CHRIS MANNING/Sun-Gazette Correspondent North Penn-Mansfield’s Brooke WIlcox plays during a game against Towanda last fall. This year, Wilcox had a breakout senior season en route to a school-record 39 goals scored and 65 for her career. Wilcox has helped the offense flourish and Mansfield secured its first playoff appearance since 2013.

North Penn-Mansfield’s players all know they have a good core of a team together, and coach Maryann Wilcox knew the potential the team had this year entering 2025. But even Wilcox would tell you that at the start of the year, the team didn’t have high playoff expectations.

Mansfield’s girls soccer team has struggled in recent years to put up wins. The Tigers had only won one game each of the last two seasons and just three in 2022. So a playoff appearance was the furthest thing on the players’ minds in late August when the season began.

But halfway through the year, the team started realizing it as possible.

Three wins turned into five. Five became seven. Suddenly, a playoff berth was in reach.

“The girls are so excited, they really never thought they were going to have a winning season, let alone a chance at district play,” Wilcox said. “Part way through the season the reality of having a shot at a winning record really inspired the girls and they wanted it.”

Now, Mansfield is playoff bound and is playing great. The Tigers enter the District 4 playoffs today with a 9-8-1 record and it’s Mansfield’s first winning record since 2012 (11-6-1) and first playoff appearance since 2013.

And they girls are excited. Well, maybe more than just a little excited.

“Excited is an understatement for the girls,” Wilco said. “If I told them at the beginning of the season they would be playing in the postseason, they would have looked at me like I had three heads. They have really worked hard and have been very coachable this season.”

Mansfield opens districts against sixth-seeded Midd-West, a team with a long history of success, however last year the playoffs evaded the Mustangs and 2023 was the team’s first playoff win since 2019.

Wilcox noted that Mansfield’s team got better and learned throughout the year and that was the biggest reason the Tigers are in the postseason.

“The key to the team’s success this year was having a group of girls that wanted to learn and grow as a team. We had a strong group of freshman players that fit the mold,” Wilcox said. “Another key point was creating scoring opportunities and having a lethal forward like Brooke Wilcox helped with finishing those scoring opportunities. Our center back Adalyne Yungwirth and goal keeper Avalon Rew were instrumental in our defensive play.”

Brooke Wilcox is having an unbelievable senior year. She has 39 goals, which broke the Mansfield single-season program record, and has 65 for her career, also the program record for most all-time. She continues finding the back of the net despite always drawing double coverage and being marked.

“Brooke is a quiet kid that doesn’t brag about her accomplishments and sometimes is overly critical of her performance because she expects perfection from herself, so it means the world to her when she is recognized for her accomplishments,” coach Wilcox said. “Brooke expects to perform the way she does and puts a lot of extra time perfecting her skills outside of normal team practice time. She spends hours in the backyard experimenting with new moves and volleying the ball. She had set a goal for herself to meet that 50-goal career (mark) and to be an absolute nightmare for the opponent’s defense. Brooke met that goal and continued to set new ones, reaching 65 goals, 39 this season alone.”

Wilcox may be a senior, but she’s leaving her footprint through the underclassmen in helping her teammates get better and teaching them any way she can.

“Brooke has been working with her younger teammates by feeding them the ball to work on their breakaways and finishing the ball,” coach Wilcox said. “They are getting closer to where they need to be and I think that will show in the postseason.”

Win or lose on Tuesday, Mansfield’s players have etched a name for themselves this season in making history by ending a long playoff drought.