Armed with 5 seniors, Ellis School could potentially ‘4-peat’
Tri-State Sports & News Service
It took a little while before Ellis School could get things rolling. That’s what happens when a team comes into the year with freshmen at several keypositions.
Now that the playoffs are here, though, the Tigers headed into the postseason once again playing like a team that has won three consecutive championships and is in line for a fourth. Ellis School opened its WPIAL Class 1A title defense Thursday night againstAquinas Academy.
Ellis School (14-1- 1) entered the WPIAL playoffs as the No. 2 seed in its bracket for the third consecutive season. The Lions only loss and its lone tie were both against top-seeded ShadySide Academy.
“This was probably one of our stronger seasons because of how we did in our out-ofsection games against a little bit better competition and we beat (Class 3A) Pine-Richland, we beat North Allegheny we beat Norwin and then we came back and lost to Shady Side,” Ellis School coach Amanda Rose said. “And we needed the loss. We needed to know what that felt like and make sure it didn’t happen again.”
Part of the motivation and the desperation the team has is because of its strong senior class. Those five players, Gettysburg recruit Angie Scheurmann, Emma Bisello, Corinne Hartman, Lysa Meyer and Olivia Simon, want to close out their career with a perfect four consecutiveWPIAL titles.
No team has won four straight in any classification since North Allegheny’s seven in a row from 1998-2004. But having that kind of senior leadership at all three tiers, backside, middle and front, might be enough to give the Lions an edge despite being the No. 2 seed behind the Indians.
“It’s huge because, we have thoseplayers on my right side, my left, my center, my mid and everywhere and it’s huge because that experience is there,” Rose said. “That’s extremely important when you hitthe playoffs.”
It’s even more important this season. Ellis School came into the year with an untested freshman goalkeeper in Genna Barge, but she has limited offensive opportunities of some of the better teams, holding Class 3A playoff-bound North Allegheny to one goal intheir only match and Shady Side Academy to one in each oftheir two matches.
One of the reasons for her rapid development has been her ability to work with the top defensive players like Biselloto stay organized in the zone.
“I told her, regardless of whois yelling back at you, you yell at them because she has more of a vision of the field than anyone and she controls thecircle and they will listen,” Rose said. “They’re great with her because, once you earn your keep, they’ll respect you.”
While Barge has taken care of the defensive side, the offense came alive as the team set a school record with 88 goalsin the regular season.
“I think that next year we’ll have a lot of rebuilding to do because we’re losing five seniors,” Rose said. “But I think every season you think that, but you have three months to build it and you start from scratchagain.”