CB East 2, Downingtown West 1
Mia Forney and Ella Roumy scored a goal in each half, and CB East withstood a late Downingtown West rally to win 2-1 Saturday afternoon in the District 1 4A girls final. East, the defending state champions, lifted their second district trophy in three years, and will now prepare to host the first round of the state tournament, which will begin Wednesday.
CB East (20-1-1) came out early on the front foot with Taylor Roumy creating havoc for the Downingtown West defenders down the left side. Defender Aubrey Hamson handled an early cross well, and a minute later, after Roumy beat several defenders and struck a low shot toward the far post, keeper Emma Breitfeller tipped it toward the side.
East continued a run of possession throughout the first ten minutes before West settled into the game and created several chances of their own. Striker Camryn Bayly squared up her defender at the top of the box, cut inside, and barely missed the bottom corner with a low skipper. Ashley Thorton broke through the East defense midway through the half, but East defender Addie Langlois made a key block in front of goal. On the ensuing corner, Thorton whipped in a dangerous in-swinger toward the back post that Paige Maciewicz just missed. Several minutes later, Bayly created a chance down the left side, and her blocked cross fell perfectly to Thornton who fired on goal from the penalty spot, but East keeper Maddie Thompson made a diving stop to her left and corralled the rebound.
After East weathered the West barrage, Roumy took control of the game again down the left side. After chasing down a long ball deep into the corner, she sent a cross toward goal that sailed over Breitfeller’s head at the goalmouth, but the West keeper recovered well to swipe away Delaney Ralph’s header.
East broke the deadlock in the 21st minute. Mackenzie Peters stepped up to counter-press a second ball of a long cross from the right side and played a ball back to Roumy outside the box. Roumy took the space and ran at her defender, playing a ball across the six to Forney at the back post. Forney took one touch to settle then found the back of the net to put East up 1-0. The goal was Forney’s 9th on the season, while Roumy’s assist was her team-leading 27th goal contribution (18g, 9a) of the season.
After the goal, the game evened out with several chances at each end, mostly from long free kicks.
After the break, Downingtown West put CB East under a bit of pressure. Amayah Alston beat her defender on the wide left and cut inside, but her attempted curler missed the far post. Minutes later, Bayly turned two defenders at the top of the box and pulled her shot wide. At the other end, Roumy had two chances on goal after beating her defenders off the dribble. Breitfeller saved her first attempt from the top of the box, and on the second, from a wider angle two minutes later, Breitfeller made a diving save at the near post.
In the 48th minute, West had a golden chance when a cross from the right rolled through traffic toward Audrianna Lewis, who was alone at the back post . Lewis had time to take a touch toward goal then skied her shot over the bar with two East defenders scrambling to intervene.
In the 52nd minute, East added a second. With all of the players anticipating a Sleicher in-swinger off the corner, she instead rolled a pass back toward Ella Roumy at the top of the box on a late run. Roumy had time to settle the ball then beat Breitfeller high to the near post for her first goal of the season. Sleicher’s assist was her first of the postseason and her 6th of the year. She led East with four goals in the playoffs and has 25 goal contributions (19g, 6a) this season.
“The win was a big factor for us today,” Sleicher said after the game about the second goal. “So when Ella started inching up, no one seemed to be reading it. I have so much trust in her.” While most of the corners at that end had been blown toward goal with heavy winds, Sleicher and Roumy used some creative spontaneity that only comes from years playing together.
“We’ve never practiced that before, and it hasn’t been something we’ve ever tried in a game or just ever, so her doing that having the confidence, me having confidence in her, that kind of represents how our team is all together.”
Ella Roumy doubles CB East’s lead. https://t.co/nXJBhRbUUr
— Backyard Pitches (@BackyardPitches) November 7, 2026
Sleicher almost had a third on a deep range free kick that beat the wall, but Breitfeller made a fantastic save to push it away from the bottom corner. For the final fitfeen minutes, East dug in as Downingtown West began to push more players forward and take some risks.
In the 66th minute, West eventually pulled a goal back when Hampson pounced on a bouncing ball from a long free kick. Then, two minutes later, Alston won a header on a corner and smashed the underside of the bar with her header, which would have tied the game at two apiece and likely sent the game to overtime. In the end, East rode out the final minutes, clearing everything deep and managing the clock with a few extended spells playing keep away in the corners to seal the victory.
“We knew going into this it was going to be an exciting game,” Sleicher said. “They’re a great team. That game was definitely not easy at all throughout, so being able to win that is super exciting.”
“I’m incredibly proud of this group,” CB East coach Jake Nesteruk said after the game, “especially in a game like this where we’ve got to lean into something a little bit different. We’ve got to dig a little deep and play a little more direct, and it becomes a bit about some of the effort plays. So the fact that these kids showed up and adjusted the game plan and grew into this game, it’s huge.”
And while Nesteruk gave credit to a tough opponent, who showed every bit of their No. 2 seed, he felt his team’s ability to rely on other qualities outside of their possession and break down style that has been evident throughout the season as a key factor to the victory. “It’s nice to have that second identity behind us, where we’re not always the team that’s got the ball, that’s playing the pretty soccer.”
East will celebrate the victory and savor a title that eluded them last season, but ultimately their season has been about defending the state title. “These kids will enjoy the trophy and relish in the game, but when we started our season, we were talking about the trophy that sits for us in Pittsburgh that we’ve got to go out and get.”
Sleicher agreed that the East players have always had their minds set on repeating as state champions, and though this year they’ll enter as the top seed from District 1 as opposed to a fifth seed last year, the path is still the same. “No matter what seed we are, first or fifth, you want to get to the ship. You want to bring it home.”
