Beyond incredible

By Bill Burt

» bburt@eagletribune.com

LAWRENCE — If you’d told Stephanie McArdle, back when she was a soccer player at the University of Michigan, that she’d one day be fighting for field space in Lawrence, she might’ve laughed.

But here she is, more than two decades later, at the heart of a movement that’s changed thousands of young lives – and the city itself.

She was nearly 30, drifting between soccer jobs, when she and her mother, Ellen – 60 at the time – with an assist from fellow sister, Lindsay, decided to do something that made sense to them, if not to anyone else.

The McArdles of Boxford saw a need in Lawrence, a city of immigrants where, ironically, there were no high school soccer teams at the time.

“One of the craziest experiences of our lives,” Ellen McArdle said, remembering 2007.

“We did everything looking for girls. At one point we’d drive by schools, asking if they’d like to play. Imagine that happening today. Two white women driving around asking kids if they wanted to play soccer. We’d probably get arrested.”

But Lawrence needed them.

“How does a city of immigrants, most from countries where soccer is everything, not have high school soccer teams?” McArdle wondered. “This is where we need to be. We need to see if we can help.”

They started with a girls team. That team grew into a program – Beyond Soccer – with a mission that was never just about the game. For McArdle, soccer was the vehicle, but the destination was something bigger: confidence, community, opportunity.

They weren’t alone for long. Local soccer lovers Eric Lundquist and Zoltan Frasch pitched in, running Saturday clinics. Lundquist became their rock, even as O’Neill Field – riddled with glass, sometimes needles – served as their makeshift home.

“Eric did all the dirty work,” Ellen McArdle said. “He’d get there early and rake

SEE SOCCER, PAGE 2

Coach Isabella Quadros has a little fun with Oliver Acevedo, 8.

CARL RUSSO/ Staff photo

If there is a poster child of Beyond Soccer, it is Esmerelda Hernandez, left, who stands with the organization’s founder and executive director, Stephanie McArdle. Hernandez holds up the photo of the first-ever team started for Lawrence girls by McArdle, the Wolves.

BILL BURT/ Staff photo

Continued from Page 1

the field, line it. There were winos on the corner, just watching our girls practice. Eric kept us on point.”

Eric’s sudden death (he was struck by a car while biking) nearly broke them. But elder McArdle remembered the pact they made: “We would go on and do this. Steph spoke at his funeral. We were determined.”

Fifteen years later, Beyond Soccer is unrecognizable from those meager beginnings.

In 2026, the program was one of 27 organizations worldwide to win a grant from the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund– chosen out of nearly 3,500 applicants. McArdle found out while watching Fox News.

“I let out a little scream,” she said. “From nothing to now they’re saying our name on national TV. It’s crazy.”

But the grant is just the latest milestone. What really matters is the kids.

Esmerelda Hernandez is the proof. Now a clinical mental health counselor, she was one of the first girls the McArdles recruited from the Boys & Girls Club.

“She couldn’t look us in the eye,” the elder McArdle said. “Unbelievably shy and insecure.” Esmerelda, then in fourth grade, never dreamed there were teams for girls like her.

“I was such a tomboy. Steph and Ellen provided a safe space. It was OK to be a female and still do girly things. That first team was an awakening.”

The Wolves – named for McArdle’s college team, the Wolverines – joined the Essex County Youth Soccer League, even though they didn’t meet the criteria (of having three youth teams), she worked her magic and the organization, thankfully, admitted them.

Most games ended in lopsided losses, but the girls rebounded.

“Me? I hated to lose. That was the hardest part. But we were having fun. We loved it,” Hernandez said. “I had never been involved with that kind of camaraderie.”

McArdle noticed Hernandez’s drive and found her spots at elite camps, even driving her and another young star, Oriagna Inirio, to the Julie Foudy Leadership Academy in New Jersey, one of the best in the country.

Of course, the girls needed a ride.

“Did I have half a day to drive back and forth to drop them off then later in the week to pick them up? No. But this is exactly what we wanted when we started. Use soccer to make them better people,” she said. “When they got back they were better players, but more importantly better people.”

Hernandez, now 28 and about to get married, credits Beyond Soccer for everything.

“If not for Beyond Soccer and that first experience, I wouldn’t be where I am today. And I couldn’t be happier. I owe so much to Stephanie and everyone there.”

She’s not the only one. Claudia Aguilar, now 17, started at 8. She remembered meeting Arabella Ssenyondo, another 8-yearold, who did a cartwheel before scoring a goal. “I was like, ‘Wow! She looks like she’s having fun.’” Aguilar and Ssenyondo played together for years before heading to Pingree School and, this fall, Wheaton College and UMass Lowell. Both are Beyond Soccer mentors now.

“This program helped me not only with soccer, but my confidence,” Aguilar said. “I’ve traveled to places I never would’ve seen. This will always be a big part of my life.”

The numbers tell their own story: five teams made the ECYSA tournament this spring, including two girls’ teams. The eighth grade and high school girls teams reached the finals – a first.

There are 34 coach mentors, nearly 600 kids, and 29 former players now coaching.

The summer camp, now in five locations across Lawrence, employs 150 mentors (all paid), and draws hundreds of boys and girls.

The $800,000 annual budget supports nearly 1,500 kids a year; over 15 years, 9,000 young people have played under the Beyond Soccer banner.

The organization’s 6,400-square-foot headquarters at the Riverwalk Innovation District has an academic lab, teaching kitchen, and fitness space. Oriagna Inirio, another original player, is now fulltime staff. Declan Murphy, who started as a sixth grader, now coordinates the Impact program.

“It’s a different kind of connection than you might make as a teacher,” Murphy said. “Kids can be out there all day, free and happy.”

McArdle, now a fixture in Lawrence, laughed at the question of what’s next.

“I’ll be damned if I know. We still have a lot of work. We want to get more girls playing. At some point I’ll be ready to hand this over to someone else. I love this job. And I do love this city.”

Lawrence, it turns out, needed McArdle – and she needed Lawrence, too. Beyond Soccer is proof that a ball, a field, and a stubborn belief in kids can change almost everything.

You can email Bill Burt at bburt@eagletribune.com.

This is the first-ever team started by Stephanie McArdle, the Wolves, all girls from Lawrence, in 2007.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

These are two of the newest success stories of Beyond Soccer, Arabella Ssendyondo, 18, and Claudia Aguilar, 17, both of Lawrence. The duo started playing soccer a decade ago and became best friends and now both are headed to college with Beyond Soccer’s help. Both are mentors for the organization’s extensive summer program.

BILL BURT/ Staff photo