By Abby Chong, Alexa Willrich, and Sophia Wu, Co-Sports Editor and Staff Reporters
In a battle for the PIAA 4A State Championship on Nov. 16, the Conestoga girls’ soccer team faced off against Downingtown West High School. From start to finish, both teams showed their determination to win.
Within the first five minutes of the match, Downingtown West took an early lead. Conestoga quickly responded, with senior Mackenzie Hogan and junior Kate Kemmerley scoring minutes later, bringing the score to 2-1. Just before halftime, Downingtown West scored once more to tie the score 2-2. With no goals in the second half, the game moved into overtime, where Downingtown West scored a goal and took the win 3-2 against Conestoga.
“I think what we could have done better is have more offensive threats. A lot of the time there’s pressure just to score,” Kemmerley said. “When my teammate was dribbling, I needed to be more included in the play. If we had a little bit more of ‘I want to score a goal, let’s go score goals together,’ we definitely could have had more chances, which could have been more goals, and then we could have won.”
Coming off of a year where seven starters graduated, senior and co-captain Izzy Allred is proud of the effort that the team has put in to rebuild.
“A lot of underclassmen had to fill in those spots, and they did a good job,” Allred said. “It was pretty much a whole different team than last year, and I’m very impressed that they could come in so quickly and adapt.”
This season marks the second year that the team has made it to the state finals. To Allred, this was a constant motivator that helped her stay focused during the season.
“Coming off of the loss last year at state finals, we were all just super hungry to get back there. I think that drove us every single day to work harder in practice,” Allred said.
Head coach Deane Mariotti has always emphasized the need for strategy and a strong mindset. Throughout the season, the team juggled multiple games per week and daily practices to hone their skills and improve their teamwork.
“Mindset is a piece of what we do, but it’s not the majority of what we do. Our practices are a lot more based on improving our gameplay, our tactical work and giving the girls the tools to problem solve in real time during a game so that they can be successful on the field,” Mariotti said.
Allred believes that the tight bond between players helped the team this year.
“The team is so close. Everyone is friends with each other. Even if you’re not friends in school, everyone becomes friends from the soccer team because we are with each other 20-plus hours a week at times,” Allred said. “Everyone’s super close — we get together outside of soccer. I feel like there’s a lot of friendships made that last outside of the season.”
As the team reflects on its journey to the state finals, Mariotti highlights the year’s significance, despite the loss.
“The big thing is that to get to the state finals is a pretty significant accomplishment, and for the girls to do it two years in a row, I think is remarkable. It’s a testament to both their commitment as well as their hard work and their ability to work together as a team. You don’t get to the state finals without those things,” Mariotti said. “I think this group of girls really put in the effort to create a culture and work ethic to put themselves in position to compete on that last day of the season.”
Abby Chong can be reached at [email protected].
Alexa Willrich can be reached at [email protected].
Sophia Wu can be reached at [email protected].
