Soccer
Favorite athlete: Joel Embiid
Favorite team: Philadelphia 76ers
Favorite memory competing in sport: Pennsbury and Lower Merion game winners
Most embarrassing/funniest moment competing in sports: Own goal in my second varsity start
Music on playlist: “Someone Like You” by Adele (team song)
Future plans: Attend college to get a four-year degree in education or the sports world
Favorite motto: “You aren’t defined by your successes, but how you bounce back from your failures.”
One goal before turning 30: Have an established career
One thing people don’t know about me: I’m very organized and a germaphobe
By Mary Jane Souder
Soccer is undeniably Matt Diamond’s sport of choice, and he excelled as a captain of Neshaminy’s soccer team. It’s not, however, the sport most likely to come up in conversation with the all-league defensive back.
“Everyone knows I’m a diehard Sixers fan even though soccer is my number one sport,” he said. “Since freshman year, I would talk to the jayvee coach. He moved away, but I would always talk Sixers with him. Once I moved up to varsity, it moved to coach Foley and coach McCourt. We talked Sixers.”
All of this earned Diamond an interesting ‘title.’
“He’s always talking about the Sixers, and we always tease him that he’s going to be the next general manager of the Sixers, and he better save us some good seats,” Neshaminy soccer coach Tom Foley said. “We call him the GM of the Sixers.”
Diamond obviously isn’t the GM of the Sixers, although they might be in better hands if he was, but the Neshaminy senior certainly has the kind of leadership qualities that will one day translate well into the workplace.
His unfailingly positive attitude was never more apparent than during Neshaminy’s 3-14 season his junior year.
“Last year was kind of disastrous, but he was always positive,” Foley said. “He and (then senior) Jack Sexton were always real positive.
“This year he kind of morphed into the heart and soul of our team. He did whatever we needed him to do, and he was happy to do it.
“He was the guy – along with the other captains – that we bounced ideas off. Who do you think can play where? He was a great choice for captain, and he did a great job.”
Diamond’s leadership style worked well for a Redskin squad looking to turn things about after last year’s three-win season.
“He was the guy that was upbeat all the time,” Foley said. “He’s a vocal guy, and he kind of leads the charge. As far as talking to the group, he’s the most vocal guy.
“He’s the guy that will come into the office and maybe make suggestions. The kids go to him – if they don’t want to talk to me, he’ll be the go-between. He did that a few times this year. He did a really good job.”
The leadership of the team’s three captains certainly played a key role in the program’s dramatic turnaround this fall.
“Last year all those losses and everybody talking about it just really set us off,” Diamond said. “The seniors this year – we knew what we had to do. We bonded more as a team, we took everything more seriously. We put in a lot of work, and now we have that story that we went from 3-14 to one step away from going to the state playoffs.”
Back to the beginning
Diamond has been playing soccer since he was four years old, beginning with in-house with the local Langhorne club and then joining a travel team in second grade. He has been playing with that same squad ever since.
“I did play other sports – I played baseball, street hockey and basketball, but soccer has always been my number one,” he said.
It certainly didn’t hurt that Diamond was good at soccer, and after playing jayvee freshman year, he earned a spot on the varsity the following year but saw limited time.
“At the time, he was a small, slight kid,” Foley said. “He got a taste of what it was in the playoffs.”
Diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in eighth grade, Diamond had a relapse sophomore year, and although that did not affect his playing time, it was an obstacle he had to overcome, and he has.
A versatile player, Diamond played wing as a freshman and sophomore.
“Junior year I started out at back and then they moved me to wing,” he said. “This year, I started at wing, and the coaches brought up an option they thought was best and they’d move me in the back, and I was open to it.
“I was a little hesitant at first because I was having a great time. At Pennsbury, I had the game-winning goal, and I was having a great time coming up with big moments in the night games.”
Diamond’s presence in the back solidified a back line that also included AJ Kollie, Brian Birmingham and Mark Andreyeu.
“Matt preferred playing attack, but he had some experience playing in the back for us,” Foley said. “We were just looking for one guy to solidify our right side in the back.
“We gave guys auditions back there and finally sensed that we were going to try him back there. As soon as he was back there, he was reading the play real well, he stepped in front of a lot of balls. He was just a natural player back there, and he did a great job.
“He was a little hesitant at first to go back, and after the first day he went back there, he said, ‘Boy, that was a fun game’ and not sarcastically. He really enjoyed it. He did an awesome job.”
There is no mistaking the role the defense played in the Redskins’ remarkable turnaround from a team that lost 14 games to a squad that won 14 games this fall and finished second only to Council Rock North in the SOL Patriot Division.
“The selfish part of me was hesitant but then I agreed to it because I wanted to do what’s best for team, no matter what,” he said. “The first game back – the four of us in the back – there was no going back.
“I knew that’s what needed to happen, and I loved it. We went on a stretch with nine shutouts in 11 games. The four of us and (goalie) Dan (Raivitch) and our central defensive midfielder, Damien Castro – we were really on lockdown, and it was fun.
“Most people get excited from all the goals, and everyone after the game asks who scored, but it was great to have the common theme of seeing zeros. It was really exciting for us to be able to do that.”
Diamond went on to earn first team All-SOL Patriot Division recognition for his efforts.
Down the road
As endings go, they don’t get much better than the season just completed for the Redskins.
“I still talk about it,” Diamond said. “We’re (four) weeks removed, but the amount of fun we had as a team this year – we’re sad that we’re seniors and it’s over, but then you look back at it – coming from last year and me personally sophomore year not knowing if I was going to be able to play, we exceeded all expectations.”
Despite his love for the sport, Diamond does not plan to continue his soccer career at the next level.
“I decided that I want to get a better education and focus on school,” he said. “I’m going to attend college to get my bachelor’s degree, and we’ll go from there.”
An excellent student, Diamond, who takes honors as well as some AP classes, boasts a 4.38 GPA and is a member of the National Honor Society. In the spring, he is the manager of the baseball team and keeps the squad’s stats.
As for a major, Diamond has not made a final decision.
“I have a couple different options,” he said. “Some schools I applied to go the education route, and I would be either a health and phys ed or math teacher. My other route would be in the sports world and do sports management or sports communication.”
Although Diamond is opting to not play collegiate soccer, Foley believes Diamond would be an asset to many teams.
“He could certainly play at a nice Division 3 school,” the Redskins’ coach said. “He’d definitely add something to the mix.
“He’s a great teammate, he reads the game really well. His size would hold him back from going much higher, but he certainly would be a contributor to a nice established Division 3 team. He did a great job on the field both as a forward and as a defender for us.”
