The Neshaminy girls’ soccer team will be playing for a state championship on Saturday. Check back for photos of all the action and Ben Winderman’s complete game story.
By Mary Jane Souder
They share a special camaraderie that is unmistakable.
During a brief break at Friday’s practice – their final of the season, the subject of the team’s bowling outing comes up in conversation.
“What did you bowl?” Neshaminy soccer coach Rachel Clemens asked Katie Suchodolski.
“It was a 13,” Suchodolski said.
“No, it was a 36,” a teammate offers.
Then it all comes back to Suchodolski, “I had 13 gutter balls.”
“But it was two games,” Clemens said in Suchodolski’s defense. “All I can say is it’s better they picked the game of soccer rather than bowling because there were some poor scores that day.”
The bowling outing came after the Redskins had eked out a 2-1 come-from-behind overtime win over Pennsbury.
“They were all very nervous coming to the sideline after that game,” Clemens recalled. “They said, ‘Coach, you’re smiling,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I’m very happy that you showed a lot of heart and desire to come from behind and win today.’
“They said, ‘Are you going to make us run jog sprints?’ because that’s the one thing they fear the most. I said, ‘No, we’re going bowling.’ They looked at each other like, ‘Is she serious?’ I said, ‘I’m dead serious. We’re going bowling. We need a break.’
“It was the middle of our season. It wasn’t necessarily that we played bad, but we didn’t play the game we were potentially able to play. To me as a coach, it was an indication that we needed to take a break from the game of soccer and go do something and have fun as a team, so we went bowling.
It’s those little things that really aren’t so little at all that have played a role in a magical season that has seen the Redskins roll to a 24-0 record, picking up an SOL National Conference crown as well as a District One AAA title along the way.
Just one win separates the Redskins from their first ever state title, and for most, the season has exceeded even their highest expectations.
“One of our goals was to stay undefeated at home, and we wanted to win the league,” senior Megan Schafer said. “It didn’t necessarily mean undefeated, but that just makes it so much better.
“Even a couple of games when we were down, we were like, ‘We don’t want a tie. We might as well finish it out.’”
And finish it out they have. On Saturday at 4 p.m., the Redskins will face Spring-Ford at Hersheypark Stadium, and at Friday’s final practice – on the turf at William Tennent High School, the players admitted that it’s been difficult to think of little else in recent days.
“I see myself in class – I’m not focusing at al,” Suchodolski said. “I know that.
“I’m looking through all my pictures on my phone of my moments I’ve had with the soccer girls.
“I’m texting my mom, ‘Mom, I’m so nervous. Mom, I’m so excited.’ She tells me to get it out of my head. Two nights ago, I didn’t sleep at all, and it wasn’t even the night before the game. I couldn’t sleep. I was too excited. Everything was rushing through my head. Last night, we watched a Christmas movie – Elf - so I wouldn’t think about it.”
In truth, it’s hard to blame the players for their singular focus.
“It’s been amazing,” senior Jessica Kelly said. “It’s honestly everything I’ve dreamed of. It doesn’t get any more perfect than it’s been.”
“It’s just been surreal,” senior McKenna Mullin said. “We’re living the dream.”
This year’s memorable season came on the heels of a 2012 season that saw the Redskins advance to the state semifinals where they fell to Cumberland Valley.
“We were so close last year, and we just wanted to get a step further,” Schafer said. “We made history for our school, which is awesome.”
More importantly to Clemens, the team has shown improvement in each of her four years at the helm. Three years ago, the Redskins lost in the opening round of playoffs. A year later, they earned a first round bye but fell in the second round. Last year, they gave glimpses of potential greatness with their run to the state semis.
“One of the things they said as a team when we set down our team goals this year was, ‘one, we want to make it to the state final, and two, we want to be undefeated,’” Clemens recalled. “I just looked at them and said, ‘I’m okay with that, but at the same time, we do have to recognize and be realistic that it’s very hard to stay undefeated and untied throughout and entire soccer season.’”
According to Mullin, there was nothing especially unusual about the team’s goals.
“No little girl is going to come out and say, ‘I just want to be okay, maybe lose a couple of games,’” the senior goalkeeper said. “You want to go out and win every game. Yeah, this was always in the back of my head.”
Clemens took a more realistic approach.
“I obviously wanted to make sure they stayed grounded and focused, and as the season progressed and we continued to stay unbeaten, it was just unreal,” she said. “Here we are 24-0 going into the state final.
“Obviously, we hope to get that ‘W,’ but at the same time, it could be the first loss of the season as well. I’ve talked to them a lot about it, and I think they’re prepared for both circumstances.”
As important as the wins are the good times the team shares.
“Our bus rides get pretty rowdy,” Suchodolski said. “On the boys’ bus rides, they just sit there listening to headphones. We’re screaming, dancing, yelling, singing the entire time.
“Some of my favorite memories have definitely happened in the locker room just being ourselves.”
This Redskins team doesn’t need an excuse to have fun. It happens everywhere.
“Just getting together at someone’s house and our pasta parties,” Kelly said. “We’re such a close family that any time together is a great time.”
“Just the bus rides, the pasta parties,” Schafer added. “We make up songs, and our coaches want to kill us because we’re so loud.
“Yeah, we get sick of each other sometimes - we’re girls, but we take advantage of the opportunities that we have. We’re with each other every day after school. It’s just awesome that we have the chance to get so close. We’ve become like a second family.”
A family that shares superstitions – the most publicized is the fact that the team made a pact to not shave their legs until they lost.
“We haven’t shaved our legs since Aug. 29,” Schafer said. “All the boys and everyone is like – that’s so gross, but we tell them – that’s 24 games we’ve won. We haven’t lost yet.
“There are a lot of superstitions. Jess (Kelly) is probably the most superstitious. We have to do the same thing before every game. On the bus, we have to listen to a certain song at a certain time. It’s just so much fun.”
There’s a song by Taylor Swift called ‘Stay, Stay, Stay’ that last year they changed to ‘States, States, States.’
“We do everything together,” Mullin said. “Seriously, I don’t know what it’s going to be like next year playing for a team without them.”
Clemens credits her seven seniors – Schafer, Kelly, Mullin, Suchodolski, Steph Donohue, Amy Heller and Sarah Hertenberger – for setting the tone.
“The one thing about this team that I really admire is that this senior class is just such a mature bunch of girls,” the Redskins’ coach said. “They’ve understood that, yes, the first time we lose might be in one of the biggest games of the entire season.
“With their leadership, they’ve kind of sprinkled that down through all the other players, and they’re just a fantastic bunch to work with”
The Redskins are united by their love for the game.
“There’s a mutual love for the game of soccer and wanting to be the best we can be and go as far as we have gotten,” Suchodolski said. “Off the field, we’re best friends. On the field, it just makes it so much better because a lot of teams fight with each other on the field. If something goes wrong, we won’t fight with each other. We’ll talk it out.”
For 24 games, it’s been a winning formula. Trips to state championship games are rare indeed, and both players and coaches know they’re part of something special.
“It’s definitely living the dream, but at the same time, we have to be humble because we’re not there yet,” Suchodolski said.
“Regardless if we win or lose, I couldn’t be more proud of everyone and everything,” Schafer said.
The Redskins have already ensured themselves a spot in history. They’ve won districts for the first time ever, and they’ve advanced to the state title game for the first time.
On Saturday, the Redskins will take one more bus ride together. They will sing too loudly, they will dance, they will yell and scream, and they will savor every second of the experience because, win or lose, they really are living the dream.
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