Central Catholic-NA boys soccer highlights Tuesday’s 3 things to watch in high school sports

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, September 10, 2018 | 10:39 PM

The faucet has been turned off and the rain has finally ceased, just in time for a busy night on the pitch of district boys soccer.

One of the top matchups Tuesday is a Section 1-4A match between two of the top teams from 2017, as Central Catholic visits North Allegheny.

A year ago, North Allegheny was the No. 2 seed while Central Catholic was No. 4. While the Tigers eventually won the WPIAL 4A championship, the Vikings were upset by Pine-Richland, 2-1 in overtime, in the first round.

While both programs have been strong over the years, this is the first match between the two new section foes since the 2010 WPIAL playoffs. Central Catholic edged North Allegheny, 1-0, in the first round of the district postseason eight years ago.

Hear the match on the TribLive High School Sports Network .

Golden soccer rivals

Fans would be hard pressed to find a better rivalry in any sport in the WPIAL than Greensburg Central Catholic vs. Shady Side Academy in girls soccer.

Since Class A came into being in 2010, these two programs have won every district championship, with GCC winning gold in 2011, ‘12, ‘14, ‘15 and ‘17 and SSA claiming crowns in 2010, ‘13 and ‘16.

But over the last two years, not only have they met twice in the regular season as section heavyweights, but they also played each other in the WPIAL title match and again in the PIAA semifinals.

In both years, the Centurions and Indians split. In 2016, Greensburg Central Catholic won both regular season matches, but Shady Side Academy picked up 1-0 victories in both the district and state playoffs.

Last year, the two split in the regular season, with the Centurions winning 1-0 in the WPIAL finals and the Indians capturing a 3-0 triumph to earn a spot in the state championship, where they beat Camp Hill, 4-0.

Tuesday, the two powers meet at Greensburg Central Catholic where Shady Side Academy has not won since 2010.

Pair of volleys

There were some girls volleyball matches last week around the WPIAL that were postponed because of the heat wave making things extremely uncomfortable in some of the smaller gyms.

On a full night of section action, the heat will pick up courtside with two standout matches on the slate.

A pair of Trib HSSN ranked teams meet in a Section 1-4A clash as Seneca Valley visits Pine-Richland. The Rams are ranked No. 2 while the Raiders check in at No. 5.

In Class 2A, No. 5 North Catholic hits the road to face Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in a Section 2 match. The Chargers reached the semifinals in Class A a year ago before moving up to 2A this season.

Don Rebel is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Don at drebel@tribweb.com or via Twitter @TheDonRebel.

Tags: Central Catholic, Greensburg C.C., North Allegheny, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Pine-Richland, Seneca Valley, Shady Side Academy