Plum keeps rolling with shutout of section foe Franklin Regional

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Monday, September 22, 2025 | 9:56 PM

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Franklin Regional had a “Gold Out” for Monday’s Section 4-3A girls soccer game.

The matchup, however, had more of a purple tint to it.

Gianna Revetta and Olivia Bigger scored second-half goals as unbeaten Plum ran its section winning streak to 35 with a 2-0 victory over the fifth-ranked Panthers in off-and-on rain in Murrysville.

Plum (8-0, 7-0), which hasn’t lost a section game since Oct. 3, 2022, has six straight shutouts, the same amount of section titles it has won consecutively.

More streaks: Plum has seven straight wins over the Panthers (8-3, 5-2). Plum increased its section lead over the Panthers to two games.

Franklin Regional was cooled off after winning five straight and rising to No. 5 in the TribLive rankings.

A two-game sweep by the Mustangs shows which team has the inside track to the section title and which one might be more deserving of a top-five spot.

“We talked about (the rankings),” Plum coach Jamie Stewart said. “For them to be ranked and us not, they were fired up.”

Plum has outscored its opponents 40-2.

“I thought we had good momentum at the end of the first half,” Franklin Regional coach Scott Arnold said. “We just weren’t maximizing our opportunities.

“There is something about playing them. We play more composed against teams not named Plum.”

After a scoreless first half, Plum finally broke through. Addison Ayres came well out of the net to stop a shot, and the ball deflected far out to Revetta. The Slippery Rock commit quickly reset and alertly sent a 30-yard blast into an empty net to make it 1-0.

It was her eighth goal of the season.

“That is what we have come to expect from Gianna,” Stewart said. “She has a high soccer IQ. That was a great ball by her.”

The Mustangs took a two-goal advantage on a free kick in the 52nd minute following a handball on the Panthers.

Bigger roped a delivery to the front of the net. Ayres went to smother it, but the ball came loose in front and was inadvertently bumped into the net by a Franklin Regional player.

“That was unfortunate,” Arnold said. “Our defenders may have been a little too deep there.

“Plum is so good with balls in the air. Sometimes, it’s like feeding a monster.”

Plum had a couple of free kicks go on frame early, one of which clanked off the post.

The Mustangs’ best chances were limited to set pieces.

Another set shot was punched away by Ayres, who made eight saves.

Franklin Regional nearly scored in the final 30 seconds of the first half when Grace Copeland’s direct kick hit the crossbar, bounced downward and out of the net to keep it 0-0 at the break.

Malayna Smith made a pair of saves and earned the shutout in net for the Mustangs.

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

Tags: Franklin Regional, Plum