The Patriettes: A Eulogy
Posted Friday, June 2, 2006
The Conestoga Valley Patriettes were born before there were Luccheses in Brownstown. It was a kinder, gentler time, early in the new millennium. Women put the team together. These were bold, brave women with steel in their backs, and grit in their teeth. Women with the fortitude, determination, and resolve to seize their dest... (okay, so I wasn’t there, but I have heard that women started the team)

Then, a few years ago when Mark Campbell was head coach, some Luccheses came to Brownstown, and Priscilla Lucchese met Megan Wissler. The Wisslers told Mark about Priscilla, and soon Priscilla became a Patriette. And after all that, I came to know the team.

Perhaps it was because I wasn’t there when the team began, or when Mark began to coach, but it took a while to catch the vision. It had already been decided that these girls were going to be winners. They would learn how to apply themselves, how to work together, and how to expect success. Like most of the other players, my daughter began playing soccer at age five or six when every kid on the field swarmed on the ball like flies on... well, they swarmed. Each year since then, she grew as a soccer player, but with the Patriettes she grew by leaps and bounds. Have fun, play fair, play hard were more than just words in a tag line to print on a t-shirt. After a match, Mark would ask the girls, “Did we have fun? Did we play fair? Did we play hard?” If the answer was “yes,” then he pronounced the match a success. I can’t think of one time that I watched the Patriettes walk off the field and saw losers.

In this final season, new faces replaced ones who left. I can testify that this team provided quality friends for my daughter at a time when she needed them the most. Since then, it has been amazing to watch as additions to the team are embraced, usually quite literally, by the girls. What a joy it has been to bring in girls from Garden Spot, Ephrata, and Lampeter-Strasburg and see some of their faces on the other team during school matches. I cheered for Jess, Ashley and Becky for good plays against the CV Bucks. Yeah, it feels weird, but they’re Patriettes.

Larry and I didn’t think something so special needed to die so abruptly, so we kept the team alive for one last season. Now it’s time to say goodbye to the Conestoga Valley Patriettes. I guess one of the staples of a good eulogy is to say something about how the departed will live on in our memories. I believe our girls will always have their memories of the parts they played in this rare team. In a few years, will your daughter pull out an old, red Patriettes hoodie she used to wear everywhere she went, and remember the things that she and her friends accomplished when they were younger? I think it’s quite possible.

And what did they accomplish? How do we look back on the Patriettes and measure their success? Perhaps here are some better questions: Did we have fun? Did we play fair? Did we play hard?

Fifth Match Report
Posted Sunday, May 14, 2006
It sure felt like a win. The CV Patriettes arrived at Octorara High School on a Friday night to play under the lights against Octorara Fusion 15. As Coach Stratton huddled the girls for pre-match instructions, the players buzzed with so much energy that we came close to asking the officials if we could start 15 minutes early before adrenaline laid our team to waste. Either we were about to release the Conestoga Valley Anarchy, or the Patriettes were ready for a match. Ready they were when the referee sounded the 7:30 start. Immediately, a deeper hunger, superior quickness, or both gave CV the edge over Octorara. Our girls communicated well, asking for the ball, telling teammates when they had time, and when they didn’t. The Patriettes U-14/ Fusion U-15 battle couldn’t have been characterized better than the image of Holli Styer going shoulder to — uh — hip against the sweeper twice her size, and not backing off one inch. Part-way into the first half, the Fusion coach shouted the obvious to his players, “They’re beating us to the ball every time!”

