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 Sept. 16, 2024)
Natural leader. Tireless work ethic. Ability to motivate. Love of the game. Compassion for the team. Non-stop motor. High soccer IQ. All are phrases used to describe Kenna Rozanski by coaches of the Lower Moreland senior. So, it’s hardly a surprise that Rozanski fell effortlessly into her role as captain. She’s a two-year captain of the soccer team and will be a two-year captain of the lacrosse team this spring. “She’s the first and only – since I have been here – that we’ve had an underclassmen captain,” LM girls’ soccer coach Todd Hill said. “She loves soccer, she’s played her whole life, and she works really, really hard at it. She has this really cool combination of love of the game, a strong leader and has a sweet compassion for the team. It’s not all about her. She’s always thinking beyond herself – how can we help the team, how can we include girls. The girls do
pasta parties together. She does a lot of the Instagram work – how can we honor the girls that scored this week and things like that.”
Rozanski – who will take her soccer talents to Holy Family University next fall - enjoys being in a leadership role. “I have a very strong voice,” she said. “I really like to use my experience and my soccer IQ to help everyone else out and just basically explain what I see. Communication is the biggest part.” Hill has welcomed his two-year captain’s input, and when asked how important Rozanski’s role has been in the Lions’ success, he doesn’t hesitate. “I don’t want to overstate it, but invaluable comes to mind,” the LM soccer coach said. “We’re in these growing pains where we’re trying to have a JV team, which is spreading us thin both body-wise and coach-wise. There’s only two of us coaches, so my assistant coach has to go off and coach the JV team during our games, and so, even now, normally during halftime, the coaches will gather, and we’ll brainstorm together – go over things we need to do. Last game, Kenna literally walks up and is verbally processing the game with me – ‘Hey, here’s the things we need to work on this half,’ and that is so helpful for me to just have another soccer mind that said, ‘Let’s talk about it.’ It’s leadership stuff, and her ideas are great, so I’m like – ‘Let’s do that.’”
Lower Moreland lacrosse coach Steve Wittmer also has high praise for his captain. “As a junior captain, she has consistently demonstrated her ability to motivate her teammates, fostering a positive and collaborative environment both on and off the field,” the LM coach said. “Her relentless determination during practices and games has not only contributed to her personal success but has also been instrumental in the overall growth of our program. She leads by example, inspiring her teammates to reach their full potential.”
Playing soccer at the collegiate level has been a goal for Rozanski since freshman year. In the end, it came down to Holy Family and Thomas Jefferson University. Holy Family felt like the right choice. “Holy Family reached out to me first because I was on their radar,” she said. “I really clicked with the coach, and of all the schools I talked to – (coach Jill Reeves) was the one that I felt most comfortable with, and I felt very welcomed there.” Rozanski also excels in the classroom, boasting a 5.4 GPA while taking all AP and honors classes. With an interest in science, Rozanski – who took AP Biology last year and is taking AP Chemistry this year – plans to major in biochemistry. In addition to soccer and lacrosse, Rozanski was part of the Future Business Leaders of America and advanced to the state competition freshman and sophomore years, qualifying for nationals sophomore year. She also is active in her community, coaching through her soccer club and working summer camps as a coach.
To read the complete Rozanski story, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/kenna-rozanski-00114783
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of Sept. 16, 2024)
The tide has clearly turned for the New Hope-Solebury boys’ soccer program. This year’s senior-heavy squad is making up for past frustrations with wins over the same teams that it could not quite match up with in the past. A recent example was when the Lions – winners of just one game last season - bested Cheltenham 1-0. The Lions were outshot 19-1, meaning goalkeeper John Nettles was stellar in earning his fourth shutout of the season. “He has put in some fantastic performances this year,” said first-year coach Chris Van Pelt. “Both on and off the field, he has been awesome.”
While the win was as gargantuan as it could be early in the season, Nettles was maintaining the perspective and wisdom that matches his 4.5 weighted GPA and class rank of second. “It wasn’t our best game, but the
back line stayed solid the whole game,” he said. “Two-three years ago, we couldn’t even have imagined beating some of these teams. It’s exciting to compete with some of these same teams and start to beat some of these teams.”
Nettles, who has been the starting goalkeeper since the last five games of his freshman year, is looking beyond some get-even moments in the regular season. There is a big picture that has come into full view. “It’s exciting,” said Nettles. “In the past, we’ve struggled. This year, there is a different culture. It’s a different environment. We were really a young group the last few years, but we have 15-16 seniors this year. It’s good to grow with the same guys from our sophomore and junior years.”
Van Pelt can see that his senior-heavy team is singularly focused on a postseason bid. “We had a team meeting at the start of the season, and kind of really laid out our plans, and we hope to really get into the postseason,” the Lions’ coach said. “This is a hungry group. I just hope we can get there, because this is a program that has had a rough couple of years in the past. So, getting there is the first goal, but we are determined to also make a deep run.” No soccer team makes a postseason run without a goalkeeper to save the day, and that’s where Nettles comes in.
“He has great instincts,” said Van Pelt. “He knows exactly when to come out and when to stay home. We play a pretty high defensive front. Most of the time, that would scare me. But, with John’s athleticism, he can come out and field the ball. He is pretty good with his feet. I even joked with him in the offseason. about playing up top, just to get him a goal. He’s just a real, real athletic kid.”
Nettles carries a course load with five AP classes. He is open to playing soccer at the next level but is unsure if it will fall into place at schools like Notre Dame or Vanderbilt or Miami or Texas. The NH-S senior, who is also a member of the National Honor Society and Future Business Leaders of America, says he has learned to be a master of time management. As if he didn’t have enough on his plate, Nettles added another helping.
Also a guard and hopeful senior starter on the basketball team, Nettles (5-11, 165) added football to his bag of tricks this year as well as the team’s kicker. It is something he has been doing on his own for the last 12-18 months and made it official this season. “I thought - for my senior year - I would try to do both,” said Nettles, who approached Van Pelt before football coach Ian Bell about being a kicking specialist. It was always something I really wanted to do, so I ended up asking (Van Pelt),” said Nettles. “He was really nice about it. He said, ‘Sure, don’t get hurt. Just have fun with it.’”
To read Nettles’ complete story, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/john-nettles-00114786
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