WPIAL boys soccer championship preview: North Catholic, GCC have shot at history

By: Don Rebel
Wednesday, November 3, 2021 | 6:34 PM

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A pair of WPIAL schools will be playing for the triple crown this week.

Both North Catholic and Greensburg Central Catholic have teams playing for WPIAL championships in boys soccer, girls soccer and girls volleyball Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

A year ago, the Mars and Greensburg Central Catholic boys and girls soccer teams both won district crowns. They became the ninth and 10th schools in WPIAL history to pull off that rare feat, and it was the first time two teams did it in the same year.

No district school has ever won WPIAL titles in all three sports — boys soccer, girls soccer and girls volleyball — in the same season.

Three other schools have a chance to win two WPIAL titles in the next few days. Seneca Valley has both the boys and girls soccer teams in the 4A finals, Hampton has their boys soccer and girls volleyball teams in the 3A finals, and Avonworth has teams playing for gold in girls soccer and girls volleyball.

All eight soccer finals are at Highmark Stadium in Pittsburgh and the four volleyball championships are at the new UPMC Events Center at Robert Morris University.

All 12 title matches will be video streamed only at TribHSSN.TribLive.com

Here is a look at the four WPIAL boys soccer championships coming up on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Class 4A

No. 2 Peters Township (16-1-1) vs. No. 1 Seneca Valley (17-0-1)

5:45 p.m. Saturday at Highmark Stadium

Playoff path: Peters Township defeated Butler, 4-2, North Allegheny, 4-1; Seneca Valley defeated Allderdice, 1-0, Fox Chapel, 1-0

Streaking: Peters Township has won five straight while Seneca Valley has a six-game winning streak.

Golden history: The Indians have won nine WPIAL boys soccer championships: 1986, ’87, ’88, ’89, 2003, ’08, ’10, ’13, ‘14. The Raiders have won two WPIAL crowns in 2018 and 2020.

Players to watch: Andrew Massucci, Peters Township; Nathan Prex, Seneca Valley

Pitch factoids: Seneca Valley won Section 1-4A by three games while Peters Township was co-champion in Section 2-4A with Canon-McMillan. The last meeting between these teams came in the Class 4A finals last fall when the Raiders beat the Indians in a classic, 4-3 in double overtime.

Class 3A

No. 2 Hampton (18-1) vs. No. 1 West Allegheny (21-0)

3:30 p.m. Saturday at Highmark Stadium

Playoff path: Hampton defeated Penn Hills, 8-0, Moon, 1-0, Franklin Regional, 1-0; West Allegheny defeated Indiana, 3-0, Mars, 6-0, Plum, 2-1

Streaking: Hampton has won seven straight while West Allegheny has a 21-game winning streak.

Golden history: The Talbots have won three WPIAL boys soccer championships: 1990, 2010, 2011. The Indians have won one WPIAL crown in 2013.

Players to watch: Luke Staggers, Hampton; Johnny Dragisich, West Allegheny

Pitch factoids: West Allegheny has been perfect in 21 games. Hampton has only one loss and that was to Class 4A semifinalist North Allegheny. The Talbots won Section 1 and West Allegheny captured the Section 2 title, both winning by a two-game margin. In 2019, these programs met in a 3A semifinals match with West Allegheny winning, 1-0.

Class 2A

No. 2 Quaker Valley (18-2) vs. No. 9 North Catholic (12-7)

6 p.m. Thursday at Highmark Stadium

Playoff path: Quaker Valley defeated Burrell, 5-1, East Allegheny, 14-0, Ambridge, 3-2 in overtime; North Catholic defeated McGuffey, 1-0, South Park, 1-0, Charleroi, 4-2

Streaking: Quaker Valley has won five straight while North Catholic has a four-game winning streak.

Golden history: The Quakers have won 10 WPIAL boys soccer crowns: 1985, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’96, ’99, 2012, ’16, ’19. The Trojans won a WPIAL title in 2017.

Players to watch: Keller Chamovitz, Quaker Valley; Dylan Greggs, North Catholic

Pitch factoids: A pair of Section 4-2A teams reached the finals. Quaker Valley finished first, North Catholic third in the regular season. Quaker won the two head-to-head meetings, 3-0 on Sept. 23 and 7-0 on Oct. 13.

Class A

No. 2 Winchester Thurston (18-0-1) vs. No. 1 Greensburg Central Catholic (15-3)

8 p.m. Friday at Highmark Stadium

Playoff path: Winchester Thurston defeated Jeannette, 5-0, OLSH, 4-1, Riverside, 4-0; Greensburg Central Catholic defeated Chartiers-Houston, 8-0, Springdale, 4-0, Eden Christian, 6-5 in overtime

Streaking: Winchester Thurston has won 17 straight matches while Greensburg Central Catholic has a three-game winning streak.

Golden history: The Bears have won one WPIAL boys soccer championship in 2014. The Centurions have won five WPIAL crowns in 2003, ’04, ’09, ’19, ’20.

Players to watch: Alex Hauskrecht, Winchester Thurston; Carlo Denis, Greensburg Central Catholic

Pitch factoids: GCC is the only boys soccer team left with a chance to repeat as champions. This is the third straight years these programs have met in the finals. The Centurions beat the Bears 1-0 in 2019 and repeated with a 3-2 victory last fall.

Tags: Greensburg C.C., Hampton, North Catholic, Peters Township, Quaker Valley, Seneca Valley, West Allegheny, Winchester Thurston