CHESAPEAKE CITY — Rather than North East's typical away jerseys and Bo Manor's usual red uniforms, players on both teams raced up and down the pitch on Thursday night wearing black and white kits with the phrases "Be The Standard" and "#BREAKTHESTIGMA" centered on their jerseys.
North East and Bohemia Manor's girls' soccer teams held a mental health awareness game in partnership with the LIVEFORTHOMAS Foundation. LIVEFORTHOMAS is a local non-profit organization that promotes suicide awareness and prevention and was cofounded by Amy Ocasio and her now 23-year-old daughter, Michaela, in 2020. The organization recently opened Den 22 , a safe space for young adults ages 14 to 24. Den 22, LIVEFORTHOMAS and Bee My Voice, another mental health outreach organization, all operate out of the same location at 22 North Main St. in North East.
North East head coach Todd Krasman feels its recent opening is a vital addition to the community. Krasman noted how teams from across the county also attend Sean's House, a mental health resource similar to Den 22 located over the state line in Newark, Delaware.
"All the teams in the county seem to know about it now, before they were kind of like 'what's this' and now they know," Krasman said. "I think it's really good getting awareness out there and it's good that the kids have something to talk about and someone to talk to."
Bo Manor head coach Lissy Dean said she usually aims to participate in yearly awareness game with previous season's focused around breast cancer awareness. Last year, the program hosted a game focused on mental health awareness and partnered with Morgan's Message, a national organization that prioritizes mental health among student-athletes.
"I feel like mental health is becoming such a big thing, especially in the student-athlete realm," Dean said. "Because LIVEFORTHOMAS is so local and close to us, it was like okay, this gets the local piece and the community action, but also at the same time it's still talking about mental health. It was an easy transition for us and I am happy we were able to do it with North East."
North East finished the night with a 3-2 victory. The Indians got on the board in the opening 10 minutes with a goal from Ada Dominick to take a 1-0 lead. North East doubled its lead at the 8:43-mark of the first half with a goal from Ashleigh Peace. North East put six shots on net, compared to Bo Manor's one in the first half.
The Indians extended their advantage to three with 24 minutes to play in the second half on a score from Beatrice Little.
"We were very calm with our touches and even if we didn't make a good touch we got back with it and we didn't give up when we made a mistake," North East's Madison Burton said of her team's defense. "We had very controlled touches that were able to get the ball back up and put shots on goal."
Bohemia Manor cut into the lead with 18:16 to play on a score from Hallie Stansfield. Stansfield put the Eagles within one at the 5:14-mark of the second half. Bo Manor tripled its number of shots on net in the final 40 minutes of regulation.
"We changed our formation up, we pushed a little more forward," Dean said of her offense's adjustments. "The switch to put Hallie at forward was to give her a break and then all of the sudden we started to find her and get the ball to her. Anytime she gets the ball on her foot she is dangerous."
For more information about Den 22 and the LIVEFORTHOMAS Foundation, please visit liveforthomas.org.
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