Conestoga opens season with a resounding 5-0 victory over Downingtown East – Daily Local

BERWYN — The Conestoga High School girls soccer team made it to the PIAA 4A championship last season before falling to Pennridge. This year, they hope to be the team that dominates the game, not only in District 1, but in the state as well.

That goal got off to a spectacular start on a beautiful Tuesday night at Teamer Field as the Pioneers broke open a close game by scoring four second-half goals to pull off an impressive 5-0 nonleague season-opening victory over Downingtown East.

“We have a very young team. We have a lot of ninth- and 10th-graders here,” East coach Jason Luzak said. “We’re trying to teach them that this is the speed of play we have to play. Conestoga is a great team. They have a lot of organization. They’re very fast, big and strong. I think they’ll go far this year. They have a chance to win states. Last year it was Pennridge, it’ll be good to keep it in District 1.”

Although ‘Stoga had some departures from last year’s team, it is once again deep and talented, with 10 senior players on the team, four of them who started Tuesday.

“The girls have been working really hard,” Conestoga coach Deane Mariotti said. “We’ve been working on ball possession and ball care and finding our rhythm as much as we can and I think you saw a lot of that in today’s game and it’s a great way to start the season.”

The Pioneers gave an early warning by having the first big scoring opportunity of the match. Following a corner, Kate Kemmerley headed a ball into the bottom left corner of the net, but goalkeeper Maddy Simonton dove in to save the score. However, it proved to be a temporary respite.

In the ninth minute, Kemmerley took a shot that Simonton saved with her hand. The rebound landed just off the goal line and Kemmerley got over her defender and scored the first goal.

“The goalie stopped my first shot and I thought, ‘Wait, I can do this,’” Kemmerley said. “So I ran over, hit the girl and got her into the box.”
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Conestoga almost doubled their lead with less than 16 minutes remaining when Simonton cleared a Keira Kemmerley shot from distance. The ball came loose but she swatted it away.

Despite allowing four of the five goals, Simonton was outstanding in goal. He made seven saves in the first half and nine overall for the evening.

“She has tremendous athleticism,” Luzak said of Simonton. “She’s a very solid and talented goalkeeper. She catches the ball, she dives and she stops it.”

Despite controlling the game for most of the half, the Pioneers went into the break with just a one-goal lead.

“Personally, I wasn’t happy,” Kate Kemmerley said when asked if she was happy with the first half. “But I think as a team, I knew those chances would come, and they did. We just had to be patient and keep looking for goals.”

Simonton came back strongly early in the second half to ensure the lead remained at 1-0. Keira Kemmerley broke away on goal alone. She tried to beat Simonton but she dived to her left and smashed the ball away.

Conestoga finally took a two-goal lead when Amelie Stewart collected a ball and deposited a shot into the back of the net.

“It was a really good pass,” Stewart said. “I felt the girl on my back and I couldn’t touch her with my left, so I touched her with my right.”

The first half of the final 40 minutes was played almost exclusively in the East end. That territorial dominance translated into goals from Maddie Fox, Lauren Grimes and Izzy Allred.

Meanwhile, the East offense continued to struggle. They finally got their first shot on goal a little more than halfway through the game. Their best chance came on Lilly Donnelly’s shot from about 15 yards that hit the crossbar.

Mariotti had to completely rebuild his defensive line, so he was pleased not to have kept a clean sheet.

“I think they did really well,” she said. “Our defensive line was made up of seniors who had graduated, including our goalie. We have some seniors and juniors there this year and they’re communicating really well. They did a great job there.”

Note: The start of the game was delayed slightly because the officials determined that Stoga’s new gray home uniforms did not differ significantly from Downingtown East’s away uniforms. After some discussion, it was decided that the Pioneers would wear their red warm-up bibs over the top of their uniforms.

Conestoga 5, Downingtown East 0
Downingtown East 0 0 — 0
Conestoga 1 4 — 5
Conestoga Targets: Kate Kemmerley, Stewart, Fox, Grimes, Allred.
Goalkeeper saves: Simonton (DE) 9; Principal (DE) 1; Klaiber (C) 0; Montalvo (C) 1.