Soccer
Favorite athlete: DK Metcalf
Favorite team: New York Jets
Favorite memory competing in sports: The journey to the PIAA 4A State Soccer Final.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: When I went to shoot on my own net in basketball with a wide open layup and missed. Once I missed, I then realized it was the wrong net.
Music on playlist: Song by Kid Laroi, Lil Tjay, and Polo G.
Future plans: Attend Penn State or University of Florida and major in business and see where it takes me.
Words to live by: “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.”
One goal before turning 30: Find a job that I enjoy doing everyday.
One thing people don’t know about me: I broke my thumb three times.
By Mary Jane Souder
Ryan Schoeneman is the definition of easygoing. So easygoing that coach Tom Foley gave the Neshaminy senior an interesting directive heading into his final soccer season.
“I told him, ‘We have some hot-tempered kids, and I’m going to rely on you to settle them down if things go awry,’” Foley said. “He’s like, ‘Well, coach, they might not like me that much, but I’ll try my best.’ I said, ‘They’ll only be mad a couple of minutes.’”
Schoeneman remembers that conversation with his coach and hasn’t forgotten the frustration that accompanied the Redskins’ back-to-back scoreless ties to open their season.
“We were still working on building the team chemistry back up to its peak,” Schoeneman said. “In the first two games, we found ourselves stuck and not putting the ball in the back of the net. The middle of the field seemed very frustrated because we were playing great team defense all over the field although we just couldn’t generate enough offensive play to find the back of the net.
“I noticed that, and since then, every time we had one of those moments where we got it to the box and just couldn’t tuck it away, I would just say to the boys ‘Let’s calm down, play our game, and the goal will come.’ I never got a response because they were most likely stuck in frustration, although I am sure that they heard me.
“Since then, I feel like they seemed to play calmer and in less of a panic mode when things like that happened. The goals started to come and I had to say it less and less. The more confident and comfortable we all played together, the better we played.”
Listening to Foley tell it, it’s all but impossible to be angry with Schoeneman.
“The kids love him,” the Redskins’ coach said. “He’s one of those kids that whatever good-natured kidding comes his way, he gives that ‘Aw shucks’ type of look. We’ll bust his chops a little bit, and he’ll do the same thing over again just for a quick laugh. He’s just an overall good kid.”
If easygoing describes Schoeneman off the soccer pitch, he is intense on it, The senior outside back was a key member of a backline that was literally impenetrable. The Redskins had 12 shutouts in 17 games en route to a District One 4A title and a trip to the state title game in Hershey where they fell to Seneca Valley 2-1 in overtime.
Interestingly, Schoeneman had been a midfielder for most of his career, but when Foley was looking for someone to play outside back this year, he chose Schoeneman.
“We thought he could handle it,” Foley said. “Being an unselfish kid, he said, ‘Whatever the team needs,’ and he happily went back there even though his natural position is an outside midfielder. He did a phenomenal job back there. He’s clearly one of the reasons we had such an outstanding season, especially defensively.”
For his part, Schoeneman’s main concern was not letting his team down. He’d gotten a taste of varsity action at defensive back as a sophomore.
“I was honestly really worried about it because I never played there,” he said. “I didn’t play as well as I could have because I wasn’t familiar with it.
As a junior, Schoeneman found a home at right midfield.
“He started off gangbusters,” Foley said. “He was really playing exceptionally well, but he hit a patch where he was not himself.”
“I was playing pretty well until I suffered a hip injury,” Schoeneman said. “I tried to play through the injury and it slowly got worse. After resting for two weeks, I came back and was moved into the center mid. I played center mid through playoffs until our last game.
“My main job was to man mark one of their best players in the middle of the field and not let him get the ball. Although I wasn’t used to the position, I enjoyed it and got used to it quickly and just did whatever coach told me to do.
“As I grew throughout the years, I watched all the defenders and how they played. This year, I became comfortable and confident with how I could play back there, and I think it really grew on me.”
