Apollo-Ridge girls soccer making strides in challenging Section 1

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, September 19, 2017 | 11:24 PM

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Elizabeth Ross paused before discussing Apollo-Ridge's strengths and weaknesses this soccer season.

“We're not going to give away all our secrets,” she said.

Teammate Breanna Murray shut that line down.

“What secrets?” she asked bluntly, laughing.

Four seasons into its existence as a program, and three years into its WPIAL membership, Apollo-Ridge isn't a well-kept secret anymore. The Vikings qualified for the playoffs for the first time last season and are showing they have what it takes to go even further this season.

“It seems like every year we have more and more experienced players on the team,” said Murray, a senior and member of the team since its inception. “Whenever we started out, half the girls didn't know what a soccer ball was. Seeing every year we have more and more developed players coming in and building upon the team, it just helps with your motivation. Whenever you have a good team to back you up on the field, it just helps you when you want to win.”

The Vikings (3-1, 3-1), tied for second place in Section 1-A heading into a Wednesday showdown with No. 1 Greensburg Central Catholic (3-1, 3-0), retain one shred of mystery: coach Matt Ross said the team is still trying to establish its identity this season.

Apollo-Ridge starts a mixture of underclassmen and upperclassmen and is dealing with some injuries, which made finding consistency early this season somewhat more difficult.

“We're kind of just tuning up,” Matt Ross said. “We only had one scrimmage, (and) with one scrimmage, it's kind of tough to see what you have there. If we get this team all firing at once, it's going to be something.”

To back up their coach's words, the Vikings pulled off a near-upset of No. 2 Shady Side Academy on Tuesday. They led the defending WPIAL champion and PIAA runner-up by two goals in the first half before SSA rallied for a 3-2 victory.

Still, considering Apollo-Ridge lost its two meetings with SSA by a combined 11-0 margin last season, Monday's defeat had something of a silver lining.

“Pretty much with every loss, we're disappointed, especially that one because we were up two on them at one point in the game,” Elizabeth Ross said. “So it's especially disappointing. But looking at it a bit more broadly, that was definitely an improvement from last year. We have to look at that and get to improve so maybe we can beat them next time.”

The defense — with seniors Ross and Murray, junior Alaina Marsinetti and sophomore Mallory Galinac on the back line in front of sophomore goalkeeper Maddy Galinac — is the strength of this year's team thus far, with six goals allowed in four games.

Senior Amanda Eckman and sophomore Haley Usko anchor the Vikings' midfield, while sophomore Mayce Anthony leads the team in scoring.

“We definitely want to start playing a bit more as a team,” Elizabeth Ross said. “We're right now just a lot of individually good players, but we're not really connecting to make the plays to get the ball down the field. I think that really showed in the game (against Shady Side Academy). We started off making those connections and getting the ball down the field with our passes, and then toward the end it was more disjointed. We definitely need to work together more.”

Matt Ross said he hoped to see the team respond Wednesday at GCC, which has won 84 consecutive section games.

“I think it's an even playing field this year,” Murray said. “Last year it seemed a few teams had immense amounts of skill, and we were somewhere in the middle. But this year, it seems like all the teams are at an even playing field. Therefore, the games are going to be a lot harder. Shady Side, we were extremely close with them, which has never happened. It's going to be interesting.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer.

Tags: Apollo-Ridge