When head coach Nicole Pacapelli Ciano first stepped onto the Marist campus in January 2023, she inherited a women’s soccer program with zero committed freshmen and a recruiting class already behind schedule.
In her first season, she brought in defender Kelsey Peduto and forward Delia Hahn, both of whom had been in talks with the previous head coach but had never officially committed. She also added current senior defender Julia Loncar, who transferred from UConn as a midfielder.
“For my sophomores, we were still late. We were still trying to play catch-up because we didn’t identify them early enough in the timeline,” said Pacapelli Ciano. “It kind of pushed everything back because you are really recruiting for something that we didn’t even know the structure of yet.”
Her first official commitment was forward Gabby Tirado, now a sophomore captain. Tirado delayed her start at Marist until January, beginning training with the team early in the spring.
“Gabby has a contagious personality; she will light up any room that she walks into, and obviously, she is a sophomore captain due to some of that,” said Pacapelli Ciano. “She is team-oriented and just a really good kid. She is a program changer.”
Along with her leadership, the sophomore finds herself as the MAAC points leader and spearheading the Red Foxes with six goals and four assists.
“I had a female coach in high school, so I felt close to my high school coach when I met [Pacapelli Ciano] and I loved her goals for myself and the team and [assistant coach Mackenzie Hannah] as well,” said Tirado. “Super awesome personalities and people to get along with and be coached by.”
Between Pacapelli Ciano’s first recruiting class and her second with the freshmen, the culture of Marist women’s soccer is shifting. The Red Foxes are off to their best start since 2018, with underclassmen making up 19 of the 28-player roster.
This season, Marist has recorded 16 goals in 12 games – more goals than the team has scored in the previous two seasons combined.
A focus for the team under Pacapelli Ciano has been trusting the process and setting goals. Each season, Pacapelli has been making strides to create a more competitive program. During her first season, the team talked about excellence, which built into elevating excellence and now, for the 2025 season, adding the phrase compete to be elite.
“The biggest thing with the recruitment classes now is that they are all good soccer players and great people with leadership qualities,” said Pacapelli Ciano.
“They have a non-negotiable competitiveness to them. That is a game changer you can’t teach that – it is who they are.”
nicole pacapelli ciano
Marist set a new program record this season, drawing with Fairfield and becoming the first women’s soccer team in Red Fox history to go seven consecutive games unbeaten.
Each year, the Red Foxes have improved in every statistical category under the leadership of Pacapelli Ciano, focusing on the process of getting better each day and building a long-term successful program, while also winning now.
“Being able to see that growth has been extremely important to the belief and buy-in that we have currently,” said Pacapelli Ciano.
Freshman forwards Ella Bryan and Jiji Sweiss combined for four goals and three assists for the Red Foxes, echoing the sense of chemistry and culture.
“As soon as we [the freshman class] went on our official team visit together, we immediately clicked and kind of got along so well on and off the field,” said Bryan. “We have a great connection and the upperclassmen, too, have been so welcoming.”
This year’s freshmen class is proving to be an essential part of the program, coming from some of the top clubs in the country through the Elite Club National League (ECNL).
Pacapelli Ciano said Bryan checked all of her boxes, a left-footed player who is a stud on the ball, a natural goal scorer and fun to watch. Sweiss, who also played in the ECNL, reminded Pacapelli a lot of herself as a player.
“She has a really great IQ, is hardworking, self-disciplined and a really great creator on the ball,” said Pacapelli Ciano. “We connected right away; it was an awesome visit – she barely left campus before she committed.”
Out of the Red Foxes starting 11, six of the Marist starters are underclassmen, with four sophomores and two freshmen.
“We don’t want to compare this year to last year, because this is a new season, but looking back on it, I wish we had all these girls here last year – it definitely would have been a game changer,” said Tirado.
The team is excited to continue building on the blooming culture of tradition and family environment.
“Coming to Marist, I knew what I had to do and knew it was going to take some time. The girls that I came in and met needed a whole lot of love.”
nicole Pacapelli ciano
Aside from wanting to be a competitive Division I program, Pacapelli Ciano and her team are rooted in family.
“Sometimes those two contradict each other, but we say start with family first and foremost and strive for competitive excellence and start winning MAAC Championships”, said Pacapelli Ciano.
Marist last appeared in the MAAC championship in 2012, falling a goal short of bringing home the title. The year before, in 2011, Marist won its most recent championship trophy, defeating Loyola 1-0.
With a challenging non-conference schedule and a 0-5 start to the season, the Red Foxes now find themselves at the top of the MAAC, in a four-way tie for first alongside Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart and Canisius.
“We were able to switch our mindset from screw August and pick it up in September. It was a team effort, we all picked up our heads and worked together because we all want the same thing,” said Sweiss.
The team knew what they were capable of, trusting the process and watching the young players click together and play more as a team.
“I think a lot of people have their minds made up about us, which is good. Going into some games, we want to prove a lot of people wrong.”
Gabby tirado
With a program that needed saving, Pacapelli Ciano had a mission. Through recruitment setbacks and rebuilding a culture, the head coach has instilled a family-like, competitive environment and the program is starting to compete to be elite.
Edited by Ben Leeds
Graphic provided by Jaylen Rizzo
Photos from Stockton Photo
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