Central Bucks East senior Emma Loving recently earned NSCAA All-American recognition.
By Mary Jane Souder
Emma Loving routinely attracted a crowd on the soccer field.
It’s the kind of thing that happens when you are one of the state’s premiere goal scorers and top players. Loving finished a brilliant senior season with 33 goals and helped propel her Central Bucks East squad to new heights – the program’s first District One AAA title and a state runner-up finish.
“Here’s the bottom line – when you have a player of Emma’s caliber, you know you have an opportunity to win any game,” East coach Paul Eisold said. “That’s confidence in the team and the players sense that.
“Players sense that hunger and desire, and that allows them to step up their level of play because they smell it. Having somebody like Emma changes the complexion of the game.”
Loving admits her soccer career had modest beginnings.
“I started out like most girls – everyone wants to play soccer,” she said. “We all start out on the coed intramural rec teams.”
She moved on to Buckingham United and in eighth grade joined FC Bucks.
“I started getting a little more serious with soccer, and I saw things going in a different direction than where my team was going,” Loving said. “That’s when the whole college search started.
“From there, I kind of realized I can take this as far as I want to take it if I put the work in. I decided to put the work in.”
A swing player her freshman year, Loving’s season ended prematurely when she was sidelined with a concussion. She was a fixture in the varsity lineup the next three years, earning first team all-league honors each year and first team all-state honors the last two years.
“The way Emma grew over the last four years – we knew we had a player, but we didn’t know what caliber,” Eisold said. “She obviously scored 20 goals last year, but she had help. Coming into the season, we didn’t know what we had in Emma. We just wanted her to be the best she could be, and she obviously killed it.”
The Patriots took a 24-0-1 record into their state title game against Upper St. Clair where they suffered their first loss of a memorable season (2-1). Loving – despite being swarmed at every turn - scored her team’s only goal.
“It was a crazy experience,” Loving said of her final high school season. “It was amazing. I think the coolest thing about it was just playing for my school and being able to have your community behind you for everything.”
Loving admits she had given consideration to attending private school before she entered high school.
“We sat down and had the discussion,” she said. “My parents said, ‘Do you want to go to East? What is it about East that makes you want to go there?’
“I said – I think it’s the opportunity to play for my community. When you play for a private school, it’s awesome, it’s great and all, but it’s being backed by your community and having that behind you when you’re playing – that’s been the coolest thing about it. The fire department met our bus and the boys’ bus and drove us back into school. It was awesome.”
Loving’s All-American selection capped a remarkable high school career.
“It means a lot to me honestly, but I would have given everything for a state title,” she said. “At the same time, this showed me individual effort does pay off.
“No matter how frustrated you are, no matter how taxing the season can be, your effort didn’t go unnoticed.”
Loving will be taking her talents to the University of Pennsylvania next fall, and the idea of playing a sport she loved at the collegiate level became more than just a dream when she received her first e-mail from a coach.
“It took it from a childhood dream – every girl wants to grow up and play on the national team and be like Mia Hamm,” Loving said. “I think that’s when the whole idea of being successful became realistic.”
According to Eisold, players like Loving are rare.
“When you have that player, you know you can win any game,” the Patriots’ coach said. “One of the biggest differences between Emma and most girls’ soccer players is her ability to change gears.
“You think of a car having a stick shift – she has that fifth gear, and she just flat out uses it. You don’t see that a lot in the everyday high school career.”
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