SuburbanOneSports.com recognizes a male and female featured athlete each week. The awards, sponsored by Univest, are given to seniors of good character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete (Week of May 28, 2014)
It didn’t take Marianne Paprone long to realize she’d inherited a special player in 5-foot, 3 ¾-inch dynamo Rachel Konowal. Roll back the calendar to the fall of 2010. Plymouth Whitemarsh, after an opening round district win over Unionville, traveled to Central Bucks South for a night field hockey game against the top-seeded Titans. The Colonials lost the game 4-0, but Konowal – then only a freshman – stood out in a crowd. “My kids were pretty intimidated just because of their reputation and it was a night game and all that kind of stuff,” Paparone said. “She was a freshmen and was probably the least intimidated of anybody, and I said, ‘This kid – she’s a player’ because it’s not just athletic (ability) but also your mind and your heart, and she clearly showed that from the beginning.”
A fearless competitor, Konowal was a first team all-league and all-state field hockey player who has accepted a scholarship to compete at Monmouth University. “She was our heart and soul,” Paparone said of her center midfielder. “She was a great leader by example just because she worked so hard all the time. She set high standards for herself. She didn’t expect any more from anyone than she would give herself. She had a very positive attitude, never hung her head and always welcomed a challenge. She trained a ton off the field to improve her skills. Her work ethic was tremendous every day all the time.”
Konowal also played basketball and softball and will leave PW with 12 varsity letters. “The thing I’ll remember most about Rachel is she always said thank you at the end of every practice, even the ones we finished with countless sprints,” PW basketball coach Daniel Dougherty said. “She was the heart and soul of our team for the past four years.” It was the same story on the softball diamond. “Rachel has been one of the greatest leaders that any coach could ask for,” PW softball coach Dana Moyer said. “She is a fierce competitor and has been a major reason for the success of our squad, but more impressive than her ability on the field is her personality off the field. Rachel Konowal is an intelligent, spirited, positive and talented young lady who is as kind and generous a person as they come – a coach’s dream. She will be missed tremendously.”
Athletics have been part of Konowal’s life for as long as she can remember, and making her journey even more memorable was the fact that she shared it with her twin and best friend, Courtney Konowal. “It’s amazing to think about because not only do you have your best friend to practice with, but she also enjoys the same things I like,” Rachel said. “She brings that competitive edge and makes me want to play harder and better, and I think I do the same for her too.” The Konowal twins were the SOL’s top scorers and led the Colonials hockey squad to an SOL American Conference crown. An honors student, Konowal carries the work ethic she plays on the hockey field into the classroom.
To read Konowal’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/dan-jacobson-0044777
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of May 28, 2014)
As injuries go, a lower back strain is barely a blip on the radar. Some rest, and you’re good to go. But it was enough to keep Upper Dublin’s Dan Jacobson off the hill and on the bench for a stretch of a few weeks toward the end of the season. For the fourth-year varsity player, it could not have come at a more inopportune time. “I was just more frustrated than anything, watching all my teammates play,” Jacobson said. As fate would have it, Jacobson would get the call one last time in the May 8 season finale against Plymouth Whitemarsh. And the Upper Dublin senior was able to live in the moment, ending his storied career with a storybook ending. Avenging his only league loss sustained against PW in his last outing before his injury on April 16, Jacobson was near flawless in a 1-0 extra innings win. Going wire to wire, he allowed just two hits while yielding no walks and striking out seven. It was a grand way to go out but also bittersweet. In the blink of an eye, his high school career was over.
For a while, it seemed that Jacobson was going to take his fast ball – clocked as high as 88 miles-per-hour – close to home and play for Temple, but the varsity program was since dropped there. Jacobson, who boasts a 3.5 GPA and a resume of team-related community service activities, had other options. They included Lafayette and West Chester. And Rhode Island, which quickly rose to the top for a variety of reasons, including the fact that it was located near the beach and had marine biology as a major. “It’s not the easiest major to find,” he said. “I was willing to drop the major for baseball, but they had it there. It just kind of worked itself out that way. I always loved the beach, marine life and the tropics. I’m giving it a shot.”
The opportunity to play right away as a freshman was memorable for Jacobson, but nothing topped playing a major role on the 2012 team that reached the state tournament. It was the first time in school history that an Upper Dublin baseball team had made it that far. When he came out this spring, Jacobson was the last of the 2012 Cardinal family standing. “We’ve been lucky to have Dan as a starting varsity pitcher for us since 2011,” said coach Ed Wall. “He has been a leader on an off the field. Whether it is in the classroom, a community service opportunity or on the playing field, you can always count on Dan to be the one to step up and get involved.”
To view Jacobson’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/dan-jacobson-0044777
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