Central Bucks East defeated Downingtown West on Saturday to capture the program’s second District 1 4A title in three years. (Photos provided courtesy of Christina Esposito/CB East girls’ soccer)
No. 1 Central Bucks East 2, No. 2 Downingtown West 1
The execution was absolutely perfect.
The explanation was almost unbelievable.
The outcome, eventually, was a District 1 title.
With a bit less than 30 minutes left in the second half of Saturday’s Class 4A title match and holding a one goal
lead over Downingtown West, CB East earned a corner kick. Kiera Sleicher’s first try didn’t go great, but it was enough to earn the senior a second crack at playing a ball in.
Then, she saw Ella Roumy unmarked and decided to do something she’s never done. Instead of serving the ball into the waiting mass of blue and white jerseys in the box, Sleicher played it short in the gap for Roumy to line up a shot.
“My previous corner, it wasn’t that great, the wind was a big factor in those today so when Ella started inching up, I realized she was wide open and no one seemed to be reading it,” Sleicher said. “I have so much trust in her and she buried that.”
A Roumy – Ella’s twin sister Taylor – has done a lot of scoring for the Patriots this season, but Ella had yet to put one of her own away. She couldn’t have hit the ball any better, and it sailed into the upper tier of the goal for a 2-0 lead.
“I usually just stay in that gap, I’ve never actually received it,” Ella Roumy said. “No one really expected it.”
When she struck it, Roumy almost did a Steph Curry impression – the Golden State Warriors guard sometimes turning and running back up the court before one of his three-pointers swishes through the net – but the senior explained she didn’t know it was destined for the net.
“I just prayed honestly,” Ella said with a laugh.
Taylor, standing next to her twin, added: “She hoped for the best.”
At that moment, it was an insurance goal. When the Whippets scored with 14:27 to play, it became the deciding goal, but only after the Patriots survived having their crossbar rang again and a frantic final few minutes.
“We’ve never practiced that before,” Sleicher said. “It hasn’t been something we’ve ever tried in a game or just ever. So, her doing that and having confidence in herself, me having confidence in her, that kind of represents how our team is.”
What their team is, after Saturday, is a group that’s won two of the last three District 1 Class 4A titles. It’s also a team that has designs on about as big a finish as possible, a defending state championship squad that embraced the target that brought with it the mentality of an apex predator.
The last two matches in particular really tested CB East. Their semifinal win in overtime against Council Rock South was a test of fortitude while Saturday was one that asked them to endure a skilled foe’s final, desperate push and a lesson that a team that’s won all sorts of ways this fall could do it that way as well.
“We’re always ready to put in a grind,” East forward Mia Forney said. “Looking back at our games from this season, they looked like they were easy games because of how the score reflected but really, there was a lot of grind behind those games. 
“There’s a lot of putting in the work, connecting passes, chemistry, things that people don’t really see if you just look at the score. It looks like an easy game but in reality, it’s not.”
Patriots coach Jake Nesteruk said for him, seeing his team embrace that second identity was a major takeaway from the win. When East is on, controlling the ball and connecting passes, it’s hard for anyone to stop them, but in situations like Saturday where a good opponent could get them off their game, there had to be a different way to find the end result.
“There’s a lot of comparisons to the run we had last year in states where we probably saw the best teams that could have won a state title in the state tournament, and I think we saw the same thing here in districts,” Nesteruk said. “A couple bounces go Council Rock South’s way, they’re in this game. Downingtown West, a couple bounces go their way, they win this game. You want to play the good teams that are going to put you on your back foot, and you’ve got to adjust and I think it does make it more rewarding.”
The first 10 minutes were all CB East, the next 10 belonged to Downingtown West. Patriots keeper Maddie Thompson, a first-year starter in goal as a senior, made two crucial saves in that span to keep the game scoreless.
As East settled back in, the Patriots started to get forward again. Senior Mackenzie Peters, the smallest player in East’s lineup but a workhorse in central midfield, started the sequence that led to the first goal.
Peters aggressively challenged for the ball inside West’s 18-yard box, won it then saved it along the end line before finding Taylor Roumy who cut in and played a ball across to Forney at the far post.
“I was about to go and take it on one touch, and I look around me and I had like five yards of space around me in either direction, so I figured ‘let’s up my chances and take a touch,’” Forney said. “Took my touch, still had time, finished on my left. I really had zero pressure on me on the six, so I figured ‘I’m gonna go for it.’”
Peters, who is committed to TCNJ, spent most of her day working for the ball and defending against the Whippets’ tough midfield and wing players. It wasn’t a one-player effort either, as the central trio of Peters, Mattie Williams and Ava Mignon plus some more good minutes from Delaney Ralph off the bench helped negate some of Downingtown West’s forward runs in times when the East attack might have gotten stretched out.
“They have Camryn Bayly in the middle, she’s really good and was definitely a threat but I think we did a good job of closing her down and locking down the middle,” Peters said. “It was a little frantic at times, especially in the second half, but I thought we defended really well as a team. That was our priority in the second half, especially after scoring in the first half, we wanted to prioritize our defense and not let them get any great opportunities.”
The Patriots have some exceptionally talented players – Forney will be playing in the All-American Game next
month, five of the starters are committed to Division I soccer programs and every senior starter is playing a sport in college – but don’t play as a collection of individuals. They’re committed to each other, Peters kept mentioning the “team” defense over any individual tackles or plays she made, while Ella Roumy noted none of the defenders ever feel like they’re on an island because someone is behind them ready to cover.