CB East will host Southwestern, the third place team from District 3, in the first round, with a second round matchup against the winner of Parkland and Archbishop Ryan.
Downingtown West will play Lower Dauphin in the first round, and if they advance, go up against the winner of Mt. Lebanon and Mechanicsburg.
Conestoga 4, Abington 3
Conestoga’s Ben Frischmann scored with just over ten minutes remaining to finish off a thrilling 4-3 comeback and give Conestoga its third district championship in six years. Abington, who scored twice in the first and half and extended their lead early in the second, fell in the District 1 final for the second year in a row.
Conestoga (18-0-3) entered the game as the No. 2 seed and the district’s only remaining unbeaten team, yet Abington (15-2-5) took advantage of the blustering winds and put them under pressure in the first minute. Jaza Vasquez dribbled deep into the Conestoga penalty area and was met with some excellent one-on-one defending from James Wei, but the Abington striker did enough to earn a throw in. From there, Carter Shannon launched a missle deep toward the far post, and after the ball bounced around, Brennan Ewer got it under control and buried it into the back of the net for the 1-0 lead.
Conestoga responded with some pressure of their own, using a blend of skill, athleticism, and long throws to get deep into Abington’s end. Hayes Cooney jumped on a sitter at the top of the box, but Samuel Arruda made a last-second intervention that after further review, could have drawn a penalty.
Abington continued to attack the game, and in the 12th minute, Vasquez got on the end of a deep ball and beat Stoga keeper Ryan Mclean to double the lead.
With the wind at their backs, Abington continued to press and almost had a third two minutes later when Kyle Kretscmann got in behind the defense on the right and slipped a pass across to Arruda that Wei stopped at the top of the six. Three minutes later, another Shannon throw in caused chaos inside the Conestoga goalmouth with the ball bouncing around before ending up in the goal, yet the referee called it back due to a foul leading up to the final touch. Four minutes later, Arruda headed a Shannon throw in on frame, but Mclean made an outstanding two-handed diving save to push the ball away.
Despite trailing by two goals, Conestoga rallied late in the half with several chances off throw ins and free kicks, yet Dom Veitz came out and challenged a looping re-entry ball , and Sean Westmoreland made a saving challenge late on Luke Stienes to keep Stoga away. Kretschmann had the half’s final say when he turned and fired from the top of the box, but his shot sailed over the bar by inches.
Going against the win in the second half, Abington jumped into the action like they did in the first, scoring within the first minute. Kretschmann created some space off the dribble down the left and sent a cross toward the six that Owen Gesing steered into the goal with his chest to hand Abington a commanding 3-0 lead.
Despite being down three goals, Conestoga began to rally, and when Steines scored in the 48th minute to make the score 3-1, they brought a sense of rejuvenated energy to the game. Then, when Drew Lucot finished off a corner three minutes later, the game began to turn.
Conestoga carried the momentum with several more dangerous wind-aided in-swinging corners, but they finally pulled level in the 55th minute when Elgin Harbaugh hit Daniel Poltaraus at the top of the box on another corner, and the midfielder beat Veitz with a first-time strike, making the score 3-3.
With Conestoga continuing to pound the Abington defense, Frischmann completed the comeback eleven minutes from the end when he redirected Steines’ cross into the net.
The defending state champs didn’t go quietly, but Conestoga held the lead with some strong defensive moments on long throw ins to seal the championship trophy.
“We knew that the wind was going to be a factor, so we knew that getting out of that first half was going to be difficult,” Conestoga coach Angelo Capetola said about overcoming the early deficit. “All season we believed in one another and just getting that first one is really important. We finally got the first one. You could see the confidence start to brew.”
Conestoga will now host Northeaster, the District 3 third place team, with the potential to face the winner of Northampton or Wissahickon. Conestoga beat Wissahickon 3-0 in the district semifinals earlier this week.
“Abington’s a great team. This was a great challenge for us. We knew this was going to be a dog fight,” Capetola said. “It sets the basis of what to expect in the next round. We, unusually got knocked out early last year, and the year before that we got knocked out in the first round of states. So these are good recent memories for us to draw on that will be motivating factors going forward.”
On the other side, Abington coach Isaac Pitkow walked off the field for the second year in a row holding the second place medal and was left to stew over being on the opposite end of a comeback. “We’re very disappointed with the fact that we gave up a three-goal lead, regardless of any circumstances,” he said. “We’re such a good team defensively. We only let in like nine goals the whole regular season, only a couple more in the playoffs, so give up four goals in a half for sure.”
Pitkow said Conestoga was phenomenal on set pieces, with inswingers from Stienes and Poltaraus toward big bodies in front of goal. “I think we could have marked better, dealt with the set pieces better, maybe. But you got to give credit to them. They have some good players that showed up in the second half for sure.”
The silver lining for Pitkow and Abington is that they find themselves in familiar footing. Last season, as the second place team out of the district, they played through the Western side of the bracket and reached the final against West Chester Henderson, taking the title after going up three goals in the first half and holding the lead for the final forty minutes.
“I don’t think we’re going to see a better team than that. We showed we can score three goals against that team. Sure, theres’ going to be some very good teams from Pittsburgh and Central Pennsylvania that we’ll run into, but that team will be as good as anyone we see.”
Abington will host Lower Dauphin, the second place team from District 3. If they win, they’ll face the winner of Seneca Valley and Conestoga Valley, which means a road trip that could be one to two hours away at a neutral site, depending on the matchup.
