Hampton ties bond national champ Northern Steel U13 girls soccer

A national championship girls soccer team this summer had a lot of Hampton flavor to it.

Northern Steel, coached by two former Hampton soccer stars and led by three Talbot middle schoolers, won the 2024 National Cup XXIII Premier Division U13 finals July 21-25, in Denver.

A never-in-doubt 5-1 victory over Fury (Calif.) FC in the title game capped the unforgettable season.

“It felt unreal,” said Reese Gibbons, a rising Hampton seventh-grader who scored three goals at the four-game national tournament. “I never pictured myself being there. It was shocking, but at the same time, I was so happy.”

Fellow Hampton seventh-grader Catie McCabe and rising eighth-grader Charlie Bower also helped Northern Steel to the national crown, under the guidance of coach Blair Gerlach and assistant Brigette Gibbons, a pair of ex-Talbots.

“It was a really unbelievable moment,” said McCabe, a midfielder. “We didn’t really think that we would make it that far, and when we did, it was really exciting.”

Northern Steel U13 went 33-1-3 this season, losing only to a Maryland team in October.

“It was just an amazing season for the girls,” said Gerlach, also coach of the highly successful Mars Area High School girls program. “We weren’t sure going into the year what it was going to look like. But they just continued to get better all year long. They were a joy.”

It was the fourth national title for Gerlach, a former high school Girls Soccer National Coach of the Year in his first season with this age-group team.

The girls, hailing from schools such as Mars, Deer Lakes, Knoch and Seneca Valley, began their journey in August 2023. They practiced twice a week and played home games at Seneca Valley and the Beacon soccer complex in Renfrew.

Bower, a converted forward turned center back, said expectations were low because “we lost like every game last year.”

But everything changed this season.

Playing 11 v. 11 for the first time (after 9 v. 9 last year), the team ran the table in its league, the Great Lakes Alliance, going a combined 14-0-1, allowing no goals. Northern Steel won the GLA playoffs in early June to reach the Midwest Regional in Chicago, where it went 4-0-1 and beat a St. Louis team, 2-1, in the June 17 finals to qualify for nationals.

“I thought we were going to go to regionals and get crushed,” Bower said. “But as soon as we won it, I thought, ‘Maybe we have a chance.’ “

At nationals, Northern Steel blanked teams from Washington and Iowa to set up a do-or-die pool-play match with Legends (Calif.) FC. Northern Steel survived, 1-0, as Gibbons scored midway through the second half to clinch a finals berth.

“It was really exciting,” Reese Gibbons said. “I dribbled it, and beat the players and put it right in the back of the net.”

Said Gerlach, “It was one of the nicest goals I’ve seen from a player that age in a long time.”

Northern Steel jumped to a 4-0 halftime lead over Fury (Calif.) in the finals, rolling to the national title. The players brought home gold medals and championship hoodies, along with a large trophy for Northern Steel.

“We weren’t really prepared to win nationals,” McCabe said. “It was kind of unexpected. It didn’t feel real.”

The team’s ties to Hampton are undeniable.

Gerlach, a 1994 Hampton grad, and Gibbons, a 1997 graduate when her last name was McCabe, are both in the Hampton Athletic Hall of Fame. Gibbons used to swim in the Gerlach’s pool as a youngster, and Gerlach said his mom “sold Brigette’s parents their first house.”

Among the players, McCabe and Reese Gibbons are first cousins; Brigette Gibbons is Reese’s mom, and her brother Bill McCabe is Catie’s dad.

The three girls aren’t done. They are getting ready for their Hampton middle school season. Workouts are already underway.

“I think we can do pretty well,” Reese Gibbons said. “If we all work just as hard as we work on our Cup teams, it will come together pretty easy.”