By Sheldon Shealer, editor

Emily Butler did not score in Granville's 3-1 girls soccer victory over rival Newark in Ohio on Sept. 6, yet she netted a more important goal drumming up awareness, and money, for breast cancer research.

The 16-year-old high school junior organized, with her mother's help, an event called "Shoot for the Cure, which raised nearly $1,500 through T-shirt sales during the Granville-Newark match. At least 15 other school programs will follow suit with similar events this fall, all to benefit the Stefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research at the Comprehensive Cancer Center Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute at Ohio State University.

"We had no idea what this would turn in to, said Stacey Butler, Emma's mother.

Granville players wore pink "Shoot for the Cure T-shirts in place of their usual game jerseys against Newark, and, as Emma said, "nearly everyone in the crowd had one on also.

Half of the $10 from each T-shirt cover costs and the other half goes to the Spielman Fund. Nearly 200 T-shirts were sold before the match, and Stacey sold an additional 90 during the contest.

"It was fabulous, she said. "I was telling people [jokingly that] they weren't allowed into the game unless they were wearing pink, and I think some people really believed me. Even little brothers who, on most days, would not be caught dead wearing pink, were wearing the shirts.

As word spread about the Granville event through newspaper reports and Internet postings, Stacey Butler started fielding calls from programs around central Ohio. At last count, 15 high school girls teams, one high school boys team and three travel squads some as far away as Toledo and Youngstown - plan to conduct "Shoot for the Cure nights, which also includes a 50-50 raffle and a halftime shoot on goal.

"At Granville, we raised almost $1,500, Emma said, almost in disbelief. "If we can do that at 14 schools & that's a lot of money going to breast cancer research.

Stacey Butler, meanwhile, is more conservative on the expectations, citing Granville's advanced sales initiative which most schools are not doing - as a large part of the event's success.

Emma Butler's original idea taken from the local "Volley for the Cure high school volleyball event - was to help the family of a club soccer teammate whose mother was diagnosed with breast cancer less than a year after the family lost their house to a fire. Her club team, Blast FC in Columbus, Ohio, followed through on the event, called "Blast for the Cure, and raised nearly $700. Turning her attention to high school team where one of the players had lost her mother to breast cancer, Emma felt a "Shoot for the Cure would be an appropriate cause.

Emma shared the idea with her mother, who took it to the school's athletic director. From there, Granville needed permission from the state association, which allowed the pink jerseys as long as they had jersey numbers on the front and back.

A family friend who worked for Pixar, an animation studio, helped design the pink T-shirt and another family friend in the T-shirt business is handling the orders.

"It makes me feel good knowing I can help, Emma said. "I heard a statistic that two out of 16 women will have breast cancer, and that's a lot of people it affects.

 "My husband (Troy Butler) and I are thrilled that Emma thought of it and followed through, Stacey said. "You hope your kids grow up to be caring people, and when that comes to fruition, we're extremely proud of her.

So what will Emma do for an encore next year?

"A lot of schools have expressed interest in doing it again next year, she said.