Today Cumberland Valley HS finds itself at the pinnacle of Pennsylvania girls soccer. During head coach Seth Lehman’s seven-year tenure, the team has won every division title, every Mid Penn championship, three District III championships, and two state titles with a combined record of 151-17-4.
Lehman’s humble approach to the game is refreshing and that certainly rubs off on the girls currently playing on the team.
“It’s an immense honor to be able to coach here at Cumberland Valley. We have very high expectations of our players both on and off the field. We take pride in being different and not like ‘every other team.’ I feel very fortunate to be the leader of this great program and never take anything for granted. I’ve been blessed to be able to coach some incredibly talented girls who have gone on and had great success at the next level. ”
They are certainly much more than every other team thanks to their enormous success on the field. Off the field they have developed quite a pipeline to the collegiate ranks. Former CVHS players have played at every division of the college game, including starring at Duke, George Mason, University of Delaware, UMBC, Radford, and Winthrop.
The current squad looks to be one of the best in recent memory.
Forwards Jen Falconer and Taylor Sneidman, defender Molly Stanton, and midfielder Lilly Shover are part of an experienced and skilled senior class. Midfielder Jenny Bail is one of the top juniors on the squad, while midfielder Cashlin Copley is a key sophomore. And the future is very bright thanks to a freshman midfielder duo of Rachael Dorwart and Jaimie McInroy.
Falconer and Sneidman get some extra attention as they lifted a state title in soccer and basketball, leading both programs as key starters.
Simply put, college coaches could make a single trip to CVHS and come away with some of the country’s best talent in just one stop.
The team even took the fact that they were recently named to the NSCAA National Poll in stride. They haven’t become overly confident, instead the honor has made them all the more focused.
“The girls were very honored and excited to be named to the top 25 poll. They have put in the hard work and are starting to see some of that hard work pay off. At the same time, we realize that rankings are just that…rankings. We’re very much concerned with winning the last game of the season.”
Winning the last game of the season and adding some more hardware to the school trophy case seems inevitable thanks to an incredible amount of talent on the squad.
CVHS could face loads of talent from the likes of Cedar Cliff, State College, Hershey, Lower Dauphin, Peters Township, Upper St. Clair, and Springford during the postseason. But this is a team that is primed and ready to make a run at a state title. No wonder they are a member of the inaugural ISN Ultimate XI.
The ISN Ultimate XI began as an effort to recognize the very best of high school soccer, a side of the game often neglected by the national media. That is certainly no longer the case as ISN leads the way in promoting the game at this level, honoring the young men and women that are the future of the sport.
Promotion of the ISN Ultimate XI will culminate in a major multi-state event in the summer of 2015.
