Murrysville Star notebook: Franklin Regional grad returning to Riveters

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Saturday, January 10, 2026 | 11:01 AM

Sydney Lindeman had such a good experience in her rookie season with the new Pittsburgh Riveters pre-professional women’s soccer team, she is coming back for more.

Lindeman, a Franklin Regional alum and two-year starter at Towson, is returning for another season in the USL W League.

Lindeman, 22, used her redshirt last college season as a junior. An outside backer, she played in six matches with Pittsburgh and scored a game-tying goal in the regular-season finale against Steel City FC.

The Riveters won the Great Forest Division title and made the league playoffs in their first season.

Upset special

Franklin Regional’s girls basketball team has a mostly young lineup and competes in Class 5A, so few gave the Panthers a chance when they played defending WPIAL Class 6A champion Upper St. Clair in the Cal (Pa.) Holiday Hoopfest.

Franklin Regional (4-6) wore the underdog role well, stunning USC, 33-30, in overtime.

“Defensively, we locked in and locked down, and offensively we are making strides towards limiting turnovers, taking high percentage shots and executing for the looks we wanted,” Franklin Regional coach Bernie Pucka said. “It was a great team win.”

Pucka said USC — a much different looking team than the one that beat Norwin in the WPIAL final last year — was not tough to prepare for.

Junior guard Chloe Pucka scored a season-high 19 points and budding freshman Isabella Mendoza-Roberson added 10 for the winning Panthers, who outscored USC 5-2 in the fourth quarter. They trailed 12-5 at the half but scored 14 to get within 20-19 going to the fourth.

“Preparing for USC was like preparing for ourselves,” coach Pucka said. “Honestly, it was like looking ourselves in the mirror.

“They had strong guard play with a dominant big, and we felt we really matched well with them.”

Panthers top P-T

Franklin Regional’s boys basketball team played with high energy from the tip to push past visiting Penn-Trafford, 63-47, to open Section 1-5A play.

Juniors Logan Walter and Webber Rankin posted career games with Walter scoring 27 and Rankin 19. The Panthers, who moved to 4-1, held the Warriors without a field goal for nearly six minutes in the third quarter.

The Panthers finished 1-1 at the South Allegheny Tournament, earning a 69-46 win over the host team as Anthony Mitchell poured in a career-high 27 points and Alec Masten added 15.

Franklin Regional (8-2) had won 6 of 7 going into 2026.

Rettger winners

The annual Mike Rettger Memorial Boys Basketball Tournament was played Dec. 5-6 at Franklin Regional, with Norwin edging the host Panthers, 61-60, in the championship game.

As has become tradition, organizers awarded a pair of scholarships to recent Franklin Regional graduates.

The boys winner was Connor Crossey, a basketball standout and one of the WPIAL’s top scorers last season. Crossey is a freshman on the Saint Vincent men’s basketball team.

For the girls, Anna Novelli, a former Panthers basketball player who is now a freshman playing for Grove City.

Crossey and Novelli will each receive $2,000.

Haugh resigns

Kiski Area’s Colyn Haugh resigned as head football coach last week to take a coaching position with the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL.

That means Haugh will not pursue another head coaching opening in Westmoreland County, at Franklin Regional, where is a graduate and former lineman.

Franklin Regional had first-round interviews to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Lance Getsy last month after five seasons.

Casella among leaders

Franklin Regional senior winger Joey Casella was among the PIHL Class 3A leaders in points through 10 games.

Casella had eight goals and six assists for 14 points, tying him for ninth in the classification.

He had a hat trick against Central Catholic in a 5-4 win.

Leopold coaching

The Franklin Regional boys basketball team has a new assistant coach on the bench this season.

Former two-sport athlete Nick Leopold is helping Jesse Reed after Lucas Poole moved out of state.

Leopold played college football at Duquesne as a wide receiver. He also helped the Franklin Regional football team this season as an assistant to Lance Getsy.

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

Tags: Franklin Regional