Jeannette cancels girls soccer season due to lack of players

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Thursday, September 11, 2025 | 6:39 PM

Girls soccer season is over at Jeannette before it started.

The district canceled the team’s season because of a lack of players. The WPIAL has been informed, and Jeannette’s Section 4-A opponents could receive two forfeit wins apiece.

Five games already were postponed on the Jayhawks’ schedule before the difficult decision was finally made to shut it down.

Jeannette athletic director Adrian Batts said it was a challenge to get a half-dozen girls at practices — sometimes only four showed up consistently — because of their involvement in other activities.

Initially, 14 girls signed up in the summer, but most changed their mind given their prior commitments.

A team, by PIAA rule, cannot start a game with fewer than eight players.

“You never want to force anyone to play,” Batts said. “This is very unfortunate. We don’t quit at Jeannette, and we tried to make a team happen. We thought we’d have the numbers initially, but it didn’t work out.

“We thrive on multi-sport kids here, but there are challenges when girls are in the band, cheer, play tennis or do other things. We haven’t even gotten into the academic part, either.”

Jeannette has struggled to maintain a steady lineup of players for several years. In recent seasons, the Jayhawks have had to play games with fewer than 10 players. Former coach Billy Bryant, who resigned in the offseason, said it was an ongoing challenge to field a consistent lineup.

“I feel sorry for coach (Derek) Cuthbert,” Batts said. “He is going to stick around and train the girls who want to play.”

Cuthbert, a former WPIAL championship-winning coach at Penn-Trafford and most recently the coach at Greensburg Central Catholic, was primed for his first season at Jeannette.

The discussion now turns to getting more girls to play next year or entering into a co-operative arrangement with another school.

“Everyone I have spoken to has said the same thing: It’s a shame,” Cuthbert said. “The kids who did come out were solid athletes, and they worked hard. They were coachable kids, and they never complained.”

Cuthbert will continue to hold a couple of practices a week to honor his contract. He also works with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds 2016 boys team in Monroeville and coaches an Olympic Development Program boys team in the spring in Cranberry.

Greensburg Central Catholic also has dealt with low numbers, so a join-up between rival schools could be an option.

“If we can make it work, why not?” Batts said.

Jeannette sponsors girls sports in soccer, basketball, tennis, softball, bowling and newly sanctioned flag football.

Most of those sports also have faced challenges with player turnout.

“I don’t know what the problem is,” Batts said. “It’s tough at a small school. We don’t have a lot of girls who specialize in one sport like other smaller schools. Hopefully, we can get numbers up.”

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Jeannette