A-K Valley schools to be well-represented at WPIAL soccer championships

By: Michael Love
Wednesday, October 30, 2024 | 4:39 PM

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There might be a bit more traffic than usual heading down Route 28 the next few days, as local soccer fans make their way to Highmark Stadium on the South Side.

Of the 16 boys and girls soccer teams playing for WPIAL championships Thursday through Saturday, five are from the Alle-Kiski Valley.

The Fox Chapel (Class 3A), Burrell (Class 2A) and Springdale (Class A) girls teams, as well as boys teams from Plum and Fox Chapel, who play each other in Class 4A, are gearing up to go after gold.

The accomplishment for area teams is not lost on Plum Mustangs coach Raf Kolankowski.

“This is pretty special,” Kolankowski said. “It doesn’t happen too often when you have this many teams from one area in all of the classifications have a chance to compete at this level. It’s exciting to see how much good soccer is being played.”

The top-seeded Fox Chapel girls (17-2-1) seek their second consecutive WPIAL title after they shut out Plum, 3-0, Tuesday at North Hills’ Martorelli Stadium. They will take on No. 2 South Fayette at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

The Foxes, who defeated North Allegheny for the Class 4A title last year at Highmark, have outscored their three playoff opponents — Indiana, Montour and Plum — by a combined 18-1.

The Springdale girls (16-1), whose only loss this season came to Burrell on Sept. 28, seek their third WPIAL title in program history (2009, 1997). They will meet section rival, No. 6 Winchester Thurston, for the gold at 6 p.m. Thursday.

The No. 1 Dynamos rolled past No. 13 Sewickley Academy, 5-1, Tuesday at Dormont Stadium in their fourth straight semifinal appearance.

Springdale lost in the round of four last year and in 2021 and fell to Freedom in the 2022 Class A title game at Highmark.

“I know girls from both Burrell and Fox Chapel and they are some really talented players,” Springdale coach Marc Bentley said. “For all three of the girls’ teams to make the WPIAL finals just shows how much talent there is in the area.

“We played Burrell earlier in the year, and I told their coach afterwards that I thought they were a well-coached team, they were strong. I hope they do well on Saturday night.”

The Burrell girls (14-5-1) are proving that seeding is just a number as they have come from the No. 9 seed to win three games — including a 4-0 victory over No. 1 Mt. Pleasant — to put themselves in a position to win a WPIAL title for the first time in program history.

The Bucs will take on No. 2 Quaker Valley for the Class 2A title Saturday morning at 11.

With the Plum and Fox Chapel boys facing each other for the Class 4A title at 8 p.m. Friday, there is guaranteed to be a WPIAL boys champion from the A-K Valley.

The most recent area boys champion was Deer Lakes, which claimed Class 2A gold in 2022.

Plum will go after its first WPIAL championship since it won the only title in program history in 2005. The Mustangs (17-0-3) defended their No. 1 seed through a 3-2, two-overtime win over Canon-McMillan in the quarterfinals and a 2-1 win over No. 4 North Allegheny on Tuesday in the semifinals at Gateway.

“This is great for the players, the community, the school and for the alumni who have come before them,” Kolankowski said. “It is a big deal for us getting to the title game because we’re not used to getting here as much as some of the other top teams.”

Third-seeded Fox Chapel (12-4-2), which has won five WPIAL titles, the most recent one coming in 1995, punched its ticket to the title game with a 1-0 victory Tuesday over Peters Township in the second game at Gateway.

The Mustangs and Foxes met in the regular season finale Oct. 12 with Plum winning 3-1.

The five A-K Valley finalists also have secured spots in the PIAA playoffs, which begin next week.

Three other teams — the Plum girls and the Deer Lakes and Burrell boys — made it to WPIAL consolation games with a berth to the PIAA tournament on the line.

It was an all-area matchup Wednesday at Fox Chapel between No. 13 Burrell and No. 3 Deer Lakes to decide who would advance to states from boys Class 2A.

The Plum girls (17-2) hope for a return to the PIAA tournament — they last played there in 2022 — and the opportunity lies at North Allegheny’s Newman Stadium at 8 p.m. Thursday against No. 6 Mars.

The Mustangs and Fightin’ Planets met for WPIAL Class 3A championships three times from 2019-21 with Mars winning each time.

Freelance writer Ted Sarneso contributed.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Burrell, Fox Chapel, Plum, Springdale