Our Staff
Stephanie McArdle
Executive Director
Stephanie began the programs that evolved into Beyond Soccer, growing it from its grassroots--12 girls on the first travel team--to a year-round, sports-based youth development organization, serving 2,000 kids. Steph, who captained the Michigan Women’s Soccer Team for 2 seasons, recognizes the power of sport to lift kids out of difficult situations. She’s a Massachusetts Youth Soccer Board Member and champions field development efforts that "level the playing field" for more kids. Recently, Stephanie decided to go back to school and pursue her Executive Master’s Degree in Public Service & Nonprofit Management at Texas A&M. Stephanie is also committed to advancing the Lawrence Sports Alliance, which is a group of likeminded sports leaders in Lawrence who want to make sports more equitable. When she is not working or studying, she loves spending time with her rescue pups, Ace and Dega, plus her families 6 other rescue dogs!
Fun Fact: Steph’s high school nickname, "Noonie" stuck with her in college & many still call her "Noon" today.
Johnny Noel
Operations Director
Johnny Noel handles the day-to-day functions, including bookkeeping, field, and equipment maintenance, human resource management, and CORI submissions. He is also looking forward to a more significant role overseeing and spearheading capital campaigns that could bring better, creative, multi-use playing spaces to the City, including use of the new Pavillion Field at Riverwalk (pictured here!). A UMass-Lowell graduate, Johnny also holds a master’s degree from the University of South Alabama. His competitive high school and college sports experiences advanced his passion for coaching, including jr hockey league participation. Johnny also answered a statewide referee shortage by becoming a certified High School and youth league referee 7 years ago. On Saturday mornings, after his Coach Mentor pep talks, you will find Johnny on a soccer field mentoring youth through his refereeing duties, which, by his example, is becoming a growing leadership pathway for our high school-aged players.
FUN FACT: Johnny & his older brother were both born on a Wednesday at 5:32 pm!
Chris Marin
Director of Beyond Soccer Programs
Chris Marin, our first Director of Soccer Development has always wanted to pay forward the opportunities he was given in life through soccer. Chris, the oldest of 9 brothers and sisters from El Paso, Texas, began playing soccer at age 5. His extensive coaching and youth development through sports experiences, including his experience as a Peabody Youth Soccer referee, a Salem YMCA after-school counselor, Varsity Assistant Coach at St. Mary’s in Lynn, Salem State College Goalkeeper Coach, North Shore United Soccer Club Coach, and Director of Coaches in Danvers, have prepared Chris to step up for Beyond Soccer and the Lawrence community.
He credits soccer and those who pushed him to stick with it over the years as critical, constant positive influences in his life, always steering him in the right direction, which he is doing daily on fields and courts throughout the City. (See him pictured above last fall, dressed up for a special Halloween city league event. It is hard to pry Chris off of the fields and is always going the extra mile for kids!)
Fun fact: He likes to think that he is very good at chess!
Oriagna Inirio
PT Administrative Assistant
Oriagna, a 2020 Saint Anselm College graduate with a degree in Psychology, was on our first Bulldogs team in 2010, twelve (12) years ago! She also played club soccer for St. A’s! Fast forward to 2022, and she now lives outside of Detriot, Michigan where she works for us remotely as our PT Administrator, as well as in a new Administrative role in the health care field. This was after she continued to pass along her love for sports with Beyond Soccer in immeasurable ways. Oriagna become a constant fixture in our Beyond Soccer #LeadershipThroughSports efforts, joining us most summers for important behind-the-scenes planning and organizing as part of our first cohort of youth hires. She helped us bring our first camps to the City, like the Annual Sport & Wellness Academy that started in 2011 at GLTS. She has also contributed to other components of our year-round work, like developing BeyondFit & Balanced, which impacted 50+ girls last winter in our new program space with a special emphasis on mental health. Oriagna also coaches the Bradford Christian Academy Girls Varsity Soccer team for two seasons. We’re so proud of Oriagna and excited to see what her future holds and are thankful she still keeps us organized, from MI!
FUN FACT: She loves to travel. Her study abroad experience in Italy during her junior year of college gave her the travel bug. Now she has so many places on her bucket list to visit.
Brittanie Ramirez
Coach Mentor & Former Player
Brittanie joined Beyond Soccer more than 12 years ago, making an immediate impression with her tenacious play. She played with us until Fall 2016, graduating from Lawrence High School in 2017 and contributing to its varsity squad. As Brittanie shared, her “ position ranged based on necessity. I dabbled in midfield and defense. However, I always went back to my favorite position; goalie.” Her teammates and coaches won’t forget her tough, diving saves. She now has her Bachelor’s Degree in business and works in property management. In addition to staying busy with work, her nieces and nephews keep her busy.
Why Brittanie wants to coach: “I remember being so grateful for the adults who kept me in sports and off of the streets. I owe it to the organizations that helped me, to help out the next generation of athletes.”
Andrea Pino-Portillo
Coach Mentor & Former Player
Andrea, of Lawrence, has been involved with Beyond Soccer for many years, playing for its 7/8 Grade girls’ Wolverines Team and high school travel teams. She loves sports, including 9 years of softball, a sport she says was so much fun. Today, she is a senior at Austin Prep, and during most of her high school experience, she has been a consistent figure in our in-city leagues, contributing as a volunteer Jr. #CoachMentor. Andrea’s efforts were rewarded with a paid Summer Coach Mentor position through partner, MassHire this past June, and she rose to the occasion, being a vocal leader on the fields, helping us with office administration tasks and camp-day registration. In fact, here she is pictured at our Sport & Wellness Camp registration in July. This fall, she is stepping up even more while attending to her senior year studies and contributing to our city league as the lead Coach Mentor of the Grade 1&2 girls players.
