Norwin teams embracing road warrior mentality during Knights Stadium construction

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Saturday, April 25, 2026 | 11:01 AM

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Lacrosse midfielder Karlie Johnson, the girls’ all-time leading goal scorer at Norwin, has taken a liking to Yough’s Cougar Mountain Stadium.

The venue has become Norwin’s new home field while construction continues at Norwin Knights Stadium.

The stadium is undergoing a $25.4 million renovation. It is scheduled to reopen in 2027, so fall teams — football, soccer and field hockey — also will be playing away.

The football team, athletic director Mike Burrell confirmed, will play four “home games” at Penn-Trafford.

The soccer teams, meanwhile, will have practices and games at Yough, East Allegheny and Jeannette.

“Everybody has been very helpful and accommodating for us,” Burrell said. “We appreciate their help as we work through (the stadium project).”

In the spring, the Norwin boys lacrosse team also is playing all of its games on the road, as are Norwin’s defending WPIAL champion track and field teams.

Track and field is using East Allegheny’s Churchman Stadium for practices and home-scheduled meets. Coincidentally, Churchman Stadium is getting a new track and turf this summer.

“The turf is nice, and it’s a good size,” Johnson said. “It gets really windy there, so that was a bit of an adjustment. But (overall), we like Cougar Mountain.”

Adjusting to life on the road also has been a steep climb at times for the three programs, but they are getting to grips with the inconveniences.

“I feel like the biggest challenges with playing on the road so much have really fallen on the parents and the families,” Norwin boys lacrosse coach Colin Ekis said. “We as a team are adaptable and capable of making less than ideal situations work. But I feel for the kids’ families and parents who have to go the extra miles out to Yough for practice pickup, out to extra away games and at later times than past years. (They) are the ones who are really making the sacrifices.”

Norwin also has rented time at All-American Baseball Park in Trafford.

The girls lacrosse team is also trying to make the most of field time.

“Not having access to turf throughout the season is obviously the biggest challenge,” girls lacrosse coach Courtney Abbondanza said.

“Renting facilities comes with its own challenges such as limited availability. These facilities have their own teams and schedules to maintain, which sometimes means quick one-hour practices right after school or late nights for us.”

Packing up equipment and loading it onto a bus, just for practice, can be trying. And getting dozens of athletes on buses for practices and now home and away meets comes with its challenges.

“The situation is obviously not something we would have elected, but our athletes are making the most of it,” track and field coach Tim Van Horn said. “East Allegheny has been very accommodating. Their coaching staff are some of the nicest people I’ve met, and they have been awesome.”

Norwin has developed a system for transportation to and from East Allegheny, which is only 5.6 miles west of Norwin, with most of the drive on Route 30.

“We have a rider group — our younger kids — that will ride the bus and then we have a driver group — our older group with parking passes,” Van Horn said.

The Norwin boys lacrosse team adjusted to some late practices early in the season — 7 to 9 p.m. — because Yough has its own teams that use the stadium. Yough has girls lacrosse.

Norwin won its first two games at its home away from home.

“We’ve fully embraced (the move),” Ekis said. “It doesn’t do us any good to dwell on something we can’t change. We would love for Norwin to have multiple turfed fields, like all other 6A WPIAL schools, but Yough has been gracious enough to loan us turf time for practices and games when we need it.

“I see it as an advantage that other teams don’t like to go all the way out there.”

Abbondanza said playing away from campus has been advantageous.

“We actually typically play better on the road because we use the time on the bus to listen to music and mentally prepare for the game ahead,” she said. “Our slogan for the year has been ‘adapt and overcome.’ We decided on the first day of the season that we were going to focus on what we could control rather than harping on the negatives that are out of our hands. And so far, it has really been working out for us. Mindset is everything.”

Norwin was used to after-school practices and meets where they could simply leave school and make a stress-free walk to the stadium.

There is more that goes into daily plans now. But again, it is temporary.

“The greatest challenge would have to be getting into a routine,” Van Horn said. “When we had our stadium, it was easier to adapt practice plans based off of weather or other circumstances.”

Track and field, some argue, doesn’t have home-field advantage. The events are cut and dried, the tracks the same size, the pits the same dimensions. Crowd noise helps, but execution is what matters: posting times and distances, no matter the venue.

“All in all, we know we have a lot going well for us and our kids have taken everything in stride,” Van Horn said.

“They are eager to compete and just want to line up on whatever track or field we can get.”

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

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