Despite changes, Moon still team to beat
Tri-State Sports & News Service
There have been plenty of changes at Moon in the past year. A glance at the win column, however, looks like the same old Moon.
Since last season ended with back-to-back WPIAL and PIAA titles, the Tigers lost their head coach, their star player and saw their 46-game unbeaten streak come to a halt.
Despite all of that, Moon was 8-1-2 as of Monday and still one of the top teams in the district.
“I think this group wanted to carry on a winning tradition,” said firstyear coach J.R