Soccer
Favorite athlete: Rose Lavelle
Favorite team: The Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: Winning senior night. There was a buzz in the air the whole night and everyone played really hard. When we won, the whole team piled on top of each other.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: When I have dived, my pants have fallen down a few times.
Music on playlist: Literally anything.
Future plans: Attending college and going to medical school.
Words to live by: “Everything happens for a reason.”
One goal before turning 30: I want to learn another language.
One thing people don’t know about me: I was born in Minnesota.
By GORDON GLANTZ
For Rohan McInneshin, moving from her native Minneapolis and ending up in Cheltenham - with a pit stop in Missouri in between - was the form of destiny shaping her belief that everything happens for a reason.
The soccer goalkeeper, who just completed her senior season with the Panthers, would not have wanted it any other way.
“Definitely,” said the daughter of a St. Joseph’s University professor. “I’m very happy where I am, with all my friends and the community here.”
McInneshin began playing soccer, her only organized sport, by the age of seven.
“They kind of just put me in goal, the first travel game I ever played, and I’m still in goal now,” she recalled. “I like it. I being able to see the field and being able to analyze what’s going on and, hopefully, making saves.”
More Fate
By middle school, McInneshin first crossed paths with Leah Matusow, who would coach her there and then again in high school.
“My history with Rohan goes back to middle school,” said Matusow. “That’s when I first started coaching in Cheltenham. To see her from eighth grade to being a senior in high school, she has shown so much growth in so many ways. I don’t just mean as an athlete, but as a person. Her confidence has grown.”
The last two years, McInneshin has split time in goal with Amaya Washington.
The duo formed a unique bond, pushing each other to get better while Matusow rode the hot hand.
“What was cool was watching the two of them push each other,” said Matusow. “It was almost like you had two goalies out there – one on the bench and one on the field. Their relationship was really cool to watch.”
Added McInneshin: “Yes, Amaya is great. She has definitely made me a better keeper, on and off the field. We always have fun in goal.”
Meanwhile, with Matusow having been a goalkeeper herself, the opportunity existed for special instruction.
“She has been amazing,” said McInneshin of Matusow. “She used to be a goalie when she played, which was really great for me. She really understands specific techniques and how to see the game.”
Although it was always easy to relate to McInneshin, this sealed the deal.
“You always can relate to someone who played the same position,” she said. “We were able to bond over that, too.”
Well-Earned Time
From Matusow’s perspective, McInneshin has earned everything she got in terms of playing time.
“Ro is not someone who had always had the starting job or has been the varsity goalie forever,” said Matusow. “That wasn’t her. But she continued to work and put in the time. She proved she deserved to get the minutes, especially this year.
“She would always come to me and say, ‘Hey coach, what should I work on? What can I do to get better?’ She always wanted to just improve.”
And, as she improved, McInneshin became a more vocal presence on a team that came into the season riding high after winning the championship in a spring league last year after Cheltenham’s fall season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“She wasn’t a team captain, but she didn’t need the title to be a leader on the field,” Matusow said. “When Ro talked, people listened.
“She’s great. She knows how to have fun. She wants that for her teammates, too, but she also knows when it’s time to work. I think she really just enjoyed her senior year.”
Breaking that down, on a team that went 5-13 with a lot of tough losses, McInneshin was a constant ray of light.
“She was always so encouraging of her teammates, and so supportive,” said Matusow. “When someone else has success, she made sure to celebrate it. Off the field, she can be soft-spoken. On the field, she’s not. That’s good. As a goalie, you can’t be. She found her voice.”
McInneshin didn’t feel she was doing anything beyond what was expected and what came naturally.
She said: “There’s technical skills and how good a team is, but I think it also comes down to who plays better together as a team and to who wants to win more and who wants to compete more. I think you can create that kind of environment on and off the field.”
Looking Ahead
A member of the National Honor Society, she also takes part in the Science Fair and boasts an unweighted GPA of 4.0. She is considering a major in science or pre-med. Schools such as Pitt, Penn and Georgetown are on her list.
Time permitting, she also volunteers her time at the Holy Redeemer Community Garden
“It’s an amazing community,” said McInneshin. “They really built up the area around it, with goats and chickens. They have a weekly farmer’s market. I go whenever I can, but more in the summer. I help with whatever they need help with, whether it’s harvesting stuff for the farmer’s market or taking care of plants or looking after the animals.”
McInneshin thanked all her youth coaches, including her own dad, Michael. She also thanked her family, namely her mom, Seulky, and Cheltenham assistant coach Ben Bowman.
But, according to Matusow, the gratitude cuts both ways.
“She just awesome,” she said. “She’s an awesome human being.”
Matusow has observed McInneshin in a camp setting, working with younger girls.
“Watching her, and watching other kids look up to her, she just cares a lot about other people and has a really big heart,” she said. “I’m the lucky one. I got to coach her in middle school. To come full circle back in high school is pretty cool. Everyone she meets would say similar things. We are going to miss her next year.”
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