After kicking off their third season with a second-place finish in the Lady Trojan Duals over Thanksgiving weekend, the Northampton girls wrestling team opened up their EPC slate at home against Parkland last Wednesday.

The Trojans, having established their program before girls wrestling was officially sanctioned by the PIAA, are one of the top teams in the state and showed it by downing the K-Kids 60-18 in Pete Schneider Gymnasium.

Still, there were a few highlights for Northampton on the night. Juliana Noe took a 10-6 lead into the third period of the night’s opening match and chose bottom. For those who have not seen much high school girls wrestling, the bottom position does not wind up with an escape nearly as often as on the boys’ side. In fact it often leads to the defensive wrestler getting pinned.

However, Noe was resilient, fighting for over a minute to earn a reversal and then 30 seconds later pinned her Trojan opponent to give the K-Kids the lead in the match.

At 118, Taylor Sipel went toe-to-toe with 2024 district champion Lily Snook. She trailed 7-5 going into the third period but took bottom and got pinned.

Marissa Fogel provided the most exciting moment of the night in her 124-pound bout against 2025 district and regional runner-up Saige Rittenhouse. Trailing 9-0 going into the third period, she elected the top position and scored a fall just 14 seconds into the period.

Dani Glaser won by forfeit at 235 to round out the scoring for the Kids.

Head coach Joe Tocci provided his thoughts on the match, “I think this is their (Parkland’s) seventh year together. They have a big junior program and their girls are coming into high school with experience. We’re bring girls out in high school and teaching them. I’m happy with how we went at them, but the experience level is really the difference.”

The K-Kids have a couple of dozen wrestlers on the high school roster and have been able to send out a competitor at every weight class thanks to Tocci’s recruiting efforts. However, Northampton is struggling to generate interest at the junior high level with only two athletes in the program. As the sport continues to grow, the skill level required to successfully compete at the high school level will also increase.

Parkland 60,

Northampton 18

100 - Juliana Noe (N) pinned Taya Daniels (P), 5:39; 106 - Peyton Schneck (P) pinned Emilee Gaughran (N), 3:36; 112 - Payton Ocasio (P) pinned Madison Bara (N), 1:25; 118 - Lily Snook (P) pinned Taylor Sipel (N), 4:51; 124 - Marissa Fogel (N) pinned Saige Rittenhouse (P), 4:44; 130 - Leila Palmieri (P) pinned Gabriela Chevere (N), 2:47; 136 - Angelina Spachman (P) pinned Jessenia Lucas-Collis (N), 3:09; 142 - Grace Shaffer (P) pinned Jameelah Zohir (N), 2:42; 148 - Laura Volpe (P) pinned Lucy Gadsby (N), 0:58; 155 - Natalie Deutch (P) pinned Ava Jagielski (N), 1:03; 170 - Emily Siglin (P) pinned Emily Lancon (N), 0:59; 190 - Liz Karla Grullon-Vasquez (P) pinned Anika Hengst (N), 1:12; 235 - Danielle Glaser (N) won by forfeit