When a bunch of Conval High athletes decided to form a girls’ soccer team in 1976, no one at the time dreamed that what began at the Regional would become the highly-popular, well-skilled sport now played by nearly every high school in New Hampshire.
But let the record show: girls’ soccer in New Hampshire began right here at Conval High.
In the fall of 1976, new teacher, coach and soccer enthusiast Barry Costa pulled together a squad of girls to play soccer, and the Cougars along with Milford, Manchester Central and Manchester Memorial formed the first-ever interscholastic competition in New Hampshire—the Southern New Hampshire Girls Soccer League.
In their first season, Conval finished with a 4-3 record. Since so few public high schools offered girls soccer, the Cougars and the other teams in the league rounded out their schedule with games against private schools.
Four years later, seeing the sport’s popularity rise, the NHIAA recognized girls’ soccer as an official interscholastic sport, forming one league for all interested schools in the state. In 1987, the sport that had been birthed at Conval and the three other pioneers in 1976 grew in popularity, with the NHIAA dividing the state into two divisions—L (large schools), and I-M-S (all the rest).
Five years later, in 1992, nearly every school in the state offered girls soccer, and the sport has grown to the current format of four divisions—thanks in large part to the teams that began it all in 1976, from Conval, Milford, Manchester Central and Manchester Memorial.
Members of Conval High’s pioneers in 1976 (front, from left): Missy McCarthy, Holly Sullivan, Karen Roiko, Holly LaBossiere, Chris Reffi, Danette Kolb, Lisa Lemire and Susan Bartlett. Second row: Lisa Joseph, Barbie Bastille, Deidra Welch, Julie Cloutier, Joanne Foote, Patty Riley, Judy Lewis, Valli Kaufhold and Sally Szydlo. Third row: Coach Barry Costa, Dawn Quinlan, Heather Hanchett, Thelma Strombeck, Beth Wellwood, Katherine LaFleur, Evelyn Grip and Terri Kierstead. Missing from photo: Dominique Smith
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