the year the girls won the title, “What a great season it was for this wild and crazy crew! The GMVS women came back with a vengeance from a season spent on the sidelines. The women’s regular season record was 6-2-1 with additional wins over Black River (semifinals), and Hazen (finals) in the playoffs.” Jared continues with highlights from the season and final thoughts on the Championship win, “What I’m left with though is the memory of that inexpressible joy that I felt as the seconds ticked away at Archie Post Field on that day in October. We did it sistahs!!”
The girls have since gone on to win the Division VI State Championship in 1992 under the leadership of coach Sarah Despres who continues to lead our girls’ team to date.
It was only four years after the girls’ first championship win that the boys’ team won their first Division IV State Championship under the leadership of coach Jamie Hutchins in 1991.
In 1998 the boys landed another state championship title against Mill River under the leadership of coach Deejae Johnson. Newspaper headlines captured the excitement; “GMVS works overtime, downs Mill River” and “Minutemen Falls Short Against GMVS in Final.”
Championship wins are not an annual occurrence, but our teams have proven that it’s possible. Some GMVS athletes have gone on to play in college, others have stepped in as coaches, and many carry fond memories of time on the pitch with teammates.