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. 23, 2024)
It was a phone call no athlete wants to receive.
When the phone call ended, Mia Cairone retreated to her bedroom and shut the door behind her. Just days ahead of her senior soccer season at Council Rock North, Cairone had received unexpected and devastating news. She understandably needed some time to process it. Her future of playing Division I soccer at Penn State, which had all but set in stone for the previous year, was now gone as fallout from an NCAA lawsuit led to the program pulling her expected spot on the roster.While dealing with an unprecedented adverse situation, Cairone has started her senior season in fine form, and her response to the challenge has led the senior to a new home at the next level.
Cairone didn’t linger in the negative, instead choosing to be open, up front and aggressive in getting back on her feet which led to her committing to Nebraska less than a month later. “The day it happened, it was right after a high school practice when I got the call. I was in the room with my parents, and when we hung up the phone, I just went upstairs and had an hour to myself,” Cairone said. “My parents came up and asked if there was anything they could do. I said, ‘You can bring my laptop,’ because I had to start emailing coaches and find a new home. I had to go to high school practice the next day and pretend like everything was going great, which it wasn’t. The scariest thing about reaching back out to coaches is that you’re just waiting.”
Once she’d pulled herself together after the phone call from Penn State’s coaches breaking the news, Cairone got to work. She started pulling together any film she could find from the last three years at CR North or her PDA club team, began emailing college coaches she knew from her first go-round with recruiting, then took a bold and brave step.
On August 22, a day before the PIAA season began, Cairone posted to her X account that as a result of the roster restrictions that came in the wake of the NCAA lawsuit, she would no longer be attending Penn State and would be making every effort to find a place at another high level program. By opening up and owning an unfortunate situation, one that was not exclusive to just her, Cairone gave herself a chance to get the new opportunity she was looking for. “I know the power of Twitter, and if you post something with the right tags, you can get something seen by a huge audience,” Cairone said. “It wasn’t about outing Penn State, it was about letting coaches know I was available again, and I needed people to know what was going on. This is a really unfair situation, but if other people are struggling with this, at least you know you’re not the only one.”
College women’s soccer isn’t the only sport that has been affected by the NCAA’s new regulation, and players across the board in the Class of 2025 are dealing with a new, unexpected hurdle. Cairone’s objective was to find herself a new home at the next level but as she weighed making the news public, she considered the others who might be struggling with it as well. “I wanted to show that there’s hope,” Cairone said. “The fact that it was an awful situation, it was not fun - I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, but the fact is you deserve a second shot that is as valid as your first one Going public was a big thing and knowing you will find another home, coaches will be open to you. It’s stressful but you will get through it.”
On the soccer pitch, not only is Cairone a clinical finisher - she netted her 50th career goal for CR North in the first weekend of the current season - her blend of size, strength and speed is very difficult to defend. North coach Gavin Flannigan knew quickly that Cairone had the makeup of a game-changing player. “The right word is efficiency, I’ve not seen too many players who are as calm and composed when the moment’s at its highest and the crowd’s at its loudest,” Flannigan said. “When the excitement is there, she seems to find a way to be calm and efficient in those areas. She’s just very, very good at it.”
To read the complete Cairone story, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/mia-cairone-00114994
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of Sept. 23, 2024)
When Tom Butts returned to his alma mater last season with a mission to resurrect the moribund Hatboro-Horsham football program, he knew the first step was changing the culture. That meant players buying in. There was a small senior group that did it, but a larger group of juniors that helped spark a 5-5 regular season finish and a trip to the district playoffs. “It was a little bit of everything,” said Butts. “We had a bunch of coaches that were in the building. We have five guys on staff that were in the building, so we recruited kids out of the hallways. But, honestly, the biggest change was the kids. They just bought into it. They didn’t have to trust us, but they trusted us. They bought into what we were selling. They did everything that we asked them to do, whether it was in the weight room in the offseason or coming back at night and getting on the field for 7-on-7s. They gave us everything they had.”
Chief among that group was Michael Clauser, now a senior. “This is only my second year back at the school,” said Butts. “I know he played a lot as a sophomore. Last year, he was a two-way starter for us.” Although the roster may list Clauser as a running back/safety, his real position could be best described as a coach on the field, particularly on defense. “He kind of sets the defense for us on the second level, as far as what coverage we are in,” said Butts. “We have checks, but they are checks that the kids need to know. He gets us into what coverages we need to be in, and whether he is staying up top or coming down into the box. He is the senior leader back there. He gets us where we need to be.”
A year ago, it became clear that opponents were simply bigger and stronger than the Hatters. Now? Not so much. “Our kids crushed it in weight room this offseason,” said Butts. “(Clauser) never misses. He never misses anything. He is an all-football guy.” Clauser, who is likely to get his commercial driver’s license and head into the working world after graduation, doesn’t plan to give up the gym, even if he gives up football. It is has become too integral to who he is as a person. “I like lifting weights,” said Clauser, who played baseball through middle school and ran track through last year to help keep him football shape. “That has always been fun for me. I like going to the gym. It helps a lot on the football field, but it just helps to keep my mind off things. After football season, I’m going to be at the gym every day.”
As part of Clauser’s current position on not playing collegiate football, despite drawing some interest and being an “A-B” student, is the toll the sport has taken on his body.“I went to a West Chester camp, but I just get beat up every game,” said Clauser, who missed several games as a junior with a concussion. “I don’t know if I can take that. College ball is definitely a big commitment, too.”
Clauser missed the Hatters' 38-27 loss at Academy Park with a bad back sustained a week earlier against Upper Darby. When Clauser does return to action, a major void will be filled. “He has been great,” said Butts. “He is an absolute workhorse. He has a high football IQ. Offensively, he can play either halfback spot. Defensively, he is our strong safety. He is the absolute leader of our defense.” Clauser has become a more vocal leader in the Butts era.“I’m not a big talker, but I will get on kids,” said Clauser. “I will say stuff, but not as much as some others will. I lead more with my actions – by doing the right thing, doing what I’m supposed to do most of the time.”
Clauser was sort of a personification of an athlete in a once-proud program with two wins in the span of four years. However, they were all business on the field. That included Clauser, in particular.“Last year, it was kind of crazy, how quiet the entire team was,” said Butts. “They were as intense of a group of kids as I’ve ever been around, but they were just kind of super quiet. When they step onto the field, they are not talkative but, man, they get into their checks and get the communications down, as far as their verbal-visual of what they need to do. Michael kind of follows into that mode. He’s kind of a quiet kid off the field. When he gets on the field, he’s all business.”
To read Clauser’s complete story, please click on the following link: https://suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/michael-clauser-00114995
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