It was during the winter of the 2016-2017 school year that Luke Nowell first met Jordyn Paszamant.

The Phoenix Varsity girls' soccer coach was on his way to an offseason workout, carrying a sack of balls designed for futsal, an indoor soccer variation played with an even smaller ball. Paszamant, then only a seventh grader, approached Nowell.

"She said, 'Hey, when are you guys training? If I email you, can I come work out with you guys?'" Nowell recalled. Impressed by the Middle Schooler's initiative, Nowell's answer was a no-brainer: "Absolutely."

From her first workouts with the high schoolers, Paszamant proved she belonged. So much so that by the following fall, as an eighth grader, she was clearly good enough to play with the Varsity squad. With solid proof that she was able to not only hang but take the field with his team, Nowell and Paszamant sat down with her mother and athletic director Michelle Crowley and hashed out the details, making sure she was able to balance Middle School and Varsity athletics.

She could –– as easily as she can dribble a ball around defenders.

Paszamant became the first eighth grader ever at Friends' Central to compete in Varsity athletics, starting every game for the Varsity girls' soccer team and finishing third on the squad in points as the Phoenix made it to the 2017 Friends Schools League semifinals. Though she admitted it was "rough" at times being the youngest player on the team and forging a new path, Paszamant clearly benefited from her additional season both on and off the field.

"It was just an amazing experience," she said. "I'm really grateful that the school let me play as an eighth grader, it helped me improve a lot and boosted my confidence and self-esteem."

Now, Paszamant is a third-year starter for the Phoenix, one of a crucial group of sophomores that Nowell is counting on to help lead his team to their first league title since 2015.

The lynchpin of Nowell's 3-5-2 scheme, Paszamant is relied upon to put pressure on opposing ball handlers and help the Phoenix control the middle of the field.

That was clear in Friends' Central's second game of the season on September 4, when the Phoenix played host to Agnes Irwin in a non-league matchup. Paszamant was constantly involved in the action, whether that was busting up Agnes Irwin momentum and helping flip possession or using her quick feet to get around defenders and find her teammates in space to push forward.

That's all part of a successful game plan for Paszamant, who described her job on the pitch as follows: "Making sure you're working hard the whole time, running, giving it your all, going in for all the 50-50 balls and encouraging your teammates, getting open in space, calling for the ball and communicating, [that] all makes a perfect game."

She did all that and more last Wednesday, coming up with a spectacular late strike to help the Phoenix salvage a 1-1 tie against the Owls.

The Phoenix, who tied 2-2 with Cardinal O'Hara in their season opener, were without two key seniors in Izzy MacFarlane (illness) and Sydney Bendesky (broken wrist) for their game against the Owls. That meant Nowell had five sophomores in the starting lineup, all in the attack and midfield, as well as a shortened bench.

Up front were Sydney Stewart and the speedy Julia Burd, joined in the midfield by defensive-minded center-mids Juliana Aiken and Maggie McDevitt, with Paszamant ranging the field between all of them. Paszamant, Aiken, and Burd all entered this season with significant playing experience; McDevitt and Stewart are adjusting to larger roles. It's a group that Nowell called "very, very exciting," and it's easy to see why.

"They're a phenomenal group of players and even better kids, and they all get along really well on and off the field," Nowell said. "So it's been really nice to watch them grow over the course of the last year, and hopefully over the course of the next few weeks, they'll continue to build on that."

Agnes Irwin took the lead in the 22nd minute on 9/4, but Friends' Central kept making strong runs at the Owls' goal, helped by Burd and junior wing Lily Selkow, who dominated the right sideline all game long. Despite constant pressure on the Agnes Irwin defense, however, FCS couldn't get a clean look on goal.

It wasn't until the 78th minute that the opportunity finally came. Junior defender Ryan Lynch played a long ball upfield, which Paszamant trapped perfectly outside the goal box, turned, and fired one low and fast past the diving Owls' goalkeeper.

"I knew that we needed a goal, and usually I'm not the one to do it but it felt really nice being the one for once," Paszamant said of her first tally of the season. "As soon as I saw an opening in the net, I was like, I need to take this –– and luckily it went in."

"She has worked so, so hard since last year, all offseason, winter, spring, on her ball-striking and her finishing," Nowell said. "So when she beat the girl and got a clean touch out of her feet, I knew she had a chance to put it on frame ... that's exactly what we work on, low and hard to the corner, and you could see her reaction - she was really thrilled to finish it off for us."

The Phoenix have four more non-league contests until their first Friends Schools League game against Friends Select on Sep. 17, and hope to be back at full strength well before then.

With an experienced back line consisting of Lynch, Bendesky, senior goalkeeper Eva Bartholomew, and senior defenders Brynne Menen and Caroline Blackman, as well as exciting youth up front –– junior wing Anna Gallace and ninth grade wing Allie Whellan rounded out the rotation Wednesday –– Nowell's group has the experience and talent needed to make a run at the FSL title.

And they know it.

"We're a lot better at this point this year than we were last year," Paszamant said. "A lot of the same group stayed together, and we all have a really good bond together, we work hard together, and we're definitely going to keep going up from here."