Neshaminy defeated Downingtown East 2-1 to capture the District One AAA title on Sat
urday.
Neshaminy vs. Downingtown East – The Mermaid Champs
By Ben Winderman
SOUDERTON – At 6:30 pm, circling further and further from the stadium, finding tailgates but not parking spaces, the intrigue of this match is evident: best players, top seeds, faithful fans, and competent coaches, but by evening’s end, one school, rich in soccer history, would be poised to take their respective place among the champions that preceded them.
On Saturday night, Neshaminy’s tide elevated again. Buoyed by tradition and hard work, built on rugged play and sublime skill, seven seniors - Jessica Kelly, Sarah Hertenberger, Katie Suchodolski, Stephanie Donahue, McKenna Mullin, Megan Schafer, and Amy Heller - etched their names and the names of their teammates into the company of Langhorne’s Legends.
By the final score of 2-1, The Lady Skins defeated a fierce pride of Downingtown East Cougars, claiming their second title of the 2013 season and taking their place within the conversation of Neshaminy’s greatest teams.
“The first step was winning the SOL,” smiled Megan Schafer, “and the next huge step was districts. We know that from here on out any loss means it’s over, but we still have one more step to take.”
That next step for the Lady Skins will be Tuesday against Red Land High School, the fourth place qualifier from District 3, while runner-up Downingtown East will face Dover, the third place team from the same district. Not much time to celebrate, but these kids are familiar with that territory.
“Eighty-two days!” said Neshaminy midfielder Stephanie Donahue. “We put that number up on the board back in August, so today was just another one of those days; it was a regular game.”
On Monday morning Neshaminy’s players will stand for the pledge in homeroom, take notes in social studies, and shuffle with the herd through the hallways. Then come 3 pm they will hit the practice pitch, warm up, train, prepare, and hit penalties. They may even skip and banana split a bit, but they won’t cut corners or stroke egos, and they won’t talk about Hershey or Cumberland Valley because Monday’s just a regular day too.
Donahue was a difference maker in the central midfield Saturday night, continually anticipating the ball’s trajectory, winning head balls and 50/50’s, and applying pressure to Downingtown’s shape. She may define each game as ordinary but her performance was extraordinary. As was Jessica Kelly’s (she scored the first goal) and Gabby Farrell’s, as was Amy Mandia’s and Katie Suchodolski’s (who scored the game winner). Coach Rachel Clemens couldn’t praise them more.
“This is just such a special group,” Clemens said with a smile. “I knew they could do it, and I’m just so happy for them!”
Clemens explained that both teams knew about each other’s star player (Schafer and Linnea Faccenda), so to a certain extent, there were no surprises in terms of how much attention each received.
For Neshaminy, Nicole Nisivoccia primarily marked Linnea Faccenda, and utilizing the strength of a mighty river successfully limited the 36-goal-scoring striker to hard angle shots and contested crosses. Deep in the second half, Faccenda’s frustration flooded Nisivoccia’s banks as desperation to score converged with exhaustion.
Conversely for Downingtown East, Krystin Hubbard and Maddy Schier suffocated Megan Schafer with tenacious defending while Nicole Caston provided cover for her teammate’s relentless aggression. Both Schafer and Faccenda sacrificed themselves physically and in terms of possession, but it was the Redskins who could attack more effectively from alternative sources. Most significantly, Neshaminy sophomore Gabby Farrell emerged as the most active attacker, and her performance illustrated a balance of skill, maturity, speed, and stamina.
In the game’s waning moments, when other Lady Skins began to pursue the corner flags, Farrell continued to hit seams in the Cougars’ defense and willed her team away from an overprotective shell.
With the game tied at zero in the 29th minute, Megan Schafer stepped back, letting midfielders overlap. The Penn State-bound striker drove a ball to the far post that senior Jess Kelly outdueled Cougar keeper Kaelyn Johns for and earned her team a very short-lived lead. Seconds later ,however, on an almost mirror play, Downingtown East’s Maggie Ferry leveled the score at 1-1.
Both sides battled for scoring opportunities, but the game’s highlights were more in its crunching tackles than attacking flair. Downingtown’s Madison Baxter and Neshaminy’s Nisivoccia executed a clinic in going in hard and punished the ball with oppositional force, but still neither side could penetrate their opponent’s box. Fifty-eight minutes into play, Farrell dummied an Amy Mandia feed and crossed to a streaking Jess Kelly, but Kaelyn Johns snagged the shot with her Cougar paws. Minutes later. Neshaminy GK McKenna Mullin responded by extending bravely to block a sudden Faccenda break. Physical play bordered criminal as players from both sides asserted themselves. The enormous crowd roared with each moment of escalating drama.
Finally, in the 66th minute, Neshaminy’s Amy Heller drove a free kick hard towards Downingtown’s net, and senior Katie Suchodolski maneuvered herself into scoring position. A savvy flick, a frozen moment, then instant euphoria; Suchodolski’s goal would be all the offense the Lady Skins needed.
“I just drove the ball low,” explained Heller of her restart. “The lower the more dangerous.”
With 10 minutes to play, Schafer dropped back to assist Maggie Daeche, Katie McCoy, Nisivoccia, Heller, and Mullin in preserving the lead, and Gabby Farrell won possession for the top-seeded Skins.
“We all have a really great connection,” explained Farrell. “We know what to expect from each other.”
Expect more wins from this Neshaminy squad, more regular games, and one more step in their historic 82-day quest. But take a moment to celebrate, maybe stop in at Suspenders for a toast! Enjoy the raw competition of high school sports and pay gratitude to Souderton Area High School for hosting with class and conscientiousness. Congratulations to Downingtown East who deserve to be champions too, and who knows, come November 16, maybe they will.
Finally thanks for the reminder of youth and its light-hearted beauty.
“She looks like a mermaid,” smiled Neshaminy captain Stephanie Donahue as she carried her team’s District 1 Trophy from the field.
The best comments are the ones that we never expect to hear.
Boyertown 1, Central Bucks East 0
The consolation game heated the scene as The Lady Bears of Boyertown capitalized on an early goal, resilient defending, and magnificent goalkeeping from Sarafina Valenti to claim third place in the district. Both the Lady Bears and CB East Patriots will trot into the first round of state playoffs as a seasoned side and a formidable foe.
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