Westmoreland County Senior Spotlight: Penn-Trafford’s Mia Muro

By: Anthony Difilippo
Tuesday, November 1, 2022 | 3:24 PM

Penn-Trafford’s girls soccer team came into the season with just two seniors and not a lot of expectations.

At the end of the regular season, the Warriors sat 7-6-4 overall and 5-4-3 in the conference heading into a playoff matchup against Connellsville.

One of those seniors, center back Mia Muro, knows how important it is to be in the playoffs, considering the youth on the team.

“Our goal was just making the playoffs, which we have achieved and I thought was really good,” Muro said. “We have a really young team, and that was hard to overcome at the beginning of the season, but we got it together towards the end.”

This will be the first time the Warriors are participating in the Class 3A playoffs, as they were moved down from 4A after last year.

In 4A, Penn-Trafford had three consecutive first-round losses to North Allegheny in 2019 and Seneca Valley in 2020 and 2021.

Muro is happy that Penn-Trafford no longer has to play those bigger programs.

“(Those schools) have such a big feeder system, and they have so many girls to choose from,” Muro said. “It’s nice to feel like we’re playing someone that’s on our level this year.”

Penn-Trafford had 27 players on the roster coming into the season. That led to Muro to focus on her leadership role.

“I’ve definitely had to step up this year a lot as a leader, and we’ve had three junior captains too,” Muro said. “We do have a lot of younger girls, but they’ve really stepped up to the role that they’ve needed to.”

Class 3A has its share of tough competition, too. The young Warriors tied four games this season, and two of them were against Franklin Regional and Latrobe. The Wildcats only lost two games the entire season.

Muro learned how ties can be uplifting for teams, even if winning is the optimal end result.

“We were proud of some of those ties, the one against Latrobe was huge especially,” Muro said. “It showed that we could put up with some of the stronger teams.”

Muro plans on attending college for finance, and she is looking into investment banking. She has not yet decided where that will be.

This week, Muro took some time for a Senior Spotlight Q&A:

How did you get started with soccer?

I got started with soccer because my parents kind of just threw me into sports. All my other siblings are into swimming, which I did for a while when I was little, but I was the only one out of my four siblings that stuck with soccer.

What do you feel like your biggest strength is?

I’d say my biggest strength would be never giving up on plays. I just keep going. My coaches growing up told me that my most noticeable trait was that I never gave up during the game.

Is there an area where you feel like you could improve?

I always wish I had more confidence dribbling the ball up the field from the back.

What is the importance of defense on your team and in general?

As a center back, we’re usually looked over and not usually talked about. We’re not the goal scorers. It is one of the most important lines, not only because we’re the last line you have to get through to get to our goalie but we really see everything on the field. My other center back and I are pretty much calling everything out on the field, addressing marks in the midfield, calling out plays. I think that’s one of the most important roles that center backs have, addressing everything that’s going on in the field.

What is one thing that people may not know about you?

One thing that people may not know about me is that my middle name is More, so my name in Italian means “my love.”

Tags: Penn-Trafford