Faraci breaks barrier for women with state title win in boys soccer
MORRISTOWN, Vt. (BVM) — Five years ago, Angie Faraci had one goal in her mind when she was hired on as the Peoples Academy boys soccer head coach: Bring the Wolves back to relevancy.
Taking over in 2016 after two straight losing seasons, Farcia and the Wolves have been a steady force since her first year with the program. This season would represent a different challenge for the Peoples Academy head coach. Along with the hope of bringing home her first state championship, Faraci had to deal with the concerns of COVID-19.
“I think the uncertainty of showing up daily, weekly and finishing a season was the looming concern,” Faraci said. “But, from day one walking into preseason, I was really clear with the boys that we were going to do this intentionally. If we were going to play one game, we were going to work our hardest for that one game. If it was going to be two games, we were going to work our hardest for that second game and we were just going to keep building as the season went.”
While the Wolves schedule held up throughout the season, adjustments to the regular routine had to be altered. With health screening and mandatory use of masks, coaches and players had to follow a stricter structure.
“It was really a lot of structure and discipline that they had to abide by and I think that was the biggest change, but I think that also helped us performance wise.” Faraci said.
Although the pandemic may have added an extra dimension, the Wolves wouldn’t miss a beat on the field.
“They had been to the semifinals two years in a row and last year we lost in penalty kicks at the semifinals,” Faraci said of her team. “So, getting to a state finals this year was their goal and we got them there and then getting a win was on them. That’s what they had to carry, that was their responsibility on their shoulders, and they performed the best I’ve ever seen them play.”
Carrying the lofty expectation of winning a state championship wouldn’t phase the experienced Wolves team as they took down Green Mountain for the Division III state title, 1-0.
This senior class of Wolves has had the goal of winning a state championship in mind since its freshman year at the program. After watching their older teammates get taken down in the 2017 state finals from the sidelines, Faraci made sure it wouldn’t happen again to this group.
“This team is unique for me, with the eight seniors,” Faraci said. “We lost that year to Stowe, in 2017, and I looked at the freshman class and I said this is what it feels like, this is what it looks like, we can get back here if you put in the effort. So, that is this group of boys. This year was special for them.”
The special win for the seniors also came with some history for their head coach. Faraci became the first woman to lead a boys soccer team to a state championship in the history of the Vermont Principals’ Association.
“It shocked me, I’m like ‘how can I be the first female to lead a boys program?’,” Faraci said when she first heard that stat. “But I’ve only ran into a handful [of women] and I would say that I was inspired about a decade ago when there was a female coaching a boys program in the state of Vermont. I followed her story because I was interested in how it would end and I know she made it to the state finals a few times but didn’t win the title.
“So, when I took over five years ago, I was like ‘I have the possibility now to be that first person to do that’, and that was my goal within five years of this program.”
For Faraci, she admits the struggles of being a woman in a boys sport early on were not what she expected. Issues being put down by opposing male coaches and assumptions made by officials have shocked her, but she believes they have gotten better over time.
“Over the last five years, yes, it still catches me off guard that people will assume if there’s another male standing on the bench or coming off the bus that they’re automatically the head coach,” Faraci said. “That still catches me a little off guard.
“I’m like ‘if you don’t know just ask, but don’t automatically assume’. They just assume. They walk up to the male and they ask them, ‘is your team ready?’ and my assistants are great and they’re like, ‘we’re not the head coach, she’s over there.’ That still catches me off guard a bit, but I think it’s getting better and I would hope so.”
With her original goal to win a state championship behind her, Faraci can look back on the big picture of her accomplishments. Over the last five years, she’s had a daily reminder of the goals she wanted to accomplish.
“I would say, yes, if I looked at the big picture,” Faraci said when talking about if this win was more special having done it in the five-year window of her tenure. “Being the second year in the program I took the team to the finals, that was amazing.
“But, I sit in a gymnasium with my office… and I stare at all the boys soccer banners, they are literally straight out of my window on the opposite gym wall. So, that just fuels my fire that I don’t have any of those, none of those are under my leadership, so I want to push this program to where it was and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
With a banner now ready to be placed outside her office window, Faraci has become a great example of what women coaches can do in boys and mens sports.
