Seeming to pick up where they left off in their domination of the Henlopen Conference, the Sussex Academy girls’ soccer team shut out Sussex Tech 3-0 March 25 to open the 2025 season.

“We lost some pretty solid players last year, so everybody was thinking that we would be an entirely new team, which we are, but that doesn't mean that we lose the quality that we had last year,” said junior Deb Williams.

Williams, a captain, commanded the middle of the field against Sussex Tech, swiping the ball away from Ravens with surgical precision, not drawing a single foul despite numerous tackle attempts. She almost opened up the scoring with a header on a corner as she staked her claim as a threat on those flag boots. 

Serving up those kicks was sophomore Maya Hastings who opened the scoring for the Seahawks with a hybrid pass/shot from the right side about 15 yards from the corner flag and a yard or two outside of the box in the 11th minute.

“I was very shocked, but at the same time, I was, like, ‘Oh, first goal of the season, yay me,’” Hastings said.

Hastings found Williams yet again 16 minutes later, but this time Williams’ header found the back of the net to double Sussex Academy’s lead, 2-0. 

“In club season, I've been scoring off my headers, and so I just wanted to bring that here,” Williams said. “They weren't marking me very well, and so therefore, I went in and the ball went in the goal.”

Six minutes later, Natalie Roblero capped off the Seahawks’ scoring with a well-placed shot into the back of the net.

“It felt surreal,” she said. “It’s a great start to my senior season.”

Sussex Academy shut off the faucet in the second half to fly to a 3-0 win and record the first clean sheet of the season.

“We are going for eight shutouts or more this season, and that's our first one,” Williams said. “It feels good, especially for our keeper who's new, and she's doing a solid job.”

Ella Sprucebank, a freshman, is the Seahawks’ keeper this year and showed poise beyond her years on a few occasions.

“I kind of challenged her to have as much confidence in herself as we have in her,” said coach Chase Humphrey.

The first-year coach was happy with his team’s efforts and believes they showed they can still score.

“Maya is going to be dangerous, but what Nat can do with their feet, what Deborah can do from distance and once Patti [Lara] got in, I mean we can take shots from 25 yards out, and they'd be dangerous,” Humphrey said. “We can whip balls in and get heads onto them.”