Thanks to our continued partnership with Univest Financial, SuburbanOneSports.com will once again recognize a male and female featured athlete each week. The recognition is given to seniors of high character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams or who have overcome adversity. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete (Week of Nov. 30, 2023)
Sofia Mignon didn’t need much of an introduction when she arrived as a freshman to try out for the Central Bucks East soccer team. With older sister Izzy a senior and fixture in the Patriots’ lineup, Sofia had ties to the program before she ever set foot on the pitch. “Izzy was one of those kids that worked hard,” East coach Jake Nesteruk said of Sofia’s older sibling who is now playing soccer at Holy Family University. “You could see she was a program kid, and she was super bought in.” As a freshman, Sofia was a member of the jayvee team. “I remember our jayvee coach, Paul Lichter, who has been with the program 15 years, was like, ‘Hey, Jake, you’ve got a special one coming up,’” Nesteruk said. “I’m like, ‘Okay, there’s a ton of special ones. We’re really lucky to have a bunch,’ and he said, ‘Yeah, but this is someone who’s going to change things.’”
That ‘special one’ was Sofia Mignon, and listening to Nesteruk tell it, she lived up to Lichter’s advance billing and then some. “I remember her sophomore year Sof coming in – it was the senior year of Elise (Duffy), Chloe Strawn and all of them,” the Patriots’ coach said. “Sof was very, very quiet but one of those kids you just couldn’t take off the field. She was someone who had an unbelievable work rate, who never turned the ball over, who just absolutely led by example even as a sophomore. She never really spoke up, always did her job, and girls gravitated towards her just because she refused to be outworked or outmuscled. I saw it later than Paul Lichter did, but I knew her sophomore year that this kid is going to be the backbone of our success this year but also for the years coming down the road.”
In Mignon’s inaugural year on the varsity as a sophomore, the Patriots – coming off a 4-4-2 record in the 2020 COVID-shortened season – earned a share of the SOL Colonial Division title and advanced to the state tournament. More importantly, a culture was also being established. “It was definitely something that’s evolved over the years,” Mignon said. “What sets East apart, I think, is the bond we create both on and off the field. The friendships we have helped us to excel on the field as well. We are just extremely comfortable with each other, and it’s in such a short amount of time that we are able to connect that quickly.”
Mignon was a two-year captain for the Patriots, serving with seniors Elliott Forney and Brooke Roumy as a junior. “She handled that role her junior year so maturely,” Nesteruk said. “She just kind of took it, listened to the seniors and let them lead but found ways to bring in what the underclassmen wanted to hear and what they needed and the support they might need. But ultimately, what made Sof so special – she has literally not come out of a game since her sophomore year, and that’s really where her leadership lies. To show up when we need her show up when the games are really tough but also the ones where it’s a 3:30 kickoff, and you’ve got a 40-minute bus ride and you don’t feel like playing. She’s still the same kid that treats the game respectfully, treats the opponents the right way.”
Mignon’s high school career may be over, but her soccer days are far from over. The senior recently signed a letter of intent to continue her soccer career at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). Mignon – who is involved in Next Play Sports and the Kindness Club at East - plans to major in business with her sights set on one day possibly following in the footsteps of her parents and owning her own business.
And what will Mignon take with her from her years as a key part of the East soccer program? “I actually had to write about this,” she said. “What I will most take with me is I will cherish the moments, every single moment that you have and to just live in the moment because before you know it – it’s going to feel like just yesterday I was a nervous sophomore starting, so just live in the moment.” From nervous sophomore to confident senior, Mignon has left her mark on the program. “That’s my favorite part about coaching in high school,” Nesteruk said. “You get to see a kid come into the program that is, quite frankly, afraid of their head coach, and they walk away their senior year, and they’re willing to just spill their thoughts about the game – what they see, what we should be doing differently. You get to see a kid grow up and their interests beside the sport. That has probably been the most rewarding portion of coaching this team is seeing a kid like Sof just become a young adult that has other interests and shares them and laughs and jokes with the coaching staff. She has really opened up in a way that I’m not coaching the athlete, I’m coaching a young adult who’s bound to do some great stuff.”