FUN FACT: “I collect dreamcatchers from every state or country I visit.”
Katherine Facenda
Coach Mentor & Former Player
Katherine, a current biology major, concentrating in health sciences at Emmanuel College, hopes to become an orthodontist. We don’t doubt that she will, having known Katherine since she joined our 6th-grade girls’ team more than a decade ago after moving to the area from the Dominican Republic with her family, including her younger sister, who’s also part of Beyond. Katherine continued her soccer journey in college, but because of Covid, she had to stop playing, but her impact on others through the game has not, including Katherine’s summer role as a Coach Mentor and her new role as a Travel Coach Mentor of the Gr. 8 Wolverines. She’s also a resident assistant to incoming first-year students at Emmanuel College and organizes events through her involvement in multiple college clubs.
When you meet Katherine, it’s obvious that she has a passion for learning new things, meeting new people, and going on adventures.
Darvin Gonzalez
Coach Mentor
To say that Davin loves soccer is a complete understatement. Since an early age, growing up in Guatemala, he has always loved soccer and remains grateful for all the opportunities to play in his native city. Today, after immigrating to Lawrence 20 years ago, he brings that love with him, sharing his passion for the game with his two boys and taking over the reins as head #CoachMentor of the Gr. 6 Rebels Team this fall. Darvin was part of our coaching staff pre-Covid, returning this year to continue his role, which has become a special purpose. Darvin shares that he likes teaching young people both the theoretical aspects of soccer and the game’s practical physical and verbal components, all while reinforcing the importance of education like Beyond Soccer does.” Darvin always gives 100% (you should see him on that pitch!), which he expects from his players in return, regardless of their skill level.
Why do you Coach? I like seeing the children have fun and have the opportunity to help and support them in realizing their dreams.
Dominic Nash
Coach Mentor
Dominic, a Lawrence resident from St. Vincent & the Grenadines, has strong community ties near and far. He stepped into a leadership role at Beyond Soccer many years ago. His passion for the game, plus his knowledge and soccer experience, including professional play, have made him a great fit. In addition to coordinating practices, games, and off-the-field events for many different Lawrence Youth Soccer travel teams, this fall, he is leading the Gr. 8 Strikerz, a crucial age for mentorship before they head off to high school. Apart from being with his family (see fun fact), Dominic says, "I’ve found another family which is beyond soccer." Dominic, a jack of all trades, who works in the trade field, continues to play soccer competitively in his spare time. Also, Dominic, who regularly returns to his native island, loves distributing gear, through Beyond Soccer, to passionate young soccer players in St. Vincent, getting his Lawrence players and Coach Mentors involved in the philanthropy!
Fun Fact: Dominic‘s two young daughters participate in Beyond Soccer!
Giovanny "Gio" Monroy Coach Mentor
Gio, a Greater Lawrence Technical School graduate, has lived in Lawrence his entire life. He has always loved sports, a passion he passed on to his two kids, who are also part of Beyond Soccer. His sports journey included boxing, a sport his father introduced to him, starting at age 10. Gio amassed over 60 amateur fights, totaling 42 wins and 19 losses, earning him a U.S. ranking as well as 3x state champion and 2x regional champion titles! In addition to boxing, Gio has always loved soccer, which led him to his long-time Coach Mentor role with Beyond Soccer after coaching in Methuen for 7 years. He continues to step up where needed for Lawrence Youth Soccer, with all that experience earning him the Assistant Head Coach role with Lawrence H.S. boys soccer, which he enjoys in the fall, including coaching his son.
Why Gio Coaches: I "enjoy seeing the players enjoy the game, watching them improve as young adults and see them achieve goals, whether it be in soccer or something else." He believes the best thing in life is bringing joy and helping the youths to stay off the streets.
Elmer Lopez, a/k/a Coach Chando
Coach Mentor
Elmer is as committed as they come to the sport of soccer. In fact, in October 2022, he was recognized with an annual Hispanic Pride award by Semanahispana Enlawrenceinc for his dedication to the community through soccer! In addition to coaching the Grade 4 boys Storm team this fall, Elmer also organizes the City’s adult league, “la Liga Latina de futbol de Lawrence.” Elmer is a great, patient coach whose knowledge of the sport goes far beyond, and much of that has to do with his former high-level, professional play in Guatemala, where he immigrated from more than a decade ago, and when he first immigrated to the United States. It’s obvious that Chando is #AllIn with the kids and the entire Lawrence community and we are lucky to have him involved.
Why do you Coach? I enjoy teaching the game and seeing the youth get better during the season.
OUR SUMMER COACH MENTORS
An exciting and important part of our coaching model is connecting youth who have grown up in our programs to leadership roles as Coach-Mentors and Jr. Coach Mentors. In Summer 2019, 17 Summer Hires, including 10 Beyond Soccer high school graduates and college students, who grew up in our programs, worked as Coach-Mentors running our busy summer camps that reached 500+ kids between June and August 2019. Summer 2020 was difficult with COVID-19, cutting our summer staff in half, but 8 Summer Coach Mentors persevered, engaging 245 youth and teens. In summer 2022, we’re happy to share that 345 hours of physical activity programs were run and coordinated by 38 youth hires and volunteers, kicking off on Saturday, June 26th with our second-annual Volleybond event, followed by a full menu of morning, afternoon, and evening programs that ran through Friday, August 26th. Long-time partners like ECCF, Mass Hire, New Balance, Stevens Foundation, and Amelia Peabody Foundation contribute to these efforts, and thanks to DCR’s first-time #Summer Nights program, we were also able to offer more evening programs benefiting families with more complicated work schedules.
