By Alex Frazier
Ray Coleman is a byword among the Suburban One soccer community.
Coleman has been involved in all aspects of soccer from playing to coaching to officiating to administration.
After playing in college, he began officiating in 1950. His first varsity game was for legendary Central Bucks West coach Stan MacFarland, who was coaching at Buckingham High School.
As Coleman described the experience, “It was a one-man game and the only time the clock stopped was when the soccer ball went into Yerkes’ cornfield, and they had to go in and find the ball.”
He also worked with the Lighthouse Adult League, and started the soccer program at Penn State-Abington.
Later when he became athletic director at Abington, he ceased coaching and officiating.
As District I PIAA Soccer Chairperson for about 10 years, he was much involved in getting PIAA State Championships in soccer.
Before then, District I played District 3 and that was it.
After retiring from Abington in 1986, he remained on the District I Steering Committee and assigned officials for the playoffs.
To honor the years of service Coleman has given to area soccer, the Southeast Pennsylvania Soccer Officials Association has established the Ray Coleman Award which is presented each year to a male and female scholar-athlete, recognizing their dedication, achievement, love of the game and involvement in community service.
This year’s winners are Matt Danilo of Central Bucks West and Gabrielle Nazeni Pakhtigian of North Penn.
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Having met Ray Coleman a number of times, Central Bucks West coach Steve Detweiler didn’t hesitate to nominate Matt Danilo for the award.
“Ray is someone who is very passionate about sports and has been very dedicated,” he said. “Matt was one of those kids for me who maybe technically on the field wasn’t always the superstar, but he was a kid who stepped up and did things he probably wasn’t comfortable with and wasn’t happy about having to do, but for the good of the team, he stepped up and stepped into that leadership role.
“It meant for him sometimes looking at his teammates who were probably some of his friends and having to say things to them he probably didn’t want to have to say, but that’s all about being a leader. He really did step into that role and garnished it and helped us coaches be a liaison between the players. For an 18 year old kid, that’s what you’re looking for.”
Danilo enjoyed being a captain this year and all the responsibility it brought.
“It was kind of new for me,” he said. “I enjoy taking a leadership role.”
He took his cue from last year’s captain, who happened to be one of his friends but who took his leadership a bit too seriously.
“He changed during the season,” said Danilo “I felt we really didn’t get along because he took the role too far. That was something I tried not to do, but at the same time we were really inexperienced, so I needed to be like that. It was definitely a learning experience for me.”
Danilo started playing intramural soccer under the guidance of his father. He then moved to various club teams including Buckingham, Lenape and VE before quitting club altogether in 10th grade. It’s a choice he regrets.
“It was a terrible decision,” he said.
After a year of jayvee at Holy Ghost prep as a freshman, Danilo transferred to West where he started for three years as a right outside back.
As a junior with a good defense surrounding him, he enjoyed playing because he had the opportunity to go forward, but as the only returning starter this year, he had to stay home more, play the offside’s trap and clear the ball.
“It wasn’t very fun soccer,” he said.
In addition to playing, Danilo also gave time back to the sport officiating in a fundraising tournament.
Danilo also kicked for the football team. Back in eighth grade he had tried kicking for a CYO team.
“I was talking to a couple of friends on the team and the coach came to one of our practices and asked if anybody wanted to try out,” said Danilo. “It was pretty fun.”
He’ll never forget his debut of the season against Souderton. He was called on to make a 35-yard field goal. He wasn’t that nervous because in practice he was consistent at 45 yards and had booted one 55-yarder. His main concern was accuracy. Could he drive it between the goalposts?
When the ball left his foot it headed straight between the posts, but did it have enough power? In his anxiety over accuracy, he might not have kicked it hard enough.
As he watched, the ball hit the crossbar and bounced over.
In the same game he also booted five extra points to give the Bucks a 27-24 upset win over the Indians.
He kicked one other field goal during the season and had two blocked, one by archrival C.B. South that was run back for a touchdown.
He also suffered two roughing the kicker penalties.
