Summit High's boys soccer team enters the 2026 fall season with the backbone of last year's Watchung Division championship squad intact: nearly the entire defensive unit is back, five senior captains are steering the locker room, and head coach Kevin Cahillane's program is eyeing a deep postseason run after last November's sectional final exit.

The Hilltoppers finished 2025 at 15-4-1, won the Union County Conference Watchung Division title, rattled off an 11-game unbeaten streak and knocked off an undefeated Scotch Plains side. Their season ended Nov. 14 with a 1-0 loss to Cranford in the North 2, Group 3 sectional final at Summit High, according to NJ.com. Logan Welch's 68th-minute goal denied the Hilltoppers a third sectional crown and first since 2023.

Most of that squad is back.

The returning back line and goalkeepers give Summit a defensive foundation few Watchung Division opponents can match, according to Patch. Goalkeeper Joe Dadourian, who made two saves in last year's sectional final, is among the returning keepers.

"We had some great milestones, winning the Watchung Division championship, going on an 11-game unbeaten streak, beating an undefeated Scotch Plains team," Cahillane said after the November 2025 sectional final. "Those are just milestones but really I'm just proud of them all coming together and pulling for each other."

That togetherness is the identity this year's five senior captains are building on. The program has called on Summit fans to pack the stands as the Hilltoppers navigate another grueling Watchung Division slate featuring the conference's strongest programs.

Younger players can get an early taste of the program at Summit High School Soccer Development Days, running Tuesday, Aug. 18 through Thursday, Aug. 20 at 125 Kent Place Blvd., open to rising K-8 students. The Hilltoppers open their Watchung Division schedule in September.