Trunzo, Latrobe defense stiffen for tight win over Norwin

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Wednesday, September 11, 2024 | 10:24 PM

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Several Latrobe girls soccer players sang the national anthem Tuesday night before a boys home soccer game.

On Wednesday night, they were singing the praises of their first-year goalkeeper.

Junior Gianna Trunzo earned the teams’ dog tag necklace after she made seven saves, including four in the second half when Norwin made a serious push, as Latrobe posted a 1-0 victory in a chippy Section 1-4A girls soccer game at Rossi Field.

Senior Robin Reilly’s first-half goal stood up as Latrobe (2-2-1, 2-1) held back improved Norwin (3-4, 2-1) which had won three of its last four games.

Each team played the final 20 minutes and 27 seconds a player down after a double red card violation on Latrobe sophomore Emerson Shine and Norwin junior Isabella Buscemi.

Trunzo kept Norwin out of the net, despite several close calls, including a late shot that nearly clipped the far post with 2:11 to play.

“She is fearless,” Latrobe coach Jamie Morrison-Campbell said of Trunzo, who was a winger last season. “She deserves all the credit in the world. Goalkeeping is a different beast. She is putting in the work outside with her training, and it shows.”

Trunzo repelled a point-blank shot from senior Julia Bursick with a chest save three minutes into the second half. She made another terrific stop on a corner kick in the 59th minute, holding her ground and cradling the ball after the Knights nearly tied it.

Latrobe and Trunzo have posted back-to-back shutouts since starting 0-2-1 and allowing 12 goals.

“I feel like I have adapted (to playing goalkeeper) pretty well,” Trunzo said. “I know my defense has my back. When I think about playing goalkeeper, I think about it being for the people I am playing with, not for me.”

Reilly scored in the 31st minute off a long, bending shot from 18 yards. The precise strike on the free kick put the Wildcats in front to stay.

“Gianna really stepped up to the plate for us when we needed a goalkeeper,” said Reilly, a West Virginia commit. “On my goal, that was just one of those plays in a game where I zone in.”

Norwin outshot Latrobe, 9-7. The Lady Knights need one more win to tie last year’s total (4).

“Latrobe had a really good first half,” Norwin first-year coach Ashley DeVito said. “It took us a while to get organized defensively. Once we did that, once we found our feet, we had some success.

“I am proud of our grit and heart, but if we did our job in the first half like we did in the second, we might have had a better result.”

Shine and Buscemi had some contact in the 60th minute, and the referee quickly carded both. Both girls must sit out the next game as per PIAA rules.

“You have to be able to control your emotions in a situation like that,” Morrison-Campbell said. “I thought, overall, we played as a team tonight. We worked for one another.”

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

Tags: Latrobe, Norwin