Mt. Pleasant girls soccer strikes successful balance

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, August 27, 2017 | 6:39 PM

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Mt. Pleasant's girls soccer team believes it has balance throughout its lineup.

Seniors Ally Bloom (striker), Bri Lazur (midfield) and Christiana Czegan (defense) are proof of that. All three earned all-section honors last season.

“They will be four-year starters, and each of them is uniquely gifted,” Mt. Pleasant coach Josh Pajak said. “Ally is a highly skilled and highly technical offensive player. Bri is a workhorse. She makes a lot of plays for us in the midfield. Christiana is a highly gifted athlete and probably the most athletic girl I've coached. She really came into her own last year. We look for her to play a big role for us again this year. It's nice having them split up on the field.”

Bloom, who scored 17 goals last season, is a Seton Hill commit.

She leads the way up top. Sophomore Megan Liberoni, who is back from injury, could see some time at forward as well.

Lazur is the team's playmaker at midfield. Junior Jenna Toohey, who will be a three-year starter, brings experience.

Whitney Grieff, Brooke Ulery and Mackenzie Leeder could see time at midfield, helping to replace Anna Billey, a three-time All-WPIAL selection now at Cal (Pa.).

“It's important to find the balance with the seniors and incoming young players,” Pajak said.

In addition to outside back Czegan, senior Maddy Petrakovich will be a three-year starter on defense. She could move inside this year. Junior Shay Ansell will be a two-year starter. Laura Groft is a two-year letterwinner. Freshman Courtney Poulich is in the mix, and Grieff could shift back to defense.

“We're trying to figure out who can fill the center-back position and who can go outside,” Pajak said.

“We have a lot of experience on defense, which is nice. There's talent, but it's how quickly do the younger players and the sophomores and juniors looking to get a shot to play adapt to their game? The younger kids are really talented, and they put a lot of work in. It's going to take some time. I am confident they are going to be able to do it.”

Freshman Hannah Brown takes over as the starting goalkeeper.

“We're very confident in Hannah. She played with us all winter, so she got a ton of high school experience then,” Pajak said.

Pajak hopes the Vikings tighten their defense this fall.

“We possess the ball really well. We're very strong defensively. We got away from that last year, though. We focused on the attack and got away from what we did well prior to last year,” he said. “The second half of last year, we got back to it. Two years ago, we only gave up 10 goals. That wasn't the case last year, especially at the beginning. We're going to be sound defensively and possess the ball well and make it difficult for teams to score on us. We want to get forward and score goals as well.

“Ally has bounced back and forth between midfield and striker for three years. I'd like to be able to keep playing her up front, and that'd help us in the attack. We could easily adjust and move her back. She is willing to play wherever we need her to play.

“If it all goes as planned, I think we'll add that to our attack this year. We haven't had that dynamic forward play the past couple years. We've moved forwards around and changed formations. I'd like to have some consistency. That's what we're trying to achieve.”

Mt. Pleasant wants to accomplish some playoff success this fall. The team fell to Hampton, 1-0, in the first round of last year's WPIAL Class 3A tournament.

“That didn't sit well with the team. Two years ago, we took that step and got out of the first round and lost a close one to South Fayette,” Pajak said.

“I think the senior class wants some redemption. We were a much better team than what we showed in the playoffs. That'll be sort of a theme for the year.”

Joe Sager is a freelance writer.

Correction: Aug. 28, 2017

This story has been modified to state Anna Billey is now playing at Cal (Pa).

Tags: Mt. Pleasant