Jessica Campbell guest-played to replace Becky Rudy in goal, marshalling the CV defense. Ashley Reese and Jess Faller played in their second game in 3-1/2 hours, but put in phenomenal performances at the back. Maddie Yepremian, having to come off of the field twice for her inhaler, fought adversity and would not relent on cutting off attacks brought down her side. These familiar faces of the CV defenders were joined by Karyn Harkness who brilliantly handled the role of stopper. Additional strength in the middle of the field came from Emily Marks and Ana Stratton at center-mid who kept the ball away from Octorara, and on the feet of our outside-mids and forwards. Our outside-mids (“workhorses” as named by Coach Stratton), Hannah Nelson, Jordan Yukenavitch, and Lisa Smith, rotated one out on two-minute intervals to keep fresh legs flying up the sidelines. Speed, finesse, and an ever-present threat up front were embodied in the forms of Taylor Higgins, Priscilla Lucchese, Holli Styer, and Marissa Brubaker. Priscilla Lucchese put CV on the board first, but Octorara Fusion answered to send us into half-time tied at 1–1. In the second half, the Patriettes again took the lead on a shot by Emily Marks, assisted by Jordan Yukenavitch. Once again, Octorara evened the score. A cross by Priscilla Lucchese, finished by Taylor Higgins made it 3–2 in favor of Conestoga Valley. Refusing to allow the Patriettes to hand them their first loss of the season, the Fusion hit the back of the net one more time to end the match in a 3–3 deadlock.

This was our third tie of the season. We walked away from the first one knowing the win was ours to give away. Officials made us put the ball in the net four times in order to get two points for our second tie. This one, under the lights in Octorara, didn’t end with a frustrated CV team. Our girls entered the match as the underdogs and younger by a year, took the fight to the opponent, and forced them to struggle just to stay even with the Conestoga Valley Patriettes. That feels like a win.

Special thanks to Jess Campbell for filling in as goalkeeper.

Fourth Match Report
Posted Monday, May 1, 2006
On a beautiful Spring day, the Patriettes took the field for their second match against Lititz United 14. Within the first two minutes of play, CV showed Lititz what was in store as they moved the ball down the sideline, crossed it beautifully, and fired an opening shot. The Patriettes controlled play most of the first half with eight shots on the Lititz goal, and one in it. By the way, if someone would tell me which of the girls put that one in, I’ll post it here. So far, it’s a mystery. In spite of plenty of opportunities and eight total shots, this would be the only goal in the first half. Becky saved two during an otherwise restful half for our keeper.

Being short four players meant only two on the bench, which made for a team that had to begin to dig deep inside to keep the slim lead from slipping away. Lititz brought a full roster, and fresh legs began to make a difference. Their offense produced twice the shot count of their first half, and control of the ball swung more evenly between the two teams. Hannah Nelson lobbed a shot over the keeper’s head to give the Patriettes a two goal advantage, but Lititz answered with their first. As time ran on, CV’s batteries were running low, but our girls were determined to win. Taylor Higgins drove in the insurance goal for a 3–1 Patriettes victory.

Third Match Report
Posted Monday, April 10, 2006
If you weren’t there, you missed a soccer match that would have made you proud. The Conestoga Valley Patriettes are 17 young ladies of character. Solanco’s team took the field with an air of confidence, knowing that they’ve faced CV recently at the indoor arena and didn’t lose, and having begun their season with a 2-0 record. But the Patriettes gave them something to worry about.

CV displayed hard-working determination on all parts of the field. Becky Rudy, determined to defeat her old teammates, put on a show in the goal with eight saves in the first half and two in the second while making several brilliant plays away from the net. In our own end of the field, the CV defense corralled attempts by Solanco’s offense the entire game, but really buttoned it down tight in the second half. CV midfielders worked effectively to push the ball forward, and we were treated to some amazing drives out of the midfield that couldn’t quite find the space inside the posts. Our offense proved to be a multidimensional threat. Some of the Patriettes speedsters opened up so many holes, it made the Solanco defense look like swiss cheese. The only two CV goals for the record books came from Taylor Higgins and Priscilla Lucchese (see next paragraph for more). Give some credit to Solanco’s defense for being able to keep the ball away from the front of the goal so that our total shot count was down to 11.

Most worrisome to Solanco was the fact that the Patriettes put the ball past their keeper four times. Fortunately for them, the official score was Solanco-2, Patriettes-2, Officials-2. A tie.

Comments by Coach Larry Stratton
The Solanco team offered us our best competition to date. They were very physical team. We knew this would be a good test for our girls. Several of our girls faced the Solanco Team in three great indoor soccer games at Red Rose. Unfortunately, several bad calls, in addition to some no calls, kept the Solanco Team in the game. Two of the calls were critical. Both of the bad calls were made by the same inexperienced side referee, and reversed two of our goals. There is no doubt that the final score was truly 4-2 our win. I also noticed a critical missed hand ball in the box that most likely would have resulted in a fifth goal for us. I know this was a most frustrating tie for our girls.

I know that there is the temptation to challenge the referee calls, but this always seems to have a negative affect in the end. There was no way that the referees were going to reverse their decision. I do become most concerned with the behavior we demonstrate for our girls, and want to thank everyone for keeping comments to a minimum. We will follow up with Lanco and share our opinion of the quality of the calls for the game.

I do feel encouraged by the quality of play demonstrated by our girls. At no time did they hang their heads or give up. I have always believed that winning teams know how to over come from behind to win. I believe we saw that caliber of play on Sunday. Game ball goes to Becky Rudy for great play in the goal.

Have a good Easter!! Please be ready for our next practice to prepare for a second battle against Solanco.

Second Match Report & Coach’s Comments
Posted Monday, April 3, 2006
The Patriettes put it all together, and dominated 80 minutes of soccer against the Penn Manor Titans. The girls kept Penn Manor’s defense busy as they organized a 27-shot attack. Scoring came from all parts of the field capped off by a Taylor Higgins tip-in goal off of a gorgeous drive from the foot of Maddie Yepremian. Other goals came from Emily Marks, Hannah Nelson, and Ana Stratton. As they did in the first match, CV’s defense operated with machine-like efficiency to stifle the Titan offense. The Patriettes chalked up their first win of the season by a score of 4–0.

Comments by Coach Larry Stratton
What a great game. During practice on Saturday we spent a lot of time reinforcing formation and player positioning for attacking and defending. We looked like a team yesterday. Once again, our defense was outstanding. Midfield players were aggressively pursuing the ball and dominated Penn Manors defense. I think the most notable change was the exchange between our outside midfield and forwards. They did an exceptional job of moving the ball and setting up scoring opportunities. The game ball goes to Jess Faller whose energy and demonstrated ability was inspiring to the team.

Hopefully, we will see more of our players at practice. We want to continue to reinforce formation and want to begin to add the 3-4-3 formation. The second half of the Penn Manor game would have been the perfect time to show a new formation. It will be nice to change the way we play to keep our opponents on their toes. We will continue to work on overlapping outside mids and full backs. I noticed that our girls are doing a good job bringing the ball down to their feet when trapping, but I feel that we could be better. We will continue to reinforce clearing space for our attack.

At the end of practice on Saturday, coaches briefly discussed our expectations for player feedback. We want to encourage appropriate feedback and ideas from players. Coaches encouraged players to discuss their interest in field positions, but we want to reinforce that transition into a position typically not played must be coached and tried in practice first. I realize that many of our girls have experience playing numerous positions in the past, but they appear to do best in areas assigned. That does not mean they cannot develop skills to play other areas on the field, but it does mean that coaches will place players in field positions for games that are most beneficial to the team. Coaches have had numerous practices to observe skills, aggressive play and game knowledge of players to make field placement decisions. By the way, we would like a couple girls to step forward to learn to play goalie. Lastly, regarding play time, I have asked the girls to talk to me about their time on field and that Mom and Dad not be their spokesperson. Our girls are growing up and we want them to start becoming responsible for themselves.

First Match Report
Posted Sunday, March 26, 2006
The CV Patriettes emerged for the Spring season with many new faces and a solid first match against Lititz. Despite the chilly weather, our girls quickly began the process of getting used to playing with new teammates. The defense set up shop, and performed wonders as they consistently corralled the Lititz offense, leaving little work for Becky Rudy in goal.

Our midfield did a great job of moving the ball forward, as the team took 24 shots on goal. Holli Styer’s debut yielded a goal in the first half for the Patriettes.

Lititz managed to tie the game in the second half with a bizarre rainbow lob that a player kicked back on a Becky Rudy punt. CV’s offense treated onlookers to many exciting moments as shots bounced off the post, just missed wide, or landed in the hands of the Lititz keeper. The game ended in a 1–1 tie; not a bad start to what promises to be a good season for the Patriettes.