One poor result does not make a season, of course, and for the Mt. Hope High School girls' soccer club it certainly doesn't change the aims and expectations for the Huskies as they begin their 2026 campaign.

Mt. Hope, admittedly, did not offer up anything remotely close to its best effort at either end of the pitch last Friday afternoon, Aug. 28, at Roger Williams University where the Huskies dropped a decisive 5-2 contest to visiting Portsmouth in the Division I opener for both sides.

Though Mt. Hope began the game on the front foot, maintaining a decent amount of the possession, the Huskies did not create any truly threatening scoring chances. In contrast, the Patriots made the most of their opportunities and a couple of MHHS miscues to eventually take a 3-0 lead to intermission.

The Huskies were a bit better on attack in the second 40 minutes, as senior co-captains Elise Lanoie and Sara Nencka scored goals. Lanoie had the assist on her classmate's tally. Junior keeper Moira Ware was credited with seven saves. Portsmouth put 12 shots on frame. The Huskies had seven total.

Mt. Hope started the game with Ware in net. In the defensive backfield were Lanoie, another of the Huskies' five senior co-captains Aubrey Cummings and two freshmen up from the very successful Kickemuit Middle School program: Makenna Butterworth and Flynn Hancock.

The third senior co-captain in the starting 11 Friday was Emma Goglia in the midfield along with senior Thalia Adkins and sophomore Alaina Enes.

Up front were junior Catherine Frawley, sophomore Brooke Avila and freshman Macy Brodd.

Others who saw significant time were senior co-captain Nencka, freshman forward Julia Fox, freshman midfielder Simone Mack, freshman midfielder Ava Afonso and classmate Genevieve Rolando.

MHHS soccer legend Kerri Giarrusso once again led the Huskies as head coach assisted by Sarah Wilson, Andrea Ferguson and Michael Campagna.

"I think low key, our freshmen, there was a lot of them, and I think that they've stood their grounds," Goglia, an All-State performer in 2025, said of the newcomers. "Obviously, they're still getting used to the transition between middle school and high school, but honestly it's gonna be a rough transition, but, I mean, we have to face it, and they did pretty good today."

That so many freshmen got into the opener reflected overall health of the Huskies. Their fifth senior co-captain midfielder Kendra Ascoli is shelved for the moment. Her four other classmates, most notably Nencka who did not start, are also dealing with varying degrees of ailments. Also sidelined for the moment are Maya Goglia, the sophomore sister of Emma, and fellow sophomore midfielder Olivia Overy.

Mt. Hope is also minus two of its better players from last year's 11-6-2 squad that finished third in the regular seasons ranks and lost to eventual state champ LaSalle, 1-0, in the playoff semifinals. "All-everything" striker Thea Jackson and All-Division defender Madison Butterworth were among the seniors to graduate last spring.

Jackson finished her illustrious career with 97 goals, including a team-best 33 last fall. Butterworth had three goals and seven assists during her senior season.

Nencka is the top returning goal scorer from 2025 with nine. Avila had six and Goglia five. She also had seven assists. Ascoli added six helpers. Lanoie had three goals and two assists from the back row.

"It's very different from what we have right now. We're missing some key players. We lost two really big players last year, and it's just hard to acclimate to that a lot of times, but we will get better," said Lanoie, referring to Jackson and the elder Butterworth. "We have the talent. Like we are 'that' team."

Added Ascoli, "We have a lot to work on at practice, but we're still working together. The freshmen are new, and we have a lot of them, so we're still trying to connect and play together. So it's just going to come with time."

With so many players new to the team and likely holding key roles coupled with the loss of terrific players, it's going to take some time the club to meld.

"I think everybody on our team definitely has the talent. We just need to learn how to gel together. And that's going be the key to us succeeding in this season," said Nencka.

Added Cummings, "And we've only been practicing for a week, and these new freshmen, there's a lot of them. So we just have to get used to each other. A lot of team bonding, like the other day, we went out for ice cream. I think we have to do more of that, just to get the team chemistry going. And then we have the whole season. At practice, we're going work hard, and we'll prosper from there."

There are obstacles in their way, but the veteran Huskies believe they have all of the skills required to once again be a factor in the Division I race.

"For us, honestly, it's to win states," Lanoie said when asked what are the expectations for 2026. "We have the talent. We've gotten to the finals our freshman year. Last year we made semis, but we didn't make it sophomore year because we had injuries. But this year, I don't see any difference. The other teams lost players, but we're still strong as ever."

And if there are any skeptics out there ready to make presumptions about the rest of the 2026 season after seeing they suffered a 5-2 setback in their opener, the Huskies say doubters do so at their own risk.

"It was just in the beginning," said Goglia. "Wait till the end."