“It’s so fun to be a part of something like this,” Peters said. “It’s really special, especially having this going on for three, four years in a row, it’s something I’ll miss once our final games are over. It’s an amazing place to be right now, to be honest.”
East seemed like it was in control after the second goal, Sleicher forcing a good save on a free kick about 10 minutes after it, but the Whippets were too good to fold. A foul by the Patriots set up a free kick that landed in the box with Aubrey Hampson putting one away with 14:27 to give new life to the game.
The Patriots survived a scare right after when Downingtown West hit the crossbar on a header off a corner kick and from there, it was all about the grind.
“Downingtown West is a very good team, but we had to do what we had to do to get that win,” Taylor Roumy said. “We had to adapt.”
The last six minutes probably felt like an eternity for the East supporters in the stands across the field as the Patriots tried to suck the air of the match and get it to the final horn. It wasn’t always the prettiest and again, not the type of soccer East often plays, but the players weren’t going to take any chances.
“We have a lot of grit and determination,” Peters said. “We’re relentless. We’re determined, we’re really determined to win, play together and play for each other.
“I think that’s why we got the win today.”
Taylor and Ella Roumy are both committed to play at Richmond next year, the twins not ready to split up just yet, but there’s still a sense of finality in this run. Taylor admitted to getting emotional when her sister scored on Saturday, and Ella added that while they’ll remain teammates, they won’t get to do so with the remainder of this group after their season comes to an end.
“It’s a lot of emotions. It’s our last year here and we’ve been fighting every single year for this,” Taylor Roumy said. “I’m thrilled and I’m happy, but it’s still upsetting because it’s our last year, last time playing together so it’s all of the emotions at this point.
“I wanted it a lot today, we still would have played again after this, but it’s a final and we wanted to win. We want to make this year memorable so I’m doing anything I can for that.”
The Patriots celebrated their win on Saturday, they knew they’d earned it against an excellent Whippets team that’s got plenty of talent. By the time they’d walked back across the playing surface at Garnet Valley’s Moe DeFrank Stadium, however, their focus was already on the next one.
“Each game we’ve been playing feels like the next step,” Forney said. “We brought the tempo today, we wanted to win but to me, it didn’t really feel as much like a district final but a trophy to win before the big one. We’re two for three right now, we have our league champion and now our district champion and we’re looking toward states now.”
Last year, the Patriots had to fight for their season starting after the district quarterfinal round. This season, they’ll go into states as a district champion – there’s a long list of teams that distinction was not an advantage for in the past – and no less motivated having reached the summit last year and knowing this is their last crack at it again.
“League titles are nice, district titles are nice, but these kids are here to win a state title,” Nesteruk said. “That’s always the goal. These kids will enjoy the trophy and relish in the game but when we start our season, we’re talking about the trophy that sits out in Pittsburgh that we’ve got to go out and get.”
CB East will begin its title defense at home on Wednesday against South Western, the third seed from District 3.
Sleicher noted they’re only guaranteed one more game and at most, they get four. Their lifetime in blue and red is measured in minutes now, so they figure why not take them all and go out on top.
“I think it’s the same motivation whether we’re the fifth seed or the first seed, we want to get to the ‘chip, we want to bring it home,” Sleicher said. “We know it’s in Pittsburgh this year, so we want to make it to Pittsburgh. Maybe it’s a different seeding, maybe it’s a different path but it’s still the same goal.”
DOWNINGTOWN WEST 0 1 – 1
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 1 1 – 1
Playing for more
Whether it’s a green ribbon in their hair or a few words or letters on their wrist tape, most of the Patriots players take the field representing more than themselves.
It has been a challenging year for the CB East community. The unexpected loss of two students – Frankie Pacitti in December and Sam Hanson in April – both athletes, both well-liked and popular, shook the school and community.
On Sept. 22, the girls’ soccer team held a Mental Health Awareness Night. The Patriots won, but the result of the
game was secondary to them and especially to Mia Forney, who was one of the leaders in putting the night together.
The senior played Saturday’s game with a green ribbon in her hair, a flash of it visible here or there as she cut and moved on the ball.
“That’s a really big motivation for me and I know all of our team was really affected by the losses in our high school over the last year,” Forney said. “One of them was one of my really, really good friends and I took that really, really hard, but at the end of the day, I found the best thing for me to do and the way to get my head out of that upset mindset was to play soccer. Even when everything was happening, I’d go train and that would take me to a different place.
“Our whole team, we’re really good at – no matter what’s happening in school or what’s happening in our lives, we can come to a field, play soccer and not think about everything else.”
The stigma surrounding mental health has become much less taboo and a much more prominent focus in recent years. Especially playing for a team that has high expectations and players who put pressure on themselves to reach that standard, the East players have become more cognizant of checking up on each other.
They pushed to have one of their night games devoted to an honest and open conversation about mental health to emphasize those battles don’t have to be fought alone.
“We’re always texting each other and making sure everyone is good mentally and physically,” senior Mackenzie Peters said. “We’re always there for each other. It’s important, we need to get realistic about mental health and the deaths in our community impacted everyone. It’s not just one or two girls, it was our whole community that felt it.”
Peters is one who writes a dedication on the tape around her wrist prior to games, the senior saying it’s a reminder to her that she’s playing for something greater than herself. Forney said the ribbon she wears is a reminder to play her hardest for those who can’t and a symbol that their presence is still felt.
“That’s a huge thing for us. I think if you ask anyone on the team or around the team, you know we really thrive off the relationships we have,” Forney said. “Personally, I’m always looking at the mental health part of things, it’s a huge part of my life now and I’m hyper aware of it.”
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