To read Mignon’s complete story, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/sofia-mignon-00109971
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of Nov. 30, 2023)
To the outside observer, success in sports is only measured in wins and losses. For participants, namely coaches and players, there is so much more to it. While the Upper Dublin football program has enjoyed extended success under the guidance of coach Bret Stover, it is the many players who have sweated it out in the weight room and the hot August practice fields and all the way to the chilly late fall playoff games that have made it worthwhile. For Stover, one such player was Chris Kohlbrenner, who started since his freshman year and just finished a career of blood, sweat, tears and plenty of success, including two district titles. “In my 33 years of coaching at Upper Dublin, he is probably one of my top five players of all time, and I told his parents that too after the (last) game,” Stover said after falling in the District 1 5A quarterfinals to eventual district champion Strath Haven 26-21. “He’s the best,” the UD coach continued. “I only had one captain this year, and he was it. He is more of an ‘example’ guy, but he’s not afraid to give an earful to people, but only when it’s necessary. He had the tact to do it, without embarrassing someone. We are really going to miss him.”
As far as Kohlbrenner is concerned, he couldn’t have asked for a better coach for his journey. “Not only has he been a great coach but a great mentor,” said Kohlbrenner of Stover. “He’s such a great leader for us.” Through his older brother, John, Kohlbrenner was somewhat of a known entity coming in as a freshman. “He came up in our youth program,” said Stover. “I saw him play at Sandy Run Middle School. I also knew him because of his brother.” It was because of his brother, who bounced him around a bit in backyard games growing up, that Kohlbrenner didn’t feel like a stranger in a strange land as a freshman. “It helped a lot,” he explained. “I had good connections already with a lot of those guys. I knew them, and they knew me. It was really easy to bond with them.”
Mitigating circumstances put the freshman class for the 2020 season front and center. “Chris was a four-year starter for us, which was unusual,” said Stover. “But, if you go back to that year, it was COVID and there was no freshman program, so we brought all of our freshmen up. He earned a starting spot as a freshman. He has been quarterbacking that back end of ours for four years now. Last year, he was integral in what we did, considering how far we went (to the state semifinals), but I think he did an even better job this year. He wasn’t working with the talent pool that he was in the years prior. He was not only a player, but a teacher. It was so much fun to watch.” A three-year starter on offense as well, Kohlbrenner was a marked man as a senior. “This year, we kind of moved him all over the place,” said Stover. “Teams were trying to take him away. We kind of made him into ‘Waldo.’ We wanted to make other defenses find him. It was, like, ‘You’re going to have to find No. 4 if you want to stop us.’ He kind of did it all, and you did not have to tell him much. He could move up and do it. He’s just a football player at the end of the day.”
With a course load heavy in honors classes, Kohlbrenner doesn’t restrict his leadership to the gridiron and the locker room. “I make sure to keep my academics up,” he said. “I make sure I keep on telling the other guys on the team to keep their grades up, too, so they don’t get put on academic probation and can play every game. It’s very important. Schools will come in and ask what your transcript is and everything like that. If you want to get into one of those schools, you have to keep your grades up.” That means time management. As a three-sport athlete – four, counting some co-ed CYO volleyball “just for fun” – it is a juggling act that he actually relishes. “I have a tighter schedule, so I fit everything in,” he said. “It’s better than just sitting back and saying, ‘Oh, I have a lot of time to relax.’ I tend to procrastinate and not get things done. I have something to keep me on track. I have practice until like 6-6:30. I just knock it out after I eat dinner.” None of this comes as a surprise to Stover. “He’s a great kid in the classroom,” said Stover. “He’s a great kid in the hallway. He’s just a great kid.”
To read Kohlbrenner’s complete story, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/chris-kohlbrenner-00109969
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