New England Soccer Journal’s The Goal

Host Matt Langone is joined by NESJ contributor Jonathan Sigal to talk about local Division 3 soccer on both the men’s and women’s side.

Chris Hamblin is the head coach of the Harvard women’s soccer team, now in his seventh season. A native of the UK, Hamblin recently became an American citizen. In this podcast, Hamblin talks about the challenges coaching at the Ivy League level and what he likes best about the job.

Josh Taylor has been the men’s soccer head coach at SNHU since 2015 after spending eight years as assistant coach. He credits a number of coaches as being transformative in his career. As he heads into this coming season, Coach Taylor talks about how he became head coach, and the people he values that helped him in his position.

Canton (Mass.) High School Head Boys’ Soccer Coach Danny Erickson joins us in studio to talk about a largely successful past season and what he’s doing to make the upcoming season even better. Erickson also talks about what he has learned in his 30 years as head coach.

Charlie Malcolm is the boys’ head coach of Northfield Mount Hermon, the 2021 NEPSAC Class A champion team. Coach Malcolm joins us to discuss his victorious year and to preview the upcoming season of boys’ prep soccer.

How does it feel to come one game away from a championship? Coming up on her tenth season as Women’s Head Coach at Worcester Academy, Jennifer Marino shares a painful she lesson she has learned from and will make the program better. Marino, joining us via Zoom, also gives her thoughts on the other teams in the league to look out for.

Coach Jim Reddish has been head coach at Stonehill College since 2008, but this year is going to be a new challenge: The Easton (Mass.) school has moved from Division II to  Division I. Coach Reddish shares his passion for the school and his pitch for bringing great soccer players to join the Skyhawks.

Eva Meredith is entering her 19th season at Wesleyan. Her team is coming off its best season ever that saw it go to the Division III Final Four. Coach Meredith talks about that special season and what she’s doing to make this upcoming year even better for her team.

Sean Carey is the founder of the New England Club Soccer League, which now has more than 2,000 teams and 25,000 players. He started the league in 2020, after helping to lead the New England Premiership. Carey describes the NECSL as providing  “A first team experience for all of your teams.” As if that weren’t enough, his day job is teaching elementary school. Listen to this interview with a remarkable, groundbreaking soccer steward.

Midfielder Jack Panayotou has barely had time to rest since helping to win the New England Revolution’s U-19 team to the MLS NEXT Cup championship in June. Panayotou shot the team’s only goal in a 1-0 thriller over San Francisco. The Cambridge (Mass.) resident is a product of the Rev’s academy, and discusses his road to the championship, as well as what makes for a really cool goal dance. (Hint: You can’t always plan them.)