Honoring Her Legacy

Luigi Mongan has a lot to call home about these days, but unfortunately, one of his biggest cheerleaders is no longer on the other end of the line.

A senior on the William Penn men’s soccer team, he has helped the Statesmen to their best start in program history at 8-0-1 and a #8 ranking in the NAIA.  As wonderful as all of that is, Mongan can’t tell his mom about it.  Sadly, his mother Marcella Incarico lost her battle with ovarian cancer on May 12 of this year.

“My mom and I were really close,” Luigi said.  “Whenever I had issues or something, I would be on the phone with her for hours.  If soccer or school wasn’t going great or I had relationship issues, I would always talk to her.”

Three years ago, Luigi, a native of Manchester, England, was excited to come across the pond and start his collegiate career.  That 2021 campaign was a strong one for the navy and gold as they went 13-8 overall.  Most notably, William Penn won its first-ever national tournament game by defeating Milligan (Tenn.) in the opening round.

Individually, Luigi appeared in nine games as a freshman with one goal and two assists from his midfield position.

He was flying high as he returned home for summer break, but was quickly brought back to earth.

“I had no idea of anything,” Luigi said.  “As soon as I got in the car at the airport, I could tell something was wrong.  I arrived in the morning and I was saying I was excited to see my friends that night, but my parents said that maybe I should stay at home with the family.  I thought that was weird, but I let it go.  I was pretty jet-lagged so I took a nap, and when I woke up, they told me.”

“Hearing your mother has cancer is the most earth-shattering news a kid can receive,” Luigi said.  “You just never expect it to happen to you.  I was completely broken.”

Believing Marcella’s condition was fairly stable, the family decided it would be best for Luigi to return to Oskaloosa, Iowa and resume his studies and his playing career.

“My mum was not bad when I left for school that fall, but each time I went home for break, she got worse,” Luigi said.

While his team was winning on the field, Luigi, who has one sister Bella, was humbled by the ‘brotherly’ love from his teammates during the most difficult time of his life.

“My teammates were brilliant when they found out,” Luigi said.  “They were always there for me when I needed someone to talk to or if I just needed company.”

Luigi and the Statesmen continued to excel on the pitch in his sophomore campaign, going 11-7-3 and making another trip to nationals.  He led his squad with seven goals, including a career-high two versus Iowa Wesleyan on August 31, 2022.

Then, last fall, William Penn made its biggest splash, finally advancing to the NAIA’s Final Site where they were eventually knocked out in the Round of 16 by Dalton State (Ga.) in a tough 1-0 decision.

Luigi was a standout on the 2023 team that posted a 12-5-4 record, starting all but one game with three goals and five assists.  He earned Heart Offensive Player of the Week laurels on October 9, 2023 due to tallying game-winning goals against both Central Methodist and Benedictine.  He added an assist versus CMU as well.

Back home, amazingly, Marcella was also improving.

“It really took me by surprise how good she looked last Christmas,” Luigi said.  “She was fine, she was going to the gym every day.”

The owner of Out There Events, an event-planning business, Marcella, who would have turned 54 this November, was once named as one of the 50 Most Inspiring Women of Manchester.  She met Luigi’s father Martin when they were in college in Birmingham, England.  Born and raised in Italy until she was three years old, Marcella named Luigi after her Italian heritage.

“It’s hard to put into words what my mom was like, who she was,” Luigi said.  “I think the way I would describe it, is that nearly everyone who met her instantly fell in love with her.  She came here last year and all of my teammates were like, ‘wow, she’s so full of life’.  She was just awesome.”

Unfortunately, as often happens with her illness, Marcella’s condition rapidly deteriorated.  Her doctor prepared her for surgeries on numerous occasions, but the cancer had metastasized (spread) and operations to remove some of the tumors were no longer possible.

“Just after I left home last winter, my mom was in the hospital a bit in January, and she kept saying her surgery was delayed,” Luigi said.  “Obviously, it was getting worse, but it was hard for them to tell me over the phone, so I didn’t really know how bad it had gotten.”

