Freshman lights fuse for Penn-Trafford girls in win over Latrobe
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Wednesday, September 4, 2024 | 10:29 PM
Penn-Trafford’s Avery Bosack celebrates with Tori Yurt (27) after Yurt’s first goal against Latrobe in the first half Wednesday at Greater Latrobe High School.
Penn-Trafford’s Bryana Bennett battles for the ball with Latrobe’s Annalyse Bauer on Wednesday at Greater Latrobe High School.
Penn-Trafford celebrates with Tori Yurt (27) after her second goal in the first half against Latrobe on Wednesday at Greater Latrobe High School.
Penn-Trafford’s Morgan Spudy fights for the ball with Latrobe’s Emerson Shine in the first half Wednesday at Greater Latrobe High School.
Latrobe’s Annalyse Bauer fights for the header with Penn-Trafford goalkeeper Rease Solomon off of a corner kick Wednesday at Greater Latrobe High School.
Latrobe celebrates with Annalyse Bauer after scoring a first-half goal against Penn-Trafford on Wednesday at Greater Latrobe High School.
Penn-Trafford goalkeeper Rease Solomon makes a save on Latrobe’s Annalyse Bauer in the first half Wednesday at Greater Latrobe High School.
Freshman Tori Yurt said she wanted to be more “useful” to the Penn-Trafford girls soccer team after a slow start to the season.
How’s this for useful?
The 6-foot forward scored two goals to set the pace and propel Penn-Trafford to a 3-2 victory over host Latrobe in the Section 1-4A opener Wednesday night at Rossi Field.
The active ninth grader is showing her game is ready for the varsity level.
“The first two games, I didn’t score, so I felt like I could do more to help the team out,” Yurt said. “I wanted to be more useful.”
Yurt’s brace paired well with the play of an aggressive back line and a heady effort from senior goalkeeper Rease Solomon, who battled turf burn on her thigh, in a physical matchup of Class 4A newcomers.
The Warriors (2-2, 1-0) built a 3-1 lead before winless Latrobe (0-2-1, 0-1) added a late tally.
“Our back line and Rease played great,” Penn-Trafford coach Jimmy Mastroianni said. “We knew our back four had to play strong. We had to do our best to jar them up.”
A frantic 18th minute saw both teams score within 24 seconds of each other.
Yurt delivered on a one-on-one chance, then junior Annalyse Bauer followed with the first of her two goals for the Wildcats and it was 1-1.
“Tori is at her best up top,” Mastroianni said. “She had a strong game. She is finding herself and working off of other players.”
Yurt struck again for her third goal of the season in the 22nd minute, lofting a ball high and then watching it trickle over the line with Latrobe junior first-year goalkeeper Gianna Trunzo drawn out.
The Warriors had a 2-1 lead and the defense held steady, even early in the second half when Solomon knocked down a shot in front and junior defender Anna Coy swooped in to sweep away a rebound attempt.
The chaos off a corner kick was efficiently repelled by the Warriors.
“Anna Coy was great,” Mastroianni said. “She was on Robin (Reilly) all night. I am super proud of our girls’ effort against a great team. To win our first section game in 4A, that’s the way you want to start every season.”
Latrobe, which played with just 17 girls, tried to rest starters to preserve the lineup.
Reilly, the Wildcats’ senior standout and West Virginia commit, for instance, sat at length in the first half before returning.
Latrobe still is finding ways to be vigilant without sacrificing its talent.
“We have to be cautious,” Latrobe coach Jamie Morrison-Campbell said. “We have 2A numbers … Not to make excuses, but we have some younger girls we’re transitioning into (the rotation). We had four freshmen starting tonight.”
Solomon, a Robert Morris commit, made six saves against 11 shots.
Sophomore Lauryn Francis knocked in the Warriors’ third goal in the 74th minute, firing wide past Trunzo to make it 3-1.
Solomon followed with a diving save, but Latrobe found another opportunity three minutes later when Bauer connected top shelf to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Latrobe has allowed 12 goals in three games after giving up 13 all of last season.
“We caused a lot of our own problems tonight,” Morrison-Campbell said. “They did a nice job of being unified. We had to shift some thing around on the fly because of our lower numbers.”
Morrison-Campbell was impressed with Yurt’s play.
“She is a good, strong player,” she said. “She was all over the field.”
Penn-Trafford is starting to gain momentum offensively after getting shut out in its first two games, against Peters Township and Upper St. Clair.
“You can never be comfortable (against Latrobe),” Mastroianni said. “We tried to force them to take bad shots from the outside.”
Sophomore Avery Bosack had two assists and senior Chloe Walton had one for the Warriors.
Freshman Ellie Petruzzi had an assist for Latrobe.
Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.
Tags: Latrobe, Penn-Trafford
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