Girls soccer playoffs set to begin in Saturday’s 3 things to watch in high school sports

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, October 19, 2018 | 8:48 PM

The curtain goes up Saturday on the 2018 WPIAL girls soccer postseason with 24 first-round playoff matches.

Penn-Trafford, Moon, Waynesburg and Greensburg Central Catholic are the defending champions.

Not only are Penn-Trafford and Moon in the Class 4A playoff tournament this season, they are on the same side of the bracket.

The No. 6-seed Warriors battle Butler in a 3 p.m. match at North Allegheny followed at 5 p.m. by No. 10-seed Moon facing host North Allegheny in a battle of the Tigers. Both matches can be heard on the TribLive High School Sports Network.

Waynesburg has a first-round bye in the Class AA tournament while No. 2-seed Greensburg Central Catholic faces Riverside at Hampton at 1 p.m.

We meet again

Two teams that met in the quarterfinals a year ago will collide in first round Saturday in the district girls soccer playoffs.

Burrell finished in second place in Section 2-AA behind Deer Lakes with an overall record of 12-2-2 and drew the No. 7 seed while No. 10 Yough finished 11-5 and in fourth place in Section 3.

In the 2017 WPIAL postseason, the Buccaneers and Cougars squared off in the quarterfinals, and Yough advanced with a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory.

The Cougars then lost to Freedom in the semifinals 3-0.

Saturday gridiron

There are four afternoon WPIAL football frays to put a bow on Week 8 of the regular season.

Three of the games are conference matchups with Neshannock at Western Beaver in the Class 2A Midwestern Athletic Conference, Jeannette at Riverview in Class A Eastern Conference and Northgate hosting Bishop Canevin in Class A Big 7 Conference.

The nonconference game features a battle of playoff hopefuls as Imani Christian hosts Beth-Center.

Beth-Center needs to win in Week 9 to make the playoffs. The Bulldogs face Frazier for fourth place in the Class 2A Century Conference.

Imani Christian ends the season with back-to-back nonconference games as the Saints wait to see how the wild card race in Class A plays out.

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

Tags: Beth-Center, Bishop Canevin, Burrell, Greensburg C.C., Imani Christian, Jeannette, Moon, Neshannock, Northgate, Penn-Trafford, Riverview, Waynesburg, Waynesburg Central, Yough