Tag: high school soccer

When athletes achieve a four-peat, they breathe the same rarefied air as teams like the New York Islanders (1980-1983), the Houston Comets (1997-2000), and most recently the University of Oklahoma Softball team (2021-2024).

The men and ladies’ soccer teams at Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School hope to join that exclusive list this weekend at the fourth annual Cristo Rey Cup.

This is the largest athletic tournament among the Cristo Rey network of schools, bringing students from Philadelphia, Baltimore, and two local schools from D.C. and College Park, Maryland.

The round-robin tournament takes place at Northwest Branch Recreation Park on Saturday, and the championships are Sunday at Catholic University.

Since the start of the tournament, the boys and girls Wolf Packs have won each year, and this year’s seniors don’t want the winning streak to end on their watch.

Sophia Lopez told WTOP that she’s not nervous at all. “I’m really confident. I think our team, for sure, will bring back the cup,” she said.

The Hyattsville native did not love soccer when she first started playing at the age of four.

“I hated it. My mom tells me stories about how I would always run into the goal and hide,” Lopez said. “I actually was forced into the sport.”

Lopez eventually learned to love the sport, and by age six was the only girl on her team.

Another senior with his eye on the prize is Martin Ferrufino.

“Four wins in a row is what we’re hoping for,” Ferrufino said.

All of the students within the Cristo Rey network of college preparatory high schools are part of the corporate work-study program. Thanks to the program’s sponsors and donations, families with an annual income of $41,000 pay roughly $1,500 for the $20,000/year tuition to attend the Takoma Park school led by its president, Mark Shriver.

Brian Kohler, the school’s director of development and communications, said the students work once a week as part of the corporate work-study program.

“We are super excited to support over 400 students from the D.C. area to have a really solid and top-quality Catholic education that combines both internships and work-study options with a solid educational experience,” Kohler said.

The jobs, Kohler said, could be at anything from a law or communication office to a hospital.

The school was established in 2007, and now has over 400 students made mostly up of Hispanic and Latino students (90%) and African American students (10%). A majority of the students have a 3.0 GPA or higher.

When Lopez graduates, she hopes to go to college for sports medicine. For Ferrufino, it’s about engineering, or possibly architecture as well.

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© 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

When athletes achieve a four-peat, they breathe the same rarefied air as teams like the New York Islanders (1980-1983), the Houston Comets (1997-2000), and most recently the University of Oklahoma Softball team (2021-2024).

The men and ladies’ soccer teams at Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School hope to join that exclusive list this weekend at the fourth annual Cristo Rey Cup.

This is the largest athletic tournament among the Cristo Rey network of schools, bringing students from Philadelphia, Baltimore, and two local schools from D.C. and College Park, Maryland.

The round-robin tournament takes place at Northwest Branch Recreation Park on Saturday, and the championships are Sunday at Catholic University.

Since the start of the tournament, the boys and girls Wolf Packs have won each year, and this year’s seniors don’t want the winning streak to end on their watch.

Sophia Lopez told WTOP that she’s not nervous at all. “I’m really confident. I think our team, for sure, will bring back the cup,” she said.

The Hyattsville native did not love soccer when she first started playing at the age of four.

“I hated it. My mom tells me stories about how I would always run into the goal and hide,” Lopez said. “I actually was forced into the sport.”

Lopez eventually learned to love the sport, and by age six was the only girl on her team.

Another senior with his eye on the prize is Martin Ferrufino.

“Four wins in a row is what we’re hoping for,” Ferrufino said.

All of the students within the Cristo Rey network of college preparatory high schools are part of the corporate work-study program. Thanks to the program’s sponsors and donations, families with an annual income of $41,000 pay roughly $1,500 for the $20,000/year tuition to attend the Takoma Park school led by its president, Mark Shriver.

Brian Kohler, the school’s director of development and communications, said the students work once a week as part of the corporate work-study program.

“We are super excited to support over 400 students from the D.C. area to have a really solid and top-quality Catholic education that combines both internships and work-study options with a solid educational experience,” Kohler said.

The jobs, Kohler said, could be at anything from a law or communication office to a hospital.

The school was established in 2007, and now has over 400 students made mostly up of Hispanic and Latino students (90%) and African American students (10%). A majority of the students have a 3.0 GPA or higher.

When Lopez graduates, she hopes to go to college for sports medicine. For Ferrufino, it’s about engineering, or possibly architecture as well.

Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.

© 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.