One more Challenger: Neshaminy takes on 2nd seeded Downingtown East for the District 1 Crown
By Ben Winderman
As anticipation builds for Saturday night’s District 1 Girls Soccer championship game pitting the top-seeded Neshaminy Lady Skins against Downingtown East’s Cougars, we are reminded that it’s a small minority of outfits who have high school soccer games in November.
It’s one reliable way to define a tremendous season. So to Spring-Ford (4-1 winners over Strath Haven in the playback), Boyertown, Central Bucks East, Downingtown East, and Neshaminy, a hearty Huzzah and collective Congrats! (Don’t bet against Spring-Ford in states, but don’t gamble on high school sports).
The task at hand: For several reasons, this championship fixture has the ingredients of a feast:
- Both sides are unbeaten for now.
- Both squads feature an amazing stud player (Megan Schafer from Neshaminy and Linnea Faccenda from Downingtown) who share certain intangibles: Physically dominant, intelligent and unselfish, competitive, creative, and mature beyond expectation.
- Hungry; make that famished, for a taste of perfection.
- Solid in the net, stingy in the back, pragmatic in the midfield, and dynamic up top.
- Expertly coached: Both Craig Reed (D-town East), Rachel Clemens (Neshaminy) and their respective staffs understand the players they train: their capabilities, vulnerabilities, and tendencies, and both managers are willing to adapt and improvise. This amounts to a fascinating duel within which subtle decisions may have profound effects.
- The steaks, I mean stakes, are rare, I mean high. District One has produced several previous state champs in the fall and the spring, but neither Downingtown East nor Neshaminy have engraved their names on a trophy that prestigious. Peter’s Township has won the last three state titles and before them a school called Downingtown West (2009). A win Saturday night would give one of these two teams not only unprecedented district supremacy but the confidence to call themselves contenders in the keystone.
Downingtown coach Craig Reed was economic with his thoughts. “It’s always exciting when you get to play the #1 ranked team in the district,” he said. Neshaminy coach Rachel Clemens went about the business of her team’s preparations in solitude.
Act one (5 pm) will be an intriguing match-up between the Lady Bears of Boyertown vs. the Patriots of CB East, followed by the clash Redskins vs. Cougar Claws. Will Neshaminy retain its superior seed, or will Downingtown climb one branch higher for a better view of Hershey. Are PK’s in the script? Will it be Schafer or Faccanda who emerges as Futbol Queen of Twenty Thirteen? The game holds every answer, but for now no one’s showing their cards.
Okay fine, bet on Spring-Ford November 5!
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