When two league rivals meet in a state final, it doesn’t take long for redemption.
Monday afternoon’s game carried more weight than a typical regular season derby. East won last November’s PIAA 4A state final in convincing fashion, scoring early and riding the momentum to a 7-0 victory over CB South. Yet, the teams split their regular season matchups, each winning on the other’s home field. Then South beat East in the District 1 quarterfinals, and both teams entered the state tournament via playbacks, setting up a pathway that ended in the state final.
Kiera Sleicher and Mia Forney scored in each half to lead East to a 2-0 win and continue their unbeaten run to start the 2026 season. Ranked number 4 in the latest United Soccer Coaches National poll, East begins what will be the most difficult week of the season thus far, with upcoming games against District 1 champion Pennridge and Conestoga, whom East beat in last season’s first district playback.
“Considering the history last year, there’s some emotions in it, and I just thought our kids handled it the right way,” East coach Jake Nesteruk said after the game. “To start the week off against a really good opponent is a big deal for us.”
The game started with East controlling the ball, establishing several slow builds down the flanks, but South defended the box well and kept their entry passes out of danger. In the 6th minute, Forney’s corner reached Ava Mignon at the top of the six, but her volley bounced off the turf before South keeper Sienna Carone pushed the ball wide and Tenley Rogers cleared it off the goal line. A minute later, on another East corner, Mackenzie Peters flicked a header from the front six that just missed Mattie Williams, and East kept the ball alive twice until Ella Roumy’s shot sailed over the bar.
Sleicher and Taylor Roumy created several chances down the left side, but the best one came fifteen minutes in when Roumy rounded the backline and sent a cross through the goalmouth that South defender Kate Walsh blocked before Rylie Leddy could tap the ball into the empty net.
East finally broke through on Sleicher’s free kick in the 26th minute. From thirty yards out, she sent a powerful shot that beat Carone to the top corner, a goal very similar to the one she scored in the opening minute of the 2025 state final.
“Getting scored on the exact same way that we started the state final was a little bit of a letdown,” South coach Dana Cole said after the game. “It’s frustrating because it definitely changed the tone of the game.” The foul itself may have been more two players jostling for the ball, but there’s no mistake that Sleicher’s accuracy from distance would have been difficult for most keepers to stop.
After the goal, South responded with one of their best chances of the game when Rogers sent a corner through traffic in the penalty area that fell to Walsh alone at the back six, but the defender’s shot bounced around multiple defenders until East keeper Maddie Thompson could scoop it up. South had another chance late from Charlotte Manley on a wide angle that Thompson saved, but the half ended with East up a goal and in firm control of the match.
South opened the second half with a long free kick from Peyton Karpinski that East blocked in front, but for much of the half East continued to attack in waves while swallowing any South attempt at a counter-attack. Leddy had two good looks early in the half, one from a Taylor Roumy cross and another from a through ball into space that led to a tight-angle shot that missed the near post. Ella Roumy broke free on another through ball, but South’s second-half keeper Morgan Sowash made a sprawling save before Roumy’s final touch.
South had two good counter opportunities midway through the half when Alivia Tait tested Thompson, and Manley just missed Khloe Montini with a give and go that split the East defenders. But Forney put her stamp on the game with a stellar run down the right side, cutting in toward goal before slotting the ball beneath Sowash at the near post to make the score 2-0.
Two minutes later, East almost extended their leader off a Forney header from a Sleicher corner that Peters took a swipe at, but Rogers cleared it off the goal line for her second save of the game. A minute later, Taylor Roumy rounded the left and picked out Sleicher at the front six, but Sleicher’s attempted half volley from a big bounce off the turf went high. In the game’s final ten minutes, East continued to maintain a majority of possession and push forward, but South did enough defensively to prevent any more damage
“We fought a hard fight, and we played well on defense,” Cole said. “I think we were playing a little scared, too pulled back, and not using the outsides of the field and making runs. We started to do that a little bit in the first half.”
South falls to 3-3-1 on the season and will face North Penn later in the week. They’ll have another tough game against Pennridge next week before facing CB West for the second time. South beat West 3-0 two weeks ago. “It will get there,” Cole said. “Some people are getting used to new positions, so we’re just going to keep working on it.”
CB East now moves to 6-0-1 on the season, and though they’ve provided plenty of offensive spark, their defense has been just as effective defending counters like they did today. East has only conceded one goal, and it came against North Penn last week in a 6-1 win. “The challenge of playing the way we do is that it does create some opportunities for us to be exposed,” Nesteruk said. “We were expecting that today with kids like Charlotte Manley and what they have going forward.”
Nesteruk said he was pleased with his team’s ability stop South’s attack and add another clean sheet so early in their season.
“You can’t play the way we play unless your backline and your goalkeeper are really consistent. The fact that our midfield and our backline are so committed to staying organized, compact behind the ball, not giving up free opportunities, it allows us to do all the fun stuff going forward.”
East will host Pennridge Wednesday night at 7:00 in what should be one of the best tests for Netseruk’s team to start the season. Pennridge is 4-1 after falling to Souderton Monday.
