Hopes high for talented North Allegheny girls soccer

By: John Grupp
Saturday, August 23, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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The North Allegheny girls soccer team plans on making its own luck this season.

One year after some unfortunate bounces and achingly close calls denied them a spot in the WPIAL Class 4A championship game, the Tigers hope to leave little to chance this time around.

“I think we got the short end of the stick last year, and we didn’t really get to where we wanted to,” North Allegheny all-WPIAL senior midfielder Emma Schupansky said. “We are very motivated.”

Led by a pair of returning all-WPIAL players and boosted by some talented transfers, the Tigers bring high hopes into the 2025 season.

They attracted 60 players to tryouts and started out strong with a 4-1 victory at Mt. Lebanon in a preseason scrimmage Aug. 16.

“We’re definitely feeling better about where we are at right now,” 11th-year coach Chuck Kelley said. “It’s a nice group of players. They are all competing and playing hard.”

That wasn’t enough last season, as the Tigers lost a 2-1 overtime heartbreaker to Peters Township in the WPIAL Class 4A semifinals. Trying to reach the finals for the fifth time in six years — and have a shot at their fourth title since 2019 — North Allegheny instead lost when a late, potentially game-winning shot hit off the crossbar and, in OT, a bad-bounce goal ended it.

North Allegheny, which finished 12-6-1, returns a half-dozen starters, including all-WPIAL junior forward Kieran Shannon, and welcomes two promising transfers and a trio of players who missed last season with injuries. The Tigers are ranked No. 3 in the Trib’s WPIAL Class 4A preseason poll.

“I think we are going to do really well,” said Shannon, who had a team-high 10 goals last season and scored twice in the scrimmage win over Mt. Lebanon. “We have a lot of high expectations with the talent that we have. Our goal is definitely to go far.”

Other returnees include senior forward Averie Bierker, a Miami (Ohio) recruit who scored five goals last season; senior Ava Hutter, who had a breakout 2024 season on the backline; senior midfielder Maddie Williams and junior midfielder Rosalia Varlotta.

Another junior midfielder, Mia Barsotti, is out for the season with an injury.

Exciting newcomers are junior forward Mwende Abai, who moved from Stillwater, Okla., and senior forward Avery Ruffus, a transfer from Allderdice.

Three players who were expected to contribute last season have returned from injuries — junior midfielder Sahara Catlos, junior forward Addison Vrabel and senior defender Lydia Randiga — and junior Jordan Beemer is settling in as a first-year goalkeeper.

“We all worked really hard through the summer and did a lot of training,” said Schupansky, a Maryland-Baltimore County commit, “so hopefully that will translate into the games.”

Last season was a year of frustrating close calls for North Allegheny, which won three WPIAL titles from 2019-22 before losing to Fox Chapel in OT in the 2023 finals.

Plagued by trouble finishing at the net, the Tigers averaged only 2.4 goals. They scored a total of two goals in their six losses, and Shannon was the lone player to score more than six goals on the year.

“If you look at it, we had plenty of chances to score last year,” Kelley said. “It’s can we make the most of those chances when they come. … We played the same way last year as we will this year. It’s do you score the goals when you get those chances as opposed to miss them.”

Said Shannon: “If we all work together, the goals will follow.”

Kelley said this year’s team has some intangibles that should help the Tigers reach their goals. Specifically, the seniors share a tight bond with the underclassmen

“In the past, on certain teams, you (don’t have that),” Kelley said. “This senior class is more unified with the rest of the team. It’s not a hierarchy now. It’s more of a team, and they are bought into playing for one another. It’s not ‘Me and I.’ It’s ‘We and us.’

“I just feel good about the group of girls that we have. They have the right mentality. (As for) the outcome and the score in the season, I have no idea how we will play against the Senecas and the Pine-Richlands and the Upper St. Clairs and Peters Township, but I know we are going to enjoy this season playing for each other.”

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