Bethel Park notebook: Boys, girls lacrosse teams enjoy playoff seasons

By: Ray Fisher
Saturday, May 24, 2025 | 11:01 AM

Both lacrosse teams at Bethel Park advanced to the WPIAL playoffs this season.

The boys squad, coached by Luke Lewis, landed the No. 7 seed in Class 2A and defeated No. 10 Quaker Valley, 12-10, in the first round before losing to No. 2 Mars, 18-0, in the quarterfinals.

The Black Hawks secured fourth place in the Section 1-2A standings in 2025 with an 8-3 record, trailing only South Fayette (11-0), Peters Township (10-1) and Penn-Trafford (9-2).

The junior and sophomore classes dominated the team’s roster. There were eight juniors and seven sophomores on the squad.

The juniors were ATT Ryan Elphinstone, D Keilen Jones, D Colton Wahl, MF Zach Mingo, MF Aaron Owen, ATT Gavin Edkins, D Peters Velisaris and D Tom Bruney.

The sophomores were D Alex Bielozer, MF Cary Hewes, ATT Charles Hegedus, MF Luca Del Greco, D Tyler Miller, ATT Kai Roule and ATT Alex Arnold.

Senior leadership was provided by MF Aaron Mach, D Joe DePasquale, MF Nathan Disori, ATT Max LeMessurier and G Trent Blum. Top freshmen included MF Luke Sohyda and G Keith Peters.

The girls squad, coached by Jackie Rutkowski, was seeded ninth in the Class 3A tournament, where it lost a 13-8 first-round decision to No. 8 Shady Side Academy.

During the regular season, the Black Hawks ended up fifth with a 6-4 record in Section 1-3A behind Upper St. Clair (10-0), Mt. Lebanon (9-1), Peters Township (8-2) and Penn-Trafford (7-3).

D Kylie Kasievich and G Allison Wolling were the only seniors on the team, which like the boys squad, was dominated by junior players.

Juniors included ATT Reese Mellinger, D Howrylak, ATT Jennifer Heh, MF Morgan Cook, ATT Kylie DeMark, MF Scotlyn Paxton, ATT Sarah Neal, D Madison Cook and D Ashley Stasik.

MF Cami Fisher, MF Liliana Centofanti, ATT Morgan Wolling, D Mikayla Watson, D Camryn McNees and G Pippa King represented the sophomore class. Fisher is the top player in the girls tennis program at Bethel Park and in the WPIAL.

ATT Jane McCann was the leading freshman player on the team.

Top finishers

Clancy Orie was a well-versed senior competitor on the Bethel Park boys track and field team in 2025.

Fiona O’Neill was an up-and-coming freshman athlete on the girls team.

Orie and O’Neill were the leading competitors for the Black Hawks at the WPIAL Class 3A championships May 14 at Slippery Rock University.

Orie was the lone Bethel Park medalist thanks to his toss of 52 feet, 7 inches in the boys shot put that gave him a fourth-place finish.

O’Neill was a near-miss medal recipient with a ninth-place showing in the girls discus event. She also competed in the shot put.

Other WPIAL qualifiers for the Black Hawks included juniors Brady McCarthy (triple jump, pole vault) and Santino LaMolinare (discus) on the boys team and seniors Ella Milliken (discus) and Keaira Griffiths (javelin) and junior Autumn Flowers (100) on the girls team.

The girls 3,200-meter relay team also advanced to the WPIAL meet.

College ball

As of mid-May, five senior members of the Bethel Park baseball team planned to continue their careers at the next level: INF Noah LeJeune (Seton Hill), P/INF Dylan Paul (Gannon), P Dylan Schumacher (IUP), P/OF Ryan Walsh (Virginia Tech) and P/INF Owen White (Allegheny).

Tags: Bethel Park