Danilo regrets that he didn’t decide to pursue kicking.
“I wish I had kicked earlier,” he said. “A lot of the coaches said, ‘Oh, you’re a senior, right? You could get recruited if you had another year left.’”
Next year, Danilo will attend Penn State. He is undecided about a major but will play club soccer.
“He’s a kid that was a captain for us and very dedicated, but also went out and looked for other things and helped other people out as well,” said Detweiler. “You look at what Ray is and what Ray has been for Suburban One, to me he is one of those kids that exemplifies going up, up and beyond.”
•••
North Penn coach Neil Johnson calls Gabby Pakhtigian “the complete package.”
And once you know all about her, it’s easy to understand why.
“She’s a leader and role model and has been since her freshman year,” he said, “and she practices like she’s in a game.”
Pakhtigian has been a goalkeeper for 10 years. When she “graduated” from rec league to travel team, she made the switch to goalie.
As she explained, “I was one of the few girls that didn’t cry at the notion of being put in goal. I was put there, and there hasn’t been any turning back. I enjoyed it. It’s a unique position and I kind of like the pressure.”
She has racked up some remarkable stats in her four years at North Penn. Johnson said that she started 64 games, had 32 shutouts and allowed fewer than 50 goals.
She was named to the first team all-league for the past three years.
“She kept us in games throughout the four years,” said Johnson. “It’s all business when it comes down to the game.”
All of this means little to Pakhtigian, who doesn’t keep track of statistics.
In addition to her other accolades on the field, Pakhtigian has been a captain for two years.
Being a leader didn’t come naturally to her. From being a goalkeeper she learned that she had to be vocal, which she wasn’t by nature.
This became apparent when she first started playing in the Olympic Development Program.
“I wasn’t vocal enough and that was a problem,” she said. “That hindered my development. There were some influential coaches along the way that used some tough love.”
To this day, she credits her goalkeeping as being an influence on her leadership ability.
“As a goalkeeper you learn to deal with responsibility and accountability,” she said. “I’ve learned immensely from soccer from both successes and plenty and plenty of failures. Athletics in general are such a great way to build you for things that you come across in life. I know soccer has done that for me.”
Besides soccer, Pakhtigian has been involved with community service in such organizations as the National Honor Society, the Key Club and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which she was president of.
And, while being involved in so many activities, she still managed to find time to study. Following the first semester of her senior year at North Penn, she was ranked 31 of 1,067.
“I consider myself an academic,” she said. “I really enjoy school. I enjoy learning new stuff, but don’t always enjoy the stuff that comes along with it like papers and tests.”
Next year she will attend LaSalle University on a scholarship. It wasn’t the school she expected to attend when she started the recruiting process 11 months ago.
She was looking at bigger, non-city schools and farther away, like the University of Florida, Maryland and Western Carolina.
But after visiting them, “I decided closer to home might be better,” she said.
In the end, LaSalle’s academic program sold her.
“The smaller classroom setting was going to suit me better, and they had what I wanted to study,” she said, “and I felt post-college it was going to be a good situation for placing me.”
She plans on majoring in nutrition and minoring in Spanish.
“I knew I wanted to study nutrition because I really like food and I like to study how things work,” she said. “I’ve been interested in that for awhile and knew it was something I wanted to look into.”
She has also studied Spanish for five years.
“I didn’t want that time wasted,” she said. “I want to be fluent.”
Pakhtigian is in the process of deciphering the training packet she received from LaSalle.
“I don’t have a huge background in lifting terminology, so I find myself spending just as much time as the workout takes beforehand researching and figuring out what I’m supposed to be doing,” she said.
She will be competing with a returning junior goalkeeper.
“She played most of last year,” she said. “I hope to be ready when pre-season opens up and compete for a spot. I feel that I’ll have the opportunity to hopefully grow as a player over the next four years there.”
Given her past record, that’s almost a certainty.
“She’s studious, she’s spiritual and she’s athletically gifted,” said Johnson. “She has a lot to offer, and I hope she does well in college. LaSalle is lucky to get her.”
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