Conestoga Valley and Hempfield soccer give cancer a red card

Wednesday’s soccer match between Hempfield and Conestoga Valley ended in a 1-1 tie but the message behind the game transcended any statistical result.

The match was part of a four-game event at Conestoga Valley that kicked off the first leg of the “Red Card Cancer” fundraising drive. Both teams sold pink t-shirts while players, coaches and ball runners all sported pink attire.

I’ve been affected by it (cancer). He’s (CV girls coach Pete Shellenberger) been affected by it. A lot of people have been,” Conestoga Valley coach David Hartlaub said.  Soccer around this area hadn’t had their own kind of event and we thought it was good timing for it. It was nice to team up with a great team like Hempfield to do this.”

Proceeds of the campaign will benefit the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, which is working to transform cancer medicine to detect, manage and eradicate cancers before patients even know them they have them.

“We’re really excited and honored to have an opportunity to be a part of it. I think it’s just a great event,” Hempfield coach Mark Ashley said. “It’s a neat way to see both the boys and girls teams from both schools come together and partner towards a worthy cause like this. Hopefully we can raise awareness and show the community that high school kids are taking some action to do their part.”

The second leg of the event will take place on October 10 at Hempfield High School.

“We’re looking forward to the second leg where we’ll get a chance to actually show off what we’ve accomplished by selling all these t-shirts,” Hartlaub said.