By Sean Moylan, Sports Writer
When Art Steffen was looking for extra players for his Life Center Academy boys’ varsity soccer squad five years ago, he didn’t have to look any further than his own home.
The only problem was Timmy Steffen was still in the eighth grade.
”We had to move him up from the middle school so we would have enough kids to make a varsity team,” said Art Steffen.
The promotion was within the private school regulations and Steffen didn’t get any objections from the middle school boys’ and girls’ soccer coach. Maybe that was because those kids were coached by Roseanne Steffen, Art’s wife.
Timmy Steffen, however, was never just a fill-in player or a young novelty act. Even as an eighth grader, he was one of the Warriors’ best defenders. Meanwhile, Timmy’s twin sister Katie was also making some noise on the middle school soccer team and, consequently, Tammy Nowicki called Katie up to play some minutes for her LCA girls’ varsity soccer team.
”I knew both of them (Timmy and Katie) were special because they both have so much heart,” added the proud father.
In a way, the Steffen twins and their older siblings, Art and Jackie (a 100 plus goal scorer for LCA), launched their father and mother’s successful coaching careers.
”I didn’t know anything about soccer until they (the twins) started playing (at a young age),” said Art. “Then I coached their rec and travel teams.”
Roseanne Steffen coached the South Jersey Flashes travel team to five conference championships in seven years. Katie Steffen and her fellow LCA teammate Chloe Bercaw, a huge star, were on that squad.
This year, with Steffen and Bercaw leading the way, Nowicki’s Lady Warriors were a strong team from the start. They knew they had the talent to win another Penn-Jersey title. Art Steffen’s boys’ squad, on the other hand, had a lot of young, inexperienced players and several question marks entering the season. But they did have a fireplug named Timmy Steffen.
”Me and my friend Kyle Marrero, we played soccer every day over the summer,” said Tim, who also cut lawns on the side to make a little extra money and stay in shape. “But after our first couple of practices I was a little scared. I didn’t think we could win it.”
The LCA boys did get off to an horrendous start and if the Warriors had played in the public league, which makes teams play .500 or better ball to qualify for the playoffs, they would have been out of it by mid October. But a funny thing happened, they started playing together and winning their games. LCA even beat Saint Mary’s Hall, a quality team, with Steffen and Marrero, LCA’ best players, away on a college trip.
In fact, LCA rolled off four straight wins to qualify for a Penn-Jersey championship game versus Solebury. Nowicki’s girls’ team would also play Solebury for a title that same day.
Most people gave the Lady Warriors a good chance of winning. Art Steffen’s team, however, was a huge underdog. Yet despite 38 shots by Solebury, Warriors’ goalie Matej Culjak stood on his head and made 38 saves to lead the LCA boys to an improbable 2-0 win for the title. Steffen and Andrew Speight, who scored a goal, played great defense in that contest. Steffen made over a dozen slide tackles to stop Solebury’s attack several times. Unfortunately, the LCA girls lost a tough one to Solebury.
”We wanted it but I wasn’t sure that we’d accomplish it,” said Tim, who felt bad for his twin sister. “We both took the same bus ride home from Solebury. When we stopped at a McDonald’s for something to eat, I carried her into the McDonald’s to cheer her up.”
As twins, Timmy and Katie Steffen have always been close and they even played on many of the same travel soccer teams and are both terrific defenders. Katie is a great point guard for LCA’s basketball team and she’s a pitcher and middle infielder for the softball team.
While LCA didn’t have enough guys for a baseball team last year, Tim is an excellent baseball player who’ll play wherever his dad puts him. In fact, the Steffen twins are both unselfish players in every sport. In soccer Tim can play sweeper, center halfback or center forward. He even played goalie once.
”My main position was sweeper,” said Tim. “I like center halfback because I like the fact that I can set people up for goals, take a shot or help on defense. If I set someone else up for a goal it makes me just as happy as would feel if I scored.”
Although he probably has the most accurate shooting touch on the team, Tim was never a big goal scorer. But when his team needs a goal, he’ll often move up and score one. The secret to his famous slide tackles is he always beats the opposing player to the ball with his incredible hustle. Meanwhile, Katie worked just as hard for the girls’ soccer team.
Neither ever quits.
”Last year in one of the games versus Solebury I injured my knee, but I kept playing until the end of the game and then someone had to carry me off the field,” said Tim “Katie has a knee problem. She loves the game so she always will play through it (pain).”
Tim has a special bond with his twin sister, This stretches to the point where he wishes people had taken more pictures of her team playing as mementos.
”Now that we’re older we’ll talk to each other about everything. One thing she’s looking forward to is going to Lake Erie for a basketball tournament,” said Tim, whose twin sister is an extremely aggressive basketball player.
Tim is thinking about playing soccer for Liberty University in Virginia next year. Katie is already leaving him notes telling him how much she’ll miss him if he goes. They both could wind up at Burlington County Community College, perhaps for a year. But Tim will really miss his dad in any case.
”It’s going to be weird not having him as my coach any more,” said LCA’s 5-foot 10 inch defensive specialist. “One thing I like about LCA soccer is we always played with whoever we had at the school and didn’t recruit.”
When they needed a player, Art Steffen and Nowicki would just took great players like Timmy and Katie Steffen from their middle school.

