Deer Lakes grad Madeline Boulos hoping to have breakout season for Mount Union women's soccer

When the Mount Union women’s soccer team gathers for preseason camp in a few weeks, Deer Lakes alumnae Madeline Boulos will be entering her third season with the Raiders.

But, in many respects, Boulos feels like she is just getting started and just scratching the surface of her potential at the college level.

For starters, an injury took most of her freshman season. Between her senior year at Deer Lakes and freshman season at Mount Union, Boulos was playing with her club team, Steel City FC. The team won the state cup and advanced to regionals, and in the final game, the opposing team’s goalie dove into the side of Boulos’ left leg.

The result was a broken leg, and the injury kept Boulos sidelined for more than three months.

She made it back to play all of 79 minutes across four matches for the Raiders.

“They (doctors) told me the bone always looked like it was never healing,” said Boulos, a rising junior. “So sometimes, when I would do little jumps or even running, I could still feel it a little bit.”

Boulos had a healthy offseason before her sophomore campaign, but then another challenge came her way. Hannah Brown, the coach who had recruited Boulos, stepped down, and assistant Asheli Freed moved into the head coaching role.

The change was tough enough for Boulos and the other sophomores, but for the older players, Freed was their third coach in three years, so there was a long period of acclimation.

The good news for Boulos was that Freed had recruited her while she was Brown’s assistant, so she knew what Boulos was capable of doing.

“I’m from the WPIAL,” said Freed, a Mohawk grad. “I want to get girls from the WPIAL. I want those Pittsburgh girls. … When (Boulos) was in high school, she broke the 100-goal mark, and I was there when she broke that.

“She has the speed. She has the confidence, and she can shoot the ball like no other. I like that she wants to learn. She’ll ask questions. She watches film. … She wants to get better, and she shows that every day.”

For Boulos, the change of coaches turned out to be a welcome one. She said she appreciates how Freed is trying to run her program.

“She always schedules individual meetings with everyone on the team just to hear our feedback of what we want to work on, what we want to see in practices,” Boulos said. “So she values what we have to say as players.”

In a more tangible sense, Boulos’ numbers showed how quickly she adapted to Freed’s system. Last season, she played in all 16 games, starting 15 and playing more than 1,200 minutes.

She contributed a team-leading seven goals and an assist to give her a team-high 15 points. The seven goals also ranked sixth in the Ohio Athletic Conference.

After such a trying freshman year, Boulos was ecstatic with the way the 2023 season turned out.

“I was definitely hoping to come into the season as the player they recruited me as,” she said. “So starting the majority of the games, being ranked sixth in the OAC for goals, getting some more accolades, it definitely boosted my confidence.”

The down side was the Raiders finished just 2-7 in the OAC (5-10-1 overall).

That probably could be expected, given the coaching change and the fact that the team was young, having graduated a large senior class from the 2022 season.

But now, after a healthy offseason and with Freed back for her second year at the helm, Boulos is expecting the Raiders to be the surprise team in the OAC.

“I definitely see a great season,” Boulos said. “We have a lot of returning starters that are now injury free. I think our team atmosphere has been a lot better since we’ve had this coaching and staff change, and I’m really excited for what my junior year is going to hold.”

To that end, Boulos took advantage of her good health. After the 2023 season ended, the Raiders engaged in their traditional lifting program and played futsal over the winter. Boulos worked out at a fitness center in Alliance, Ohio, where Mount Union is located, to improve her speed and sprint power.

She has been going to the gym three times a week and also going to Deer Lakes with her father, Jeff, who also served as her coach with her club team, to work on shooting and dribbling.

Freed is expecting to see Boulos take another big step forward this fall.

“She’s a 1-v-1 type girl. She loves to take players 1 v 1,” Freed said, noting Boulos also is a standout in the classroom (4.0 GPA as a mathematics major). “She’s super confident on the ball. She has really quick feet. I think with the ball at her feet, she’s actually faster than when she’s running onto the ball.

“(Last year) was practically her freshman season. I’m excited for her. I think she’s a player to watch, definitely. And I think the coaches in the OAC know that.”

Boulos said she was buoyed by her performance last season, particularly coming off such a disappointing freshman season. She said she is prepared to take her game to another level and, at the same time, lift Mount Union to greater heights.

“I would like to step up and take more of a leadership position on this team now that I’m going to be a junior,” she said. “And, as a forward, I’d like to contribute to our goals, our assists. But overall, soccer is a team sport, so I want to continuously work toward a positive team atmosphere that will translate both on and off the field.

“I think we’re all looking to redeem ourselves after last year. I think our record did not reflect how well we did play.”