Over the past eighteen years, head coach and physical education teacher Mr. Doug

Roncolato coached the girls’ soccer team and won 243 games. Coach Roncolato has won three Colonial League titles, in 2009, 2011, and 2015.

The 2015 season along with Coach Roncolato’s past success with the Spartans girls soccer team won him the award for Lehigh Valley Live’s Coach of the Year.

“I feel very honored,” Mr. Roncolato said. “I really feel it’s a team accomplishment.

Players perform, and I get credit for their championships.”

Early on in the season, a postseason berth was looking bleak as the team began the season with a 2-3 start losing to out-of-league opponents Quakertown, Pennridge, and Perkiomen Valley. However, this was not a team to back down from the early season struggles, coming off the 3-2 loss to Perkiomen. Coach Roncolato and his team engineered a seven-game win streak.

After the win streak the Spartans could not be stopped as they went on to lose only two more games during the regular season and secure a spot in the Colonial League playoffs in a regular season finale against Palisades.

Coach Roncolato’s players credit their coach as the root of the changes to turn a very underwhelming season to one of the best in school history. The coach changed tactics, formations, and player roles early on in the season in order to right the ship and bring Spartan soccer to prominence as one of the top girls soccer teams in the Lehigh Valley.

The Spartans resurgence in the latter portion of the season under Coach Roncolato was not done quietly. The attack Coach Roncolato concocted recorded 97 goals this season, tying for the most in school history, along with winning 18 games this season for the first time in the program’s existence.

Lehigh Valley Live awarded Coach Roncolato Coach of the Year honors for his ability to take a team that had several disappointing losses early in the season and mold them into a championship winning soccer team.

“We focused on qualifying for the tournament, knowing we could not win it if we were not in it,” Mr. Roncolato said. “By the time we got into the tournament, everything was clicking, and our defense kept us in every game. The offense found it’s stride and we were able to outscore our opponents in the two tournaments, 15-2.”

Southern Lehigh won the Colonial League championship over Northwestern Lehigh 3-1, winning its first Colonial League Championship since 2011. Coach Roncolato also coached the team to Southern Lehigh’s first girls soccer District XI Class 2A title with a district championship win over Notre Dame.

“Winning the district title was unforgettable,” senior defender Bridget Cerciello said. “It’s something we have been working for since our freshman year, so it was a perfect way to end our four years of soccer.”