By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 2/19/09
Bayard Rustin senior defender Emily Bauer has signed a letter of intent to play next year at Drexel University.
Bauer will be reunited with her sister, starting sophomore defender Sarah Bauer, 
when she arrives in West Philadelphia next season.
“I hadn’t thought much about going to Drexel and I wanted to keep my options open,” Emily said. “But from seeing Sarah play and meeting the coach (Anna Marie Vesco), it seemed like a place I could be comfortable with.
“As time went on, more and more it seemed like the right pick; everything kept leading me back there.”
Bauer plans to major in special education.
“I have been working with kids with special needs in high school,” she said. “This year, through a work-study program, I go directly in to work with students during 8th period. It gives me a real feel of how it would be to be a teacher. I love making a diference.”
Bauer is also excited that she’ll be able to play again with her sister. The two played together at East when Emily was a sophomore. But the following year Bayard Rustin opened and Emily went there, while Sarah stayed at East because Rustin did not have seniors in its first year.
That season, Sarah Bauer helped East win the District 1 championship, although Rustin enjoyed a standout year without any seniors. When they met head-on, the teams split their two games.
“It was fun, I mean it never got too hostile in the house,” Emily said. “They beat us the first time, but we actually won the second. We were complete underdogs; that team was so good it was unthinkable.”
Bauer is hoping her Rustin team can stay on top this year. The Golden Knights repeated as Ches-Mont League’s American Conference champions last year and reached the District 1 finals where they fell to undefeated Radnor, 15-11.
This year’s team must replace many key seniors and its coach (Dale Watkins), but Bauer is confident.
“I think we have a lot of people that no one really has seen before,” said Bauer, whose new coach is Laura Capuano. “The team the past couple years was awesome. We’ll definitely miss the graduated seniors, but for a lot of people it is their time to shine.”
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