Luke Marchesano loves soccer.
He loves playing for Archbishop Ryan High School.
He loves putting in the work, leading his team and succeeding with his teammates.
But he’s not always happy with everything surrounding the game.
He hates to lose.
Last year, coming off a season where the Raiders advanced to the Catholic League championship game, Ryan fell in the first round of the playoffs after a tough regular season for all teams in the Catholic League.
Winning in the PCL is no joke. Every day, you see a formidable opponent and winning games in the Catholic League takes a lot. Just about every game, on paper, could go either way.
Still, Marchesano isn’t over the first round exit Ryan suffered in October.
“Getting knocked out in the first round is not nice and we expected, we all wanted more out of us,” said Marchesano, a starter since his sophomore year. “We wanted to do more, win more and all that.
“You work hard all year for the season. You have to be ready to play, and we lost in the first round. That’s not what we want. We want to win.”
Marchesano isn’t just mad.
He’s doing something about it.
So are his teammates. Since the 2025 campaign ended, Marchesano and his mates have been working hard to make sure a repeat does not happen in 2026.
This is when Marchesano really puts in the work.
“I love the grind of working hard during the summer and putting in all the work,” Marchesano said. “We are working hard this summer, I think there’s been a switch in everyone’s mind. We know what to expect and everyone is putting in work with the team and alone. I think we’ve been working very hard for this upcoming season.
“We’re playing in a men’s league, we’re getting in much better shape. We’re playing in that league, it’s not really about winning there, it’s more about being around the game, always working hard and making sure we don’t have the same exit as we did last year.”
Marchesano knows he will have to use his skill to make sure the Raiders do have the season they want to have.
But he also knows there’s other things he has to do to make sure Ryan reaches its full potential, and he’s brushing up on those skills, too.
“I think it’s become a leadership thing, now that I’m older, there are things you have to do because you’re the leaders,” he said. “Being young and starting as a sophomore, you play a role but you don’t have that leadership skill. You have to grow into that. I think going into my senior year, the seniors are stepping up into that role. We don’t decide captains until the start of the season. The goal is to try to get everyone before the season starts, get everyone ready and going and make sure everyone is ready.”
Marchesano loves playing for Ryan because to him, it’s more than just a soccer team and a school. To him, it’s family.
His uncle is Ryan Haney, the coach of the team. Ryan’s son, Owen, is one of the top players on the team. And Marchesano has been around Ryan – and Ryan soccer – for as long as he can remember. Probably longer.
His brother Dom, 32, went to Ryan but didn’t play sports. According to his youngest brother, he was the smart one in the family.
Big sister Ashely is next, she did track. Shawn, 24, was a star wrestler. Nick, 22, played soccer and wrestled. Jake, 19, was a star pitcher at Ryan and is now throwing for the University of Delaware.
Ryan is way more than just a school to the Marchesanos.
“I was always around, I kind of grew up with Ryan, either watching my brothers or being around it,” the youngest Marchesano said. “My older brother was a soccer player so I remember going to a semifinal game against La Salle in maybe 2018. It was cool, I remember seeing so many people watching them play an important game. I was young, but I remember it being special.
“I look up to all of them. They all have really good qualities and things that are really good about them. And I definitely look up to every single one of them.”
He hopes for more memorable times this year before he heads off to college. Where is unknown. His major? That’s been known for a while.
“I want to study education and be a teacher,” Marchesano said. “I’ve always wanted to do that. I’m not exactly sure what I want to teach, I haven’t gotten that far yet, but I know I want to teach.
“I definitely want to play soccer. And coach? Yeah, I know I don’t want to be done with the sport when I’m finished playing in college. I’d love to stay around the game.”
With the future set, he’s just worried about bringing the Raiders back to the top of the Catholic League.
“I love playing for my uncle, we all do because he knows the game and he’s done a lot in this league,” Marchesano said. “And I love playing with my cousin. We’ve always been very close. We have a really good team coming back, he’s a big part of it.
“I’m so happy we have this year. I didn’t want to go out the way we went out. I don’t want that to be my final goodbye for soccer at Ryan. It’s nice to have another year of what we can show what we can do.” ••
