Who are the underdog teams making noise this year in Greater Cincinnati soccer?

The regular season is in the homestretch in Greater Cincinnati high school soccer.

Indiana and Kentucky schools begin their postseason tournaments next week, while Ohio teams begin sectional play the week of Oct. 16.

No matter where you look, there are plenty of blueblood programs that are title contenders every year. Here, the Enquirer will spotlight some programs that have had their best seasons in recent years, whether they are building their program from the depths, are setting team records or have been successful but have consistently had even better teams in their way.

More: See the top statistical performers in Greater Cincinnati high school soccer

Boys soccer

Harrison

The Wildcats are 11-0 for the first time in school history and are in control of the race in the Southwest Ohio Conference. They have a 4-0 record in league play, and the title would be their first league championship since 2014. The head coach is Chris Johnson.

Harrison has allowed only eight goals for the season and has scored 44. Senior Landon Wagner has 11 goals and five assists. Junior Gaven Johnson has 10 goals and eight assists.

Johnson and Landon Wagner were first-team all-league picks last year. Senior Payton Arrasmith was second team and has three assists this year.

Walnut Hills

The Eagles are 5-0 in the Eastern Cincinnati Conference as they look for their first league championship since 2014. Walnut Hills is 6-3 overall.

Two-time defending champion Anderson is 4-0-1 in league play, and Turpin is 4-1. Walnut Hills has won four in a row as the Eagles play at Anderson Thursday night.

Senior Roman Girandola paces the offense with 11 goals and four assists.

Elder

After going winless last year in the Greater Catholic League-South, the Panthers have a chance for their first league championship since 2015, when they shared the title with St. Xavier.

Elder, 6-3-1 this year for coach Eric Rothwell, defeated St. X for the first time in nine years, 2-1 on Sept. 12. The Panthers haven’t had an overall winning record since 2019.

Elder is ranked 10^th in the Division I state coaches poll. Senior Mason Paschka leads the GCL-South with 13 goals this season. Elder plays Colerain Saturday then at St. X on Tuesday.

Badin

No Cincinnati team has won the Greater Catholic League-Coed in the four years of the current league alignment, as Alter and Carroll have monopolized the titles.

Badin hopes to break that streak as the Rams are 9-2-1 but 1-2 in the league after a tough 1-0 loss to Chaminade-Julienne Tuesday. Badin has not won a league championship since 2004. Badin senior Brayden Eldridge is one of the area’s top scorers with 25 goals and nine assists.

McNicholas

While Badin has had the hot start, the Rockets are tied for first place in the Greater Catholic League-Coed as they look for their first title since 2017. McNick is 7-4-1 overall after going 13-7-1 last year. However, the Rockets were fourth in the league at 1-3-1 in 2022.

Junior Nicholas Geiser has 11 of the team's 23 goals, and sophomore Carter Kent has seven assists. McNicholas has only allowed 11 goals for the season.

Indian Hill

The Braves have regularly been in contention in the Cincinnati Hills League in recent years but have not won a league championship since 2011. Indian Hill is making another title run this season with a 5-0 record in the CHL and 10-1-1 overall. Madeira is in second place at 3-1 and four teams have two losses. Indian Hill has already beaten Madeira 2-0 and still has to play Wyoming and Taylor in CHL play.

Indian Hill has only allowed eight goals all season, four of them in a 5-4 win over Carroll Sept. 2. Senior Ethan Camp has manned the net all season with six shutouts.

Senior Gavin Johnson has 11 goals and two assists. Junior Connor Wilkes has seven goals and 12 assists. Liam Brady has five goals.

Newport Central Catholic

The Thoroughbreds have been a consistently successful team but have been better than normal this season. NCC is 13-4 this year, and the 13 wins are one behind Ryle for leadership in the Ninth Region.

NCC has allowed only 16 goals all year and has posted eight shutouts. The Breds’ biggest win was 3-2 over Highlands in a 36^th District game, which snapped a 14-game losing streak to the Bluebirds dating back to the 2015 season, which is also the last time the Breds won the 36^th District title. NewCath is ranked third in Northern Kentucky in the current coaches poll.