*****
Schoeneman grew up playing just about every sport. You name it, he played it.
“I played basketball, football, soccer, lacrosse and baseball,” he said. “It was basically any sport you could think of. I started soccer when I was really young – I was probably three or four when I first started.”
Schoeneman played soccer, baseball and basketball through middle school, and in ninth grade played basketball in addition to soccer. His toughest decision actually came in sixth grade.
“It was between football and soccer,” he said. “I played football for Lower Makefield, but I also played soccer for Langhorne. I had to decide. It wasn’t easy at all because I really loved football, but I honestly thought I was better at soccer and could go further with it.”
Schoeneman went through the usual soccer ranks, beginning with in-house and moving on to travel soccer. In middle school, he joined Patriot FC on the highly competitive club circuit.
This fall, he was a key piece of a defense that quietly turned in one standout performance after another during an abbreviated season that almost wasn’t because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When we played in the stadium, we had a decent amount of fans freshman, sophomore and junior years, but now that we were even limited – we were selling out on tickets, which was different,” Schoeneman said. “You never usually sell out tickets for soccer games.
“It was special this year – everyone wanted to go to games so badly, and even though COVID was going around, it was still a big thing, and it made it special because we knew everyone wanted to come.”
It turned into something of a dream season as the Redskins won the district crown and – as a result – earned the district’s lone berth in the state tournament.
Schoeneman throw-ins led to both goals n Neshaminy’s 2-1 overtime win over District 11 champion Emmaus in the state semifinals, a win that vaulted the Redskins into the state title game in Hershey.
“It meant a lot to be there,” Schoeneman said. “Obviously, it was devastating when it first happened and the ball went in the back of the net, but on the way home on the bus, we were talking, and we said, ‘You know what, let’s just make this fun because we had an amazing season.’
“Even we didn’t get the result that we wanted, we still made history at Neshaminy. We were talking about it – usually all eyes were on football with everybody going to the games, but we finally brought some eyes to soccer this year.”
This year’s squad included 14 seniors who shared whole lot of history together.
“The team was together this year – we all became friends, and we’re still hanging out to today,” Schoeneman said. “It’s more than soccer now. Now we all have good friendships, and we’re all best friends. It really grew us as a group. We had good chemistry, and that’s why we played well together.”
Off the soccer pitch, Schoeneman – enrolled in honors classes since he was a freshman - excels in the classroom and, according to Foley, received straight A’s in the opening marking period.
“My mom and dad always taught me it has to happen in school before it happens on the field,” Schoeneman said. “They always said that to set my priorities straight. I can’t go to soccer practice if I don’t have the best grades I can and I’m not reaching my potential at school.
“My brother and sister set the standards. They would always have all A’s, and I had to follow them and do my best.”
A member of the National Honor Society, Schoeneman was a captain for Gym Night, and he is a member of the Inter-Ac Club, which does community service. He recently enlisted his soccer team to donate items for his Operation Shoebox project, which included filling shoeboxes with items that are distributed to children in Third World countries.
“It was just a good thing to bring us together and do something good for the world,” Schoeneman said.
Schoeneman has his sights set on attending a large school – Penn State (where both his siblings are in school) and Florida State top his list, and the senior outside defensive back – a second team All-SOL selection - is looking to continue his soccer career at the club level.
“I told him – you could definitely play at a nice Division 2 school or a really highly competitive Division 3 school, but he’d rather go to Penn State,” Foley said.
“I can’t say enough about the kid. He’s a super nice kid, he doesn’t care about the accolades.
“I wish he could have been a first teamer, but I got five kids on the first team this year, and the coaches had to draw a line somewhere. Unfortunately, he and Louie (Salmi) didn’t get first team. I said to the both of them, ‘You guys are the main reason we are where we are.’ Ryan said, ‘Coach, it doesn’t matter. If we win the district and win the state, that’s all that matters to me.’ That’s the type of kid he is.”
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