Shaler girls soccer aims to break 37-year playoff drought

By: Josh Rizzo
Sunday, September 22, 2024 | 11:01 AM

Zoey Cieslak didn’t have to spend extra time bonding with two of her teammates on the backline of the Shaler girls soccer team. Zoey, a junior, has the benefit of playing with her sophomore twin sisters, Ava and Allie.

“It’s fun, sometimes,” Zoey said. “I can talk to them. They know what I am going to say. It’s unspoken communication. I can give them a look, and they know what I am going to say.”

Lilly Trgovic joins the Cieslak sisters in the defensive corps, a group helping make waves for the Titans. Shaler is 4-4 overall and 2-3 in Section 1-3A.

Titans coach Bill Ament said having a strong backline opens up a lot of different things for the Titans, who are hoping to make school history this year. Ament believes Shaler hasn’t made the playoffs in 37 years.

“It allows us to do much more in the midfield,” Ament said. “They don’t have to worry about marking as much. We can do a counterattack with them in the back. They get the ball to the midfield, where our scoring comes from. We have sophomore midfielders lighting up the scoreboard.”

Shaler being in the playoff race this season comes as the Titans drop down from a class. While Shaler’s section isn’t as deep as last season, the Titans still have to contend with defending Class 4A champion Fox Chapel and perennial power Mars.

Shaler is in third place in the standings and in a position to challenge for a playoff spot, which would be a shot in the arm for the Titans’ program. Since 2000, Shaler has only produced four winning seasons.

The Titans last finished above .500 when it went 9-8-1 in 2011.

The Titans’ only season since 1997 when they produced double-digit wins was 1998, when they went 11-7-2, but Shaler missed out on the postseason that year. The WPIAL still only had two soccer classes in 1998, and only the top two teams from each section made the postseason.

Ament is in his third season coaching the program. Shaler improved from five wins in Ament’s first season to seven last year.

From 2018-21, the Titans went 8-53-1 and never won more than three games in a season.

“It’s incredible,” Ament said. “We have improved each year. This year, our goal was to break the 37-year playoff curse at Shaler. These girls are dedicated and have seen their hard work pay off. We wanted to climb out of what Shaler soccer had been.”

Zoey Cieslak said she was around many of those teams when she was in middle school and saw the toll that losing took on everyone’s spirits.

“It was a hard culture to break and change,” Cieslak said. “When coach Ament came in, he wanted to make it a more positive environment. I saw a lot of those girls on the high school team when I was in middle school upset and sad. A few quit because they didn’t want to be there.”

This season, after opening the year with a loss to Fox Chapel, the Titans picked up a 1-0 win over perennial WPIAL and PIAA title contender Shady Side Academy. It was an early sign that good things could be ahead for Shaler.

Sophomore Naudia Zotter leads Shaler with six goals, while Melina Poliziana has scored four times. The Titans average 4.1 goals per game.

Ament hopes Shaler’s best moments are ahead.

“They’ve been great,” Ament said. “They have a good sense of humor. They all have the same goal: to be successful and go to the playoffs. They are going after that full bore.”

Tags: Shaler