Next wave of starters finding their places in Franklin Regional girls lineup

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Saturday, August 23, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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Graduation is a wonderful accomplishment, but it can cause problems for soccer teams. For the Franklin Regional girls, it is creating competition.

“Last season, we had a large and successful senior class,” coach Scott Arnold said. “Great leaders, fantastic players and wonderful people. A lot of them were starters and all-section players. Their graduation is creating a lot of opportunity for players to work hard and earn an increased role compared to last year.”

Internal position battles had the Panthers competing before they even played a game.

“Returning players are stepping up and taking on more responsibility on and off the field,” Arnold said. “And younger players coming in are learning about high school soccer and showing respect to the returners.”

Seven starters are back, including a smaller but talented senior group led by goalkeeper Addison Ayres, forward Allyssa Velasquez and midfielder Halle Beatty.

Arnold said the class has “game-changing” players.

Also returning are junior center back Grace Copeland, junior forward/midfielder Elliana Canfield and sophomore center back Caitlyn Chinchock.

Ayres, an Allegheny College commit, and Copeland will lead the back line.

“Addie is a proactive and aggressive goalkeeper, and she excels in communicating and making 1v1 saves,” Arnold said. “Grace is a calm, smooth and assertive center back who sets the tone for the field players around her to play confidently. She is very good at organizing our backs so we are able to send as many players forward as possible.

“Our goal is to leverage the secure platform in the back in order to play through opponents’ lines and attack in numbers to create as many great scoring chances as we can.”

Those chances could come to Velasquez and Canfield, who show offensive promise.

“Both of them are very fast and tenacious, great at winning back possession in the attacking half of the field,” Arnold said. “Both have also been working hard on their finishing skills.”

Untested sophomore Madison Wilder and Beatty will work in the midfield, as Arnold said, to continue “linking the back line players and the forwards. They both have good feet and take good care of the ball.”

Junior Jocelyn Bertagna is another attacking player who could see an increased role, while junior Maddie Slotterback could contribute in the midfield.

Chinchock and Payton Benson are other important parts of the back line.

“They both are very positive players and have good passing range,” Arnold said.

Sophomore Natalie Chandler and juniors Mackenzie Hartman and Emme Funari are looking to move up from junior varsity.

“From what I’ve seen in training, I expect us to once again be competitive in our section,” Arnold said. “We’re setting high standards now to build upon throughout the season.”

Other players looking to fill varsity roles are senior Deauna Hicks and junior Gianna Buccigrossi.

Sophomore Alaina McGrath will be the backup goalkeeper.

Arnold said he has the largest freshmen class in his tenure as coach.

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

Tags: Franklin Regional