Unaware of her worsening state, Luigi went about with his classes and spring practices and was looking forward to staying a few days longer in May to celebrate the graduations of some of his teammates.  On the phone with his father during the last week of school, however, Martin told him he needed to come home right away.  Marcella disagreed with her husband, but Luigi followed his father’s counsel and made it home on Friday.  Marcella passed two days later.

“Although it never went away and we kind of knew it was going to take her someday, everyone in the family felt like we had a lot of time, like 10 years, but that wasn’t the case,” Luigi said.  “I got home on Friday and I went to see her right away and she looked like a totally different person.”

“I don’t think I would have been able to live with myself if I took my mum’s advice and stayed for graduation and wasn’t able to see her one more time,” Luigi added.  “Even though I only got to see her a couple more times, I am so grateful I got to say goodbye and say everything I needed to say to her before she left us.”

The next few months went by in a haze for the Mongan family.  Although he wanted to be there for his dad and sister, who started school at Liverpool University this fall, Luigi needed a return to normalcy.  He booked a flight for mid-July, a couple weeks before preseason practice began.

“I told everyone here what had happened, but for the first few weeks after her passing, I kind of kept to myself,” Luigi said.  “My coaches and teammates were really supportive and told me to take my time, but being at home was so hard.  No one really knew what to do, and there were just random people coming to the house who I really didn’t know or wanted to talk to.”

“So I ended up coming back to school to get away,” Luigi added.  “I wanted to be alone and clear my head before the season started.  My family was and is doing as well as can be expected, so everyone was ok with my decision.  I talk to my dad every day and my sister quite a bit as well.  I just needed to get back to normal.”

Now back in Oskaloosa, Luigi, despite battling a nagging injury, has yet again been an integral cog in William Penn’s machine with one goal with two assists this season.  One of the top squads in the NAIA with a highlight win over then-#4 Oklahoma Wesleyan, Luigi believes there is something special going on this year.

“Every year we’ve been up there, but there haven’t been any expectations,” Luigi said.  “This year, there is belief that we can achieve big things and that’s exciting.  We’ve always been the underdog, but we know we can beat anyone.  Everyone is bought in, and all the newcomers have come in and immediately made an impact.  It’s great.”

While things have gone about as good as possible on the pitch, there have still been rough spots for the senior midfielder.  His teammates, however, have again and again been there to lift him up.

“For whatever reason, I was struggling after the Briar Cliff game, but a few of the boys saw me and took me to the side and talked to me,” Luigi said.  “Being boys, it’s sometimes hard for us to deal with stuff like this, but me being one of the leaders, they said it’s good for me to show my emotions.  We have a lot of young guys going through things, being homesick, so to see someone like me let it out, it allows them to know it’s ok as well.”

Throughout the last few years, Luigi’s coach, Simon Brown, and his staff have been impressed with not only how Luigi has carried himself, but also how the rest of the team has lifted up their teammate.

“Luigi has been a massive part of our team since the day he got here,” Coach Brown said.  “We are very proud of his willingness to open up and share the difficulties of this adversity in his life.  The reality of being an international student is that you sacrifice having to leave your family.  Your team, though, then becomes your family and I am proud of how the guys have rallied around Luigi and have grown together.”

Luigi knows that unfortunately more rough days will await him down the road, but he also believes his mom would not want him to be unhappy, but rather find the joy in every day.

“Obviously none of this is easy, but I know my mum wanted nothing more than for me to be happy and she knew I had great people around me here at William Penn,” Luigi added.  “She knew how loved and cared for I am here.”

Luigi, a Business Management major who hopes to continue to play after his time at William Penn and eventually coach, will always miss his mom, but is steadfast in doing everything he can to make her proud.

“Obviously, it would be nice to win a title in my final year here in memory of her, but I’ve been thinking about this a lot and honestly, my whole life is now dedicated to her and her legacy,” Luigi said.