Ryan Desmond is the offensive leader with 15 goals and eight assists. Brady Diedenhofer and Vinny Petroze have six goals apiece. Mason McCloskey has been in goal for all eight shutouts.

Girls soccer

Summit Country Day

The Silver Knights don’t look like an underdog. They have been strong for years, including last season when they finished with an 18-4 record.

But lately, they have been looking up at league archrival Cincinnati Country Day. CCD is the reigning OHSAA Division III state champion, the Nighthawks’ third championship in five seasons since Summit won its last in 2017.

Summit won state titles in 2011, 2015 and 2017 and sent an early message to the Nighthawks that they have eyes on another one with a 1-0 win on Given Road Aug. 31. The Silver Knights are 8-1-2 and have allowed only three goals all season. One of them was to Division I school St. Ursula another to Waynesville, last year’s DII state runner-up that beat CCD 5-3 Tuesday night.

While CCD has a high-flying offense, the Silver Knights win with defense first. They have scored 24 goals this season, seven by senior Maggie McDowell and six by sophomore Mia Stevens. Junior Maddie Mescher has 5.5 of the team’s eight shutouts.

Roger Bacon

Stuck in the same division of the Miami Valley Conference as CCD and SCD, the Spartans posted their 10^th win Wednesday night for the first time since 1999. The Spartans are 10-4 overall. Bacon has scored 62 goals this year, almost all of them by underclassmen. Sophomore Aubrey Kueffer has 13 goals, sophomore Maddy Sheppard 10 and junior Re Woodrum, six. Junior Carlie Grosser has nine goals and a team-high 11 assists.

Milford

The Division I, Region 4 championship has been a revolving door for years, with no one team dominating the tournament. Several Cincinnati teams have won it lately, and some have gone on to take the state championship. Seton won its first state title last year, and Mount Notre Dame won its first the year before. They follow Lakota West (2019) and Loveland (2017) as first-time state titlists.

Seton and MND certainly have designs on claiming another championship this year. Meanwhile, Milford looks to win it for the first time after losing to Seton in last year’s regional semifinal and finishing 19-2. Milford is 10-0-2 this year and a phenomenal 58-9-4 over the last four years.

That coincides with the career of senior Ana Manning, last year’s district offensive player of the year who has 15 goals and three assists this season and enters the weekend with 71 career goals. Senior Peyton Smith has nine goals and seven assists.

Oak Hills (8-2-1), which also has never gone to state, is also in the mix. Oak Hills has beaten Seton and lost to Milford. Junior Presley Pennekamp leads the Scots with 23 goals and five assists. And don’t forget Anderson (6-1-3), which has been to state three times but not since 2010, and recently drawn 2-2 with Milford.

McNicholas

McNicholas, which won a state title in 2014, has had plenty of hard times since their last winning season in 2017. The Rockets won five games combined from 2018-20, then six in each of the next two years. This season, McNick is 8-4-1 and in the mix of a tight race in the Greater Catholic League-Coed, with four teams tied for first at 2-1.

Freshman Molly Dornheggen has eight goals and junior Lily Bellisimo seven for the Rockets, which have played a very tough non-league schedule.

Madeira

The Amazons are in a tight battle in the Cincinnati Hills League, currently tied with Wyoming for first place at 3-0-2. The teams played to a scoreless draw this season.

Madeira was 9-8-2 last year, its fewest wins in more than a decade, but despite its consistent success, has not won a league title since 2014. Junior Anna Cornejo leads the Amazons with nine goals and seven assists.

Conner

The Cougars also don’t look like an underdog, but they have improved over last year despite losing all-state defender Juliet Strange to the University of Maryland. Conner is 15-3-3 overall and has allowed only 21 goals.

The Cougars are the favorite in the 33^rd District after beating rival Cooper, which had won four of the previous five meetings. Conner is 7-0-1 in Ninth Region play but has not played perennial title favorites Notre Dame and Highlands. Cayley Eilers leads the offense with 16 goals. Milana Arevalo has nine. Ella Mann and Izelee Kerns have six apiece.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio high school soccer: Who are Cincinnati's underdog teams in 2023?