Top 19 of ’19: Trib HSSN breaks down the top stories of the year — No. 18
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Saturday, December 14, 2019 | 7:47 PM
Mars’ Taylor Hamlett (38) celebrates with Grace Ingram after receiving their gold medals following the girls WPIAL Class AAA championship game against Plum Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019, at Highmark Stadium.
The 2019 high school sports season is nearly in the books.
While we anxiously look ahead to 2020, let’s reflect on the district high school sports scene over the last 12 months.
Here is a look back at the top 19 stories from around the WPIAL in 2019.
HSSN Top 19 in ’19: No. 18 — Near perfect on the pitch
On a mid-September Saturday evening, the Mars girls soccer team hosted defending WPIAL Class AAAA champion Seneca Valley in a nonsection battle of Class AAA and AAAA powers.
The match ended in a 3-3 tie and turned out to be the only blemish on the Fightin’ Planets record.
Mars won the Section 1-AAA title and advanced to the WPIAL championship match where it shut out Plum, 4-0.
Three state playoff wins later, the Fightin’ Planets were in Hershey winning PIAA gold with another shutout, 1-0 over Villa Joseph Marie.
Mars was dominant — it won 20 of 22 matches by multiple goals, with the two exceptions coming in the state finals and a season-opening 2-1 victory over Gateway.
Coach Blair Gerlach was named the state’s Girls Soccer Coach of the Year, and Taylor Hamlett was honored as the Trib HSSN Player of the Year.
Here’s a look at the rest of the top stories of the year:
No. 19 — Big Ben strikes often
Tags: Mars
More High School Soccer Girls
• Shelly Thropp, Wayne Capra to be enshrined in state soccer hall of fame• Thomas Jefferson girls soccer season marked by improvement, 1-goal losses
• Westmoreland high school notebook: Latrobe soccer player Reilly receives another honor
• Peters Township’s Molly Kubistek named 2024 Trib HSSN Girls Soccer Player of the Year
• Quaker Valley girls soccer builds legacy in WPIAL championship season
