Sarah Nee’s Kickoff into Success

Some people love sports. Some people live sports. Peters Township resident Sarah Nee does both. Her sport of choice is soccer, and it’s an enduring, integral part of her life.

Nee is proof positive that introducing a child to sports at a young age can not only help her live an active, healthy life, but can also set her on the path towards academic achievement and professional success.

According to Nee, she began playing soccer at the ripe old age of 5. She started out with the Peters Township’s Grasshopper League and went on to play in its travel league. She became invested in the sport early on, so progressing even further was the natural thing for her to do.

In her preteen years, Nee played for Victory, a cup soccer team based out of Washington. As a Victory gal, Nee got to travel around to different places and go on overnight trips out of town, which was something that made a fun sport even more fun, Nee said.

Nee graduated from in 2007, where she played soccer for all four years under the leadership of Coach Terry Adams. Though the Indians did not bring home a WPIAL or state win during Nee’s high school career, her team was undefeated section champs each year.

When it came time to select a college, Nee could not ignore the role that soccer played in her life. She unabashedly admits that athletics played a major role in her college decision. In fact, she said, it was the determinative factor.

Nee explained that, throughout high school, she had her mind was set on attending Thiel College. That mindset changed, however, when she discovered Thiel’s low rank in soccer. At the time Nee was applying to colleges, Thiel’s women’s soccer team was in its rebuilding years, and she simply did not want to go to a school that did not have a good soccer team.

Instead, she chose to attend Westminster College, a school she wouldn’t have even considered if not for the suggestion of a friend who went there. Nee said she liked what she saw when she toured the campus and was sold when she learned of the school’s soccer team’s success.

That success continued when Nee hit Westminster’s field. The Titans won the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) championship game her freshman year and advanced to the NCAAs, where they lost in the second round. The team made it to PAC with varying degrees of success over the next three years.

Among numerous other awards and accolades she has received for her athletic accomplishments, Nee holds the title for Westminster’s second all-time career goals. Only one gal scored more career goals than she, in a record that was compiled more than a decade ago.

When Nee wasn’t on the field, she was hitting the books. She graduated from Westminster College in May 2011, with a degree in elementary and special education.

Nee puts her degree to use as a substitute teacher for Peters Township’s three elementary schools, as well as for the four elementary schools in Washington's Trinity Area School District. Since substitute teaching isn’t always steady work, Nee also works at , where has she worked intermittingly for the past four years.

But what about soccer?

Well, you can take the girl out of the game, but you can’t take the game out of the girl! Now that Nee doesn’t play the sport, she’s on the other side of the whistle. She earns part of her living coaching girls’ soccer Trinity High School, where she is the JV head coach and varsity assistant coach. Girls in Peters also benefit from her instruction, as she is the volunteer coach for the township’s under-10 girls’ travel soccer team.

A little girl who started playing a sport for fun grew into a record-breaking young lady who helps other girls learn the sport she loves. It’s an inspiring story, though Nee said it’s far from done.

She looks forward to further developing her teaching and coaching careers, and to helping other children find their paths in life.