Sarah Cortes beams as a Seton Hall University player. Cortes is the new Columbia High School girls head soccer coach.
MAPLEWOOD/SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — Sarah Cortes has been named the new Columbia High School girls soccer head coach.
“I’m super excited for this season,” said Cortes in an email to the News-Record. “CHS is truly a special place, and I feel honored that I’ve been trusted with leading the girls soccer program.”
Cortes replaces Sophie Merentie, a CHS alumna who was the head coach for the past few seasons. “I definitely have big shoes to fill by taking the lead after Sophie, but we’ve got a really strong core group of girls that I know will help us find success this year,” said Cortes. “We’ve also got Lindsey Clesmere and Orla Crimi coming back, and Mateo Green is joining on as the freshman coach, so our staff is solid. This is my first time as a head coach, so what I’m really looking forward to doing this year is building a culture that emphasizes hard work and trust in your teammates and coaches.”
Cortes grew up in Paramus and played for head coach Vic DiPasquale at Paramus High School, where she was an all-state player and broke the school’s all-time assists record. After graduating in 2013, she continued her career at Division I Seton Hall University under head coach Kaz Tambi and was a member of the team for five years, including a redshirt year after tearing her ACL.
Cortes returned to Paramus as a volunteer coach before joining as the freshman coach there while she was in graduate school at Seton Hall. After coaching at Paramus, she joined the staff at CHS as the freshman coach last year.
Cortes cited her father and coaches as her biggest coaching influences.
“The three best coaches I ever had were my dad, Kaz Tambi, and Vic DiPasquale,” she said. “If I can take a little bit of what I learned from each of them, we will without a doubt have a successful season and future of CHS soccer.”
Photo Courtesy of Sarah Cortes.
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