North Allegheny boys soccer chasing WPIAL 3-peat

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, August 23, 2018 | 10:36 PM

One thing the North Allegheny boys soccer team won’t be concerned with is living off the reputation it built over the past two seasons.

This group of Tigers, who will open the season Sept. 1 against Hampton, will want to leave its own mark on the program. North Allegheny, which enters as the two-time defending WPIAL Class 4A champions, graduated 16 seniors from a squad which finished 20-3-1 and reached the PIAA quarterfinals.

Such a stark transition left North Allegheny low on experience, but high on motivation. Tigers coach Bobby Vosmaer hasn’t changed up much for his preseason camp.

The only demand was he didn’t want to hear any excuses.

“The style of the play is still the same,” Vosmaer said. “The kids that were here know exactly what we want to do. It’s the young ones, the sophomores, who need to get adjusted to that. They are picking it up quickly. It looks promising so to speak.”

There are several players returning who did pick up vital experience. Seniors Nick Bridges (midfield), Brennan Donovan (defense) and Sam Wilson (forward) will provide veteran leadership. Junior forward Jonathan Ross also is a returner with varsity experience.

For the rest, it is a matter of getting game experience.

“We’re trying to get them ready,” Vosmaer said. “Hopefully, they are learning from what they saw and experienced over the last two years. We’re going to be young this year, and I’m not sure how many seniors are going to get to start. We have some young kids coming up, and it’s very much a senior game. We’ll try to cope with it.”

Qualifying for the WPIAL playoffs out of Section 1-4A will be no picnic. Realignment brought in three teams — Allderdice, Central Catholic and Fox Chapel — that all reached the district playoffs last season.

North Allegheny will also have to contend with traditional rivals Butler, Pine-Richland, Seneca Valley and Shaler to grab one of the four postseason bids.

“We’ve won it two years in a row, and I’m fully aware that everyone wants to kick us down,” Vosmaer said. “We have to be prepared mentally. Soccer-wise, I’m fairly optimistic.”

Josh Rizzo is a freelance writer.

Tags: North Allegheny