New crop of starters motivated to keep Plum boys soccer among WPIAL elite

By: Michael Love
Wednesday, August 14, 2024 | 4:46 PM

The Plum boys soccer team enjoyed another strong regular season last fall in what has become a string of such successes the past half decade.

The Mustangs went 14-0 in their Class 3A section, lost just once in nonsection play and earned the top seed for the WPIAL playoff tournament.

But a 1-0 upset loss to South Fayette in the quarterfinals was a sudden halt to their designs of a deep postseason run.

“Obviously, the loss to South Fayette was tough,” coach Raf Kolankowski said. “They expected to go a little bit further. The returning guys have used that as motivation.”

Despite several key players lost to graduation, the returning core, Kolankowski said, has expectations to keep the train rolling.

“We have three starters back,” he said. “But the guys really want to continue what we’ve been doing for the last five years. Some people say we are rebuilding, but I like to say we are reloading and retooling. New guys come in and want to continue the standard that has been set. We’ve seen that before with the recent seasons where we have important seniors leaving and others move in and keep things going. We’ve been winning like we have, and the next group doesn’t want to be the one to let it end or not do as well.”

Plum hopes to extend a streak of five straight section titles. The Mustangs went 66-3-1 in section play from 2019 through last year.

The 2022 squad finished third in the Class 3A playoffs and punched its ticket to states.

Under the new WPIAL alignment for the next two years, Plum is back in Class 4A for the first time since 2019 when it went 13-0-1 in its section, edged Norwin for the section title and made it to the WPIAL semifinals.

The Mustangs will face Central Catholic, Gateway, Hempfield, Norwin and Penn Hills.

“Moving up from Triple-A to Quad-A, that’s definitely going to be a challenge. But I think everyone has bought into it, and everyone is ready to test themselves against some really good teams and challenge for the playoffs,” Kolankowski said.

Preparation for the season, he said, has been fierce since the early summer training sessions.

“With the summer workouts and summer pickup games, you could definitely see players who really wanted it and put the time and effort into it,” Kolankowski said. “You can see the difference. There are a lot of guys who want to get into the starting rotation, and they’ve been showing what it takes to do that.”

Senior All-WPIAL center back Garrett Chandler leads the returning cast.

“Garrett’s a very smart player, and we’re going to rely on him to do a lot of good things for us,” Kolankowski said. “He’s very versatile. He’s a defensive stalwart, but we’ll get to use him in the midfield, too. He’s just a clever, creative player.”

Seniors Gage Adinolfi, Fedgy Fertil and Eli Wastchak also will be top players counted on in the offense. Adinolfi led the returning players in goals last year with eight. No player scored more than 12, and eight finished with at least five goals.

“Over the past five years, we haven’t relied on one person to be that big goal scorer. We’ve kind of spread things around,” Kolankowski said.

“The way we play, we don’t want to rely on that one guy. All it takes is for the other team to put two guys on him, and you’re in trouble. We’ve been able to spread the wealth and get everybody involved.”

Kolankowksi said with Chandler and the presence of veteran seniors Noah Smith and Zach Carnahan, the backfield will be secure. Plum gave up only 12 goals in 20 games last year.

With Owen Zalewski graduating, the goalkeeping responsibility falls to senior Brady McLaughlin. Sophomore Chase Eber also is in the mix.

“They are both pretty good goalies,” Kolankowski said. “We’ll see how things play out. Obviously, it’s Brady’s job to lose. He is a senior, and he’s learned a lot behind Owen over the years. Chase is going to be there pushing him and working with him. There will probably be games where they will split time.”

Kolankowski said the overall schedule for his team is impressive.

“I really loaded up the out-of-section games. Every team will be a playoff team,” he sad. “You always want to play as many challenging games as possible, especially for us wanting to get to the Quad-A playoffs. Norwin won WPIALs last year as the No. 8 seed, so you know how competitive the (Quad-A) playoffs will be.”

Despite not being in the same section with rival Franklin Regional after four years, the Mustangs and Panthers will play a nonsection game Sept. 28.

“We wanted to keep Franklin Regional on the schedule because they are our neighbors, and we’ve had such a good rivalry with them,” Kolankowski said. “We want to keep playing them as long as possible. They should be one of the top Triple-A teams again this year.”

Plum opens its season Friday against Shaler at its kickoff tournament. Upper St. Clair and North Hills will play in the other semifinal.

“The tournament is always fun,” Kolankowski said. “It will be a great couple of games at the start to see where we are before getting into the section. We know how competitive these games are going to be. We have the scrimmages, but those games are really good tests.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Plum