Playing for district soccer title ‘just unbelievable’ for Brandywine girls
By Jason Guarente — MikeDragoSports.com senior correspondent
At the end of their 70-mile trip from Mertztown to Hershey Wednesday, Brandywine Heights’ girls soccer players will know they have arrived. The big stage. A chance for gold.
This was always the hope, even as the Bullets fought through a challenging schedule. They lost their first three games. They were 3-10 after 13 games.
Through it all, the message stayed the same.
“We’re going to keep fighting,” coach Sarah Soffa said. “We’re going to get into the tournament. That’s when you’re going to have your moment to really shine.”
Brandywine Heights (9-11) qualified as the No. 6 seed. The Bullets will face No. 1 Harrisburg Christian (15-2-1) for the District 3 Class 1A championship at Hersheypark Stadium Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
District 3 Class 1A girls soccer bracket
Soffa has tried to keep her players focused on each day through the first two rounds of this tournament. Brandywine stopped No. 3 Delone Catholic 3-2 in the quarters and No. 2 Fairfield 1-0 in overtime in the semis. Both wins were on the road after two-hour bus rides.
That’s when the destination came into view.
Before the Fairfield game, Soffa told her players not to have any regrets. To leave it all on the field. Then one responded: “We can go to Hershey on Wednesday.”
It’s no wonder Brandywine’s players are excited. The school has never played for a district title in girls soccer. Twice the Bullets reached a state qualifier only to fall short. They have already earned their first berth in the PIAA Tournament.
Holding it together through a rough start slowly turned into expecting to win every time on the field. That’s how Brandywine made it this far.
“Sometimes when you have a team that looks great on paper and you think you’re going to excel, there’s something lacking,” Soffa said. “This year we had our bumps and stuff. The team wanted to jell. They wanted to work together. They wanted to get better. When you have so many kids that are willing to do that, anything can happen.”
No team in the Class 1A field is more battle-tested than Brandywine. Five of its seven league losses came against Wyomissing, Tulpehocken and Kutztown. All bigger schools that either made districts or came close.
After losing three times in double overtime, the tight games started to tilt the Bullets’ way. They’ve won five of their last six. Four of those wins were by one goal.
“Once we got into the tournament I knew that we played tough competition,” Soffa said. “I knew our challenging schedule would prepare us. But to make it to the district final is just unbelievable.”
Emily Savitz has 14 goals and Olivia Moyer has 10. Those two are the team’s top scorers for the second year in a row. Ashley DeLong controls play from center mid and Riley Unger anchors a defense that also includes Hannah Ray and Ashley Nace in front of keeper Dana Wartzenluft.
Savitz, DeLong and Unger were all-division selections out of Berks IV.
Soffa was a four-year varsity player who graduated from Brandywine in 2015. She immediately became a volunteer coach and this is her third season leading the varsity.
The goal wasn’t necessarily a district championship. It was to build the program, create better soccer players and teach life lessons.
“I think that’s what we’ve really accomplished this year,” Soffa said. “There’s a reason behind everything we do as coaches. The girls have really taken that on. We go into halftime and we’re like, ‘All right what are your strengths this half? What do we need to work on?’ The girls have really learned the game and how to make their own corrections.”
Brandywine has already made history. Teams start to get greedy if they’re still playing in November. The Bullets want more. They want that trophy.
Their chance is almost here.
“The stars have aligned for us,” Soffa said. “Everything has really worked out.”
