Fox Chapel, Shady Side Academy soccer teams add to playoff legacy

By: George Guido
Saturday, October 23, 2021 | 11:01 AM

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High schools from the Lower Valley continue to experience soccer success.

For the 12th time in the last 13 seasons, Fox Chapel and Shady Side Academy have both boys and girls teams in the WPIAL playoffs.

The only exception was 2018 when the Fox Chapel girls fell short of the playoffs.

Here’s how the regular seasons ended for the four teams:

• Fox Chapel boys made the WPIAL playoffs for the 22nd consecutive season. It might not be as impressive as Quaker Valley’s 40 years in a row, but it is still significant. Coach Erik Ingram’s Foxes finished 8-3-1, good enough for second place in Section 1-4A, 13-3-1 overall.

• Fox Chapel girls qualified for the playoffs for the 13th time in 14 seasons. The Foxes, under coach Peter Torres, finished in third place in Section 3-4A with a 6-3-1 mark, 8-7-1 overall.

• Shady Side Academy boys were Section 2-2A champions with a 9-1 record, 10-2 overall under coach Ed Ellsworth. The Bulldogs made the playoffs for the 18th consecutive season.

• The Shady Side girls, piloted by Mary Lynch, won the Section 2-2A tile with a 9-0-1 mark, 10-1-1 overall. They qualified for the playoffs for the 13th straight season.

Record-tying rout

Turns out Fox Chapel tied a national boys soccer record with its 30-0 rout over Southmoreland to open the season.

After checking with the National Federation of State High Schools Associatons (NSFN), the Foxes equalled the mark set by Eisenhower High School of Blue Island, Ill., on Aug. 29, 1990 and by Alberquerque Manzano on Oct. 2, 1987.

The match (or in this case, mismatch) occurred at the Canon-McMillan Invitational. Foxes coach Erik Ingram played his junior varsity the entire second half to try and stem the tide and later said he thought Fox Chapel was going to have another opponent that day.

Doing the math, Fox Chapel scored a goal an average of every 2 minutes, 40 seconds.

The 30 goals obviously broke a state record also, according to the NFHS book.

Philadelphia Washington scored 22 in a win over Philadelphia Kensington on Oct. 27, 1982.

Tags: Fox Chapel, Shady Side Academy