PUTTING THE HAMMER DOWN: Princeton High girls’ soccer player Taylor Hamerschlag kicks the ball in a game last season. Senior midfielder/forward Hamerschlag, who tallied 11 goals and six assists last year, will be a go-to scorer again for the Tigers this fall. PHS gets its 2026 season underway when it plays at Watchung Hills on September 3 and at WW/P-North on September 8. (Photo by Frank Jacobs III)
By Bill Alden
For Christine Giacino, getting into coaching was the natural outgrowth of her decorated career as a star athlete at Robbinsville High and The College of New Jersey.
“I think growing up just having great coaches made me want to become a coach and be that type of person,” said Giacino (née Levering), a 2013 Robbinsville grad who excelled at soccer and softball and played for state championship teams in both sports and then went on to produce a record-breaking career for the TCNJ women’s soccer program. “It is the same with my career path. I always looked up to my health and physical ed teachers because they were always like the coaches and that is how I decided what I wanted to do.”
Giacino started her coaching journey as an assistant for the TCNJ women’s soccer program and took to her new role right away.
“I think just seeing the other perspective of behind the scenes and what goes into planning practices and games,” said Giacino, who graduated in 2017 as the program’s all-time leading scorer with 61 goals and 149 points. “It is diving deeper into what we are doing instead of doing the drills like you would as a player. It is understanding more the why and being able to explain that to the girls, telling them this is why we are doing this drill to help with this. I just dove deeper into the why.”
Returning to the high school scene, Giacino went on to her alma mater Robbinsville, where she
was the head coach of softball and an assistant for girls’ basketball and field hockey. In 2024, she came to Princeton High where she became an assistant coach for girls’ soccer, girls’ basketball, and softball.
This fall, Giacino has been promoted to head coach of the PHS girls’ soccer program, succeeding Meg Brennan, who stepped down after giving birth to a son earlier this year.
As Giacino takes the helm of the program, she is applying the lessons she has learned along the way from her playing and coaching career.
“I think just showing that you care goes a long way,” said Giacino, who is taking over a squad that went 11-7 last year. “That is my No. 1 thing, making sure that the girls feel that because they come together, they play for you and play for each other. It is not just caring for me but caring for each other and really just understanding the team aspect of it.”
Giacino acknowledges that 2026 will be a transition year for the program with the combination of the coaching change and the addition of a number of new players.
“It is a big change, we graduated a lot of seniors so it is a lot of new faces that I haven’t really gotten to know,” said Giacino, whose team gets its 2026 season underway when it plays at Watchung Hills on September 3 and at WW/P-North on September 8. “I would say it is half and half. The half I had and the new half I haven’t. It is definitely a learning adjustment to get to know those new girls and mesh the whole team together. It has been good so far.”
The pair of senior Taylor Hamerschlag (11 goals, 6 assists in 2025) and sophomore Lavinia Lord (9 goals, 2 assists) has been meshing at the offensive end.
“Taylor is in great shape and ready to go, she is a captain for us this year and has a lot of energy,” said Giacino, noting that freshman Esperanza Peterson is showing potential around the goal with her footwork. “Lavinia has that experience of having one more year. She is definitely more comfortable. She is not just a freshman any more, she has been around the CVC [Colonial Valley Conference] for a year. She is composed and makes it look easier than it is. I like their connection, they have a good feel for each other with just being able to play another year together.”
In the midfield, senior Maddie Aboumeri (2 goals, 1 assist), junior Amira Das (1 goal), and senior Olivia Hegedus will be leading
the way.
“Maddie is a returner and she has been doing great,” said Giacino.
“We have Amira, who was on varsity last year and didn’t see as much time. She has been doing really well. She came in great shape and is a lot more confident on the ball this year. Hegedus will be in the mix up there at forward or out wide.”
The quartet of senior Mathilde Pouliot (2 goals, 8 assists), junior Malia Yates Burnett (1 goal), senior Lena Murray (1 assist), and freshman Selma Valentin will be spearheading the back line.
“Defense is probably our strongest point,” said Giacino. “Mathilde is awesome, my goal is to have her on the outside to get up the field for us. She can be a threat that way too We are trying Malia on the outside too to see if she can get up the field. Lena has tried center back and that is a better fit for her. She has been doing well. We have a freshman playing back there in Selma. She has been doing well. It is going to be a learning curve just getting used to varsity. She definitely has potential. Having those three returning starting back defenders will help her a lot.”
At goalie, junior Brianna McKeon and sophomore Eleonora “L.A.” Villarini will be filling void left by the loss of Julia Zaldarriaga, who won’t be playing this fall as she wraps up high school online to get ready to start her career with the Rutgers University women’s soccer team in January.
“They have been splitting scrimmages, we are still testing to see who looks better in a game,” said Giacino. “We haven’t decided yet if we are going to rotate or if we are going to pick one for now. They have looked similar in a lot of ways.”
In Giacino’s view, the Tigers will need to cash in looks they generate around the goal to have a big season.
“Scoring has been a big thing for us,” said Giacino. “Some of our stronger players are on the defensive end, so it is a matter of getting chances up there and being able to finish because that was kind of a struggle the last couple of years. If we can finish our good chances, then I think we will be in good shape to hang around the big teams.”