Despite graduation losses, Plum girls soccer aims to continue winning ways

By: Michael Love
Saturday, August 26, 2023 | 11:01 AM

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The Plum girls soccer team enjoyed a strong four-year run through last season that included 72 victories in 83 games, four consecutive section championships, three WPIAL title-game appearances and three trips to the PIAA playoffs.

Last year’s Mustangs reached the WPIAL Class 3A semifinals and the PIAA quarterfinals and were stymied both times by eventual WPIAL and PIAA champion Moon.

While eight senior starters from the 2022 squad moved on because of graduation, including three now on Division I college rosters and one other at the Division II level, senior returnee Ava Weleski said positive optimism remains for a team that has the confidence that comes with past success on the field.

“Practices have definitely been competitive,” said Weleski, one of four returning players with starting experience from last season.

Wesleski, a midfielder, was one of four Plum players to earn All-WPIAL recognition.

“We have a lot of new girls coming onto the field looking to step up,” she said.

“A lot of underclassmen have been putting the work in. It is tough to lose those seniors from last year, but there definitely is talent ready to come in and keep the winning going.”

Plum captured the Section 3 championship last year with an 11-1 record. The Mustangs’ lone section setback came at the hands of runner-up Latrobe (10-1-1). The loss snapped a 42-game win streak.

“It has been hard to say goodbye to each senior class,” Plum fifth-year coach Jamie Stewart said.

“I appreciate every single one of them for what they’ve done for this program. Last year’s senior group did a lot for this team in terms of work on the field and their leadership. But this is a new year, and we’ve turned the page, so to speak. It is time for this year’s players to step up and continue what we’ve built here.”

Weleski, with nine goals last year, is the top goal-scorer among the returning players. She added five assists.

“Ava brings a wealth of experience back, and understands what it takes to be counted on,” Stewart said.

“But we make sure that we don’t put any pressure on her to perform above what she is capable. We expect Ava to be Ava and nothing different. We just want her to do what she can do to help the team succeed.”

A total of 57 goals were recorded by the top three scorers: graduates Kaitlyn Killinger (25), Cam Rogers (18) and Annabel Arhin (14).

“I think we can have balanced scoring. We’ve developed a pretty strong attack,” Weleski said.

“We have girls coming off the bench, too, who can put the ball in the back of the net. We’ve really learned a lot about ourselves, especially with the preseason practices and the scrimmages.”

Plum scrimmaged Indiana on Aug. 19 and followed that up with a scrimmage against Norwin on Aug. 22.

Stewart said both were valuable tests to see where the team stood and the work yet to be done prior to the season opener against Gateway on Monday.

“After going through a week of camp, it was good to get out there and face someone else,” Stewart said.

“You can only do so much playing against yourselves. We went up to Indiana and learned some things about ourselves, and then saw a different speed of play against Norwin. We were able to work on some things we fixed from the first scrimmage. That is going to be the process for us as we get going with the season where we continued to build and improve with each practice and each game.”

Also back with starting experience from a season ago are goalkeepers in junior Makenna Anderson and sophomore Malayna Smith, as well as senior midfielder/defender Ashley Kovach.

Stewart said the team is blessed with a trio of strong goalkeepers with sophomore Sam Fields in the mix. He said there most likely again will be a sharing of the goalkeeping duties.

The section, Stewart said, again will be strong with Latrobe, Franklin Regional and Penn-Trafford among those hoping to unseat the Mustangs from their throne.

Latrobe also made it to the WPIAL semifinals before falling to Moon and qualified for states. The Mustangs avenged the regular-season loss to the Wildcats by beating them in the WPIAL third-place game, 2-1.

Plum was slated to face Greensburg Salem on Wednesday before a clash at Latrobe on Wednesday (Sept. 6).

“We’re pretty excited to know that every game is going to be a battle,” Weleski said. “We love to compete. We know it’s not going to be easy, but we’re ready to get going.”

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.

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