Fox Chapel, Shady Side Academy soccer teams set for postseason

By: George Guido
Saturday, October 22, 2022 | 11:01 AM

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Fox Chapel’s boys soccer team, in the WPIAL playoffs for the 23rd consecutive season, was seeded fourth in the Class 4A tournament and will face Canon-McMillan in the quarterfinals Saturday (Oct. 29).

The match will be played at noon at James Burk Complex.

The Foxes split the final two games of the regular season, losing to Franklin Regional, 3-1, before defeating Shady Side Academy, 3-0.

A victory over Canon-McMillan would put the Foxes (12-3-2) in the semifinals Nov. 1 and a win there means a trip to Highmark Stadium for the WPIAL championship game Nov. 5.

Only the two finalists will qualify for the PIAA tournament.

The Shady Side Academy boys soccer team qualified for the WPIAL tournament for the 19th consecutive season. The No. 3-seeded Bulldogs tied Deer Lakes for the section title with identical 13-1 records. Both schools will receive a section-winning plaque, per WPIAL policy.

The boys were scheduled to open the playoffs Monday at home against Keystone Oaks.

The Shady Side girls soccer team also qualified for the playoffs, opening against Yough on Tuesday. The girls are in the for the 14th consecutive season and were seeded fifth.

Wrestling co-op

The PIAA, at its Oct. 12 meeting, approved a wrestling co-operative arrangement between Shady Side Academy and Shaler.

The agreement will take effect immediately.

Shady Side has had trouble finding enough wrestlers to fill out a team in recent years.

It hasn’t always been that way; the school won a WPIAL team title in 2001 and lost the finals to Burrell in 2009 and ’10.

In fact, three Shady Side wrestlers are among the 31 in WPIAL history to win four consecutive individual titles — Geoff Alexander, Matthew Cunningham and Dane Johnson.

Team tennis

Shady Side made it to the Class 3A girls tennis semifinals, losing to North Allegheny, 3-2.

The Bulldogs, who play up in classification against the largest schools, defeated Peters Township and Pine-Richland.

Shady Side was scheduled to play in a PIAA qualifier match Thursday against Bethel Park.

Fox Chapel, seeded eighth, defeated Moon to open the playoffs, but lost to top-seeded Mt. Lebanon in the quarterfinal round.

Tennis doubles

The Fox Chapel doubles team of Chanel Brun and Sierra Siegel made it to the semifinal round before falling to North Allegheny’s Emily Wincko and Abbey Swirsding.

There was a major upset early in the tournament.

No. 1-seeded Rachel Nath and Nicole Poltinnikov, from Shady Side Academy, lost a second round match to Lucy Sierka and Katie Peterson of Bethel Park.

The other Shady Side entry, Maya Leyzarovich and Lizzie Uhlman, defeated Franklin Regional’s Lucy Zheng and Michelle Yan in the first round before losing to North Allegheny’s Wincko and Swirsding.

Tags: Fox Chapel, Shady Side Academy