TITLE CHASING: Lycoming women’s soccer hopes to compete for Landmark Conference title
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Since Kenny Fern took over Lycoming College's women's soccer program, the team keeps rising to the top and improving. Each season is another step further to what they ultimately want to accomplish.
Last year, the Warriors found themselves coming shy in the Landmark Conference semifinals to Catholic. This year, they want to not just get back, but get a step further and compete for a league title.
"That'd mean everything. Every year we've been progressively getting better and better. So for my last year coming in and being in the conference championship and possibly winning it would be awesome. So showing the linear progression throughout everything," Lewisburg graduate and Lycoming senior Mikayla Long said. "I definitely think we have a good group (to get to the final). A lot of returning starters and a lot of new players coming in that will definitely make an impact on the team."
Long is one of two District 4 alumni on Lycoming's roster, joined by former Selinsgrove standout Ella Magee, who led Lycoming last year in both goals (16) and assists (13). And Magee is eager to get back on the field and pick up right where the Warriors left off.
"I guess we really want to make the conference finals. That would be the ultimate goal. We were short last season, so that's what we're aiming for," Magee said.
And part of that goal will once again be led by that District 4 combination. Both Magee and Long are talented players and they enjoy being able to compete alongside one another after four years of competing against each other.
"We played against each other in high school every year, so we're definitely familiar with each other's strengths. So I definitely love playing with her," Magee said. "She's gotten a lot of my assists, so I definitely like playing with her."
Long echoes that sentiment as well.
"It's awesome. I love being from around the area and staying in the area and helping a program like this grow monumentally," Long added.
Both players have made tremendous impacts for Lycoming and have been a big reason the last few years have been as successful as they have at Lycoming. Last year, as noted, Lycoming made it to the Landmark Conference semifinals with a 17-2-1 record. The year prior, the Warriors went 15-3-3 and lost to top-seeded Scranton, 3-0, in the postseason.
These last two years have been among the most successful two in recent Lycoming history and the Warriors don't want to fall off. And, the talent is on the roster to keep them at the top of the league.
"This is the best squad I've had. In the past, I've had very strong teams, but the depth in this team with 36 players I can rely on, it's the best depth we've ever had here," Fern said. "We just get stronger and stronger every year off the backs of the previous teams. The recruiting class gets stronger and stronger, so I think this is the best class we've had since I've been here."
And, like both Magee and Long, Fern didn't hesitate to say the finals are the expectations this year.
"Expectations are definitely playoffs. I think we have a squad of 36, a lot of players as well and a strong transfer and freshman class, so my expectations are the final," Fern added. "I think we could have gotten there last year. The Catholic game was very close, could have gone either way, so I think this year we're good enough to go that one step farther and get to final. My expectation is the final this year, 100%"
Last year, Magee was Lycoming's leader in goals and assists and right behind her was Long, who had 10 goals (tied with Gabriella Rabinowitz) and five assists. Both played in all 20 games as well and fired 37 and 42 shots on goal, respectively.
They helped make an impact from their first day on the field, and it's been carrying over every year. And Fern had nothing but praise for the two former District 4 standouts.
"Crazy. It changed the program, they've taken it to the next level. Ella's technical ability? I've watched at some Division I schools, watched at UNC, her technical abilities are as good as any female player I've coached in America," Fern said. "The whip she can get on the ball, her free kicks are unbelievable.
"Then you got Mikayla Long who's an animal as a striker," Fern continued. "That ball bounces in the box, Mikayla's there. She's a bully. She’s old-fashioned, I would call a 90s striker. She's a bully; defenders don't wanna play against her. She's so strong and physical and finishes so well. This will be her best scoring year because she has the best squad around her to help her finish. I'm expecting at least 15 goals from her."
Fern is glad to have two local players come to Lycoming as well and help the team and program reach heights it’s never seen before.
"The fact they're local is always great. .... They were a dream to get both of those players over the same period of time," Fern said. "Just a game changer for the program."
The Landmark Conference gives Lycoming a tough schedule every fall, and the 2026 season won't be any exception. After a few non-conference matchups to start the year, Lycoming gets into the Landmark Conference schedule beginning Sept. 26 with a home game against Catholic, who Lycoming lost to in the conference semifinals last fall.
But that tough schedule is part of Lycoming's recruiting pitch. You want to be in battles every single conference game and play outstanding competition? Lycoming's got it.
"The conference is brutal. Every game a battle. Last year, we had a few big wins. We beat Moravian, 4-0. On paper these look like easy games, but when you delve into it and watch it, it's a fight for 90 minutes. Some conferences you go in and you stroll through, I tell all my recruits if you're coming to us, in conference you're going to have nine physical battles," Fern said. "We lost semifinal, ball bounced against us. We beat Catholic in regular season, ball bounced for us. It really is that tight in the conference, so the final I get is a big expectation, but we've been there before and with the squad we have, it has to be the expectation.”
Life in the Landmark Conference isn't easy. And, even if Fern wishes his opponents would have a down year from time to time, it doesn't seem to happen often and it gives Lycoming a tough strength of schedule in the end.
"We're in one of the hardest conferences around and credit to other teams, I'd love them to fall off, but they don't," Fern said. "They have a dip in season and come back stronger next season. It'll be tough, but I think we have the squad to do what we have to do this season."