The Gibault Catholic High School girls soccer is looking to build off a 2025 season that saw the program’s first regional title in several years as part of a 13-9-2 campaign.

With two senior standouts and a solid sophomore goalkeeper returning, there’s certainly promise for even better results in 2026.

So far, so good – Gibault had a 3-0 record entering play this week.

Leading the way are seniors Karmon Grohmann and Aubry Thomas. 

Grohmann – who was just named all-state in basketball and has committed to playing volleyball for Lewis & Clark Community College next season – scored 19 goals with 16 assists for the Hawks at forward in 2025.

Thomas – who has committed to playing soccer at University of Illinois-Springfield and also starred for Gibault volleyball – recorded 13 goals and 19 assists last season.

Then there’s tall sophomore goalkeeper Maggie Altes, who made an astounding 242 saves last season for Gibault.

“All three are looking to have better seasons than they did last year, which were all career years thus far,” Gibault head coach Ryan Nordike said of these three returning players.

They will try to help make up for the loss of some key graduating seniors from last year’s squad.

The head coach added there are other returning starters from 2025 – including Natalie Kelemetc, Payton Kelemetc, Brooke Hagedorn, Lucy Keeven and Rylee Morrison.

Nordike also pointed some new faces being counted on for large roles, including freshman defender Chylee Poetker and freshman midfielder Akenna Poettker.

“They will definitely help step in and fill a void left by some key graduating seniors,” Nordike said. 

Nordike praised his 2026 squad for its hard work and dedication to succeed, as well as its willingness to be coached.

“They are committed and determined to do even better than last year’s team,” he said. “They have come every day and pushed each other to be better players. One of the most coachable teams I have coached and very versatile in the fact many of the girls can play multiple positions as well as our team chemistry, which has been great since day one.”

In addition to a young roster of mainly freshmen and sophomores, a lack of depth is one key weakness pointed out by the head coach. 

“We will probably have the smallest roster of every team we play, which makes it a little challenging to hold up for an entire season – especially with the strength of schedule we will play,” Nordike said.

But with the willingness to win and also to play together as a team, the Hawks can accomplish great things in 2026.

“Our goals are simple: no matter what, we want to put ourselves in a position to compete every game and hopefully make a deep run come playoff time,” Nordike said.