EAST GOSHEN >> When Shannon Moore’s father was diagnosed with cancer this past April, the West Chester East soccer teams found a way to help Moore raise awareness for the disease.
Moore, a member of the W.C. East girls’ soccer team and a first-team All-Ches-Mont selection this past season, is a part of the soccer bond that East Boys Soccer (EBS) and East Girls Soccer (EGS) have in the community.
“It feels amazing knowing how many people we have supporting us,” Moore said. “We have had an overwhelming amount of people going above and beyond to help my family during this difficult time. My dad has always been my number one supporter.”
Moore’s father, Dan, was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. A non-smoker, the cancer since has metastasized to his brain.
The East soccer community wanted to help the Moore family out. With both the boys’ and girls’ soccer seasons ending in the second round of the District 1 Class AAA playoffs, each team was not ready to play its last game on the pitch.
The solution? EBS and EGS decided to play each other in a charity game for Moore’s father to help the family raise money for his condition and boost awareness for cancer.
The proceeds went to the “Fight for Dan” fund.
“EBS and EGS is a family,” Moore said. “We are all good friends and never miss each other’s games. We have fun cheering each other on and it feels almost as if we’re just one big team. It was a lot of fun finally getting a chance to play the boys.”
The game was played on Thursday, Nov. 13 to a capacity crowd on the home side of Zimmerman Stadium during a cold, windy and rainy afternoon.
Despite the conditions, the game itself was a huge success raising $925 and providing competitive soccer to the fans that came and watched a rare occurrence.
Pat Mingey, a senior defenseman for EBS, was proud the W.C. East community got together to help a friend, classmate and teammate for a good cause.
“The opportunity to do something like this for a friend and student at East High School is something truly awesome, Mingey said. “The weather during the game was awful, it was hailing, but the amount of fans that came to donate money and help the Moore family in a time of desperation.
“I think something like this is a testament to our school and the community that we have built throughout East, we are all here to help each other.”
After all, it’s not every day a high school boys and girls soccer team, especially one as talented as W.C. East, get to collide.
Especially for Mingey, who got to play keeper for the first time in his high school career. As he explained, EBS had fun leading up in the weeks prior to the event.
“I don’t think there has ever been a game that EBS and I have played in that was more of a must win than this one,” Mingey said. “The amount of trash-talk that went on weeks prior to this game was unbelievable. EBS was out for the W.”
“There’s always good competition between the two teams, but it was all fun out there,” Moore said. “EGS means a lot to me and knowing that my coach, Shannon Muller, and my team would put this together for us is truly amazing.”
EBS won the inaugural event, defeating EGS 7-3. Baley Federico, Jake Heuman, Jake Tyler, Joao Tavares, Alan Jaramillo and J.D. Nicolosi scored goals for EBS. Hailey Stein, Hannah Specht and Kayce Pitt scored for EGS.
With the success from the inaugural event, EBS and EGS seek to continue the “rivalry” in the future while continuing to raise cancer awareness. Moore definitely believes the game should continue.
“This should definitely become an annual EGS-EBS battle,” Moore said. “So we can get them next year.”
The game was already special for Moore, because her father got to see her play in the final game of her junior season. As Moore said, he has always been her number one supporter and never missed any of her games pre-diagnosis.
Especially this one.“This year with him being sick he has had to miss many of my games so I was thankful that he was able to attend this event,” Moore said. “ Even though the weather was far from perfect, I was having fun playing soccer with my friends and my dad was able to be there enjoying it. What more could I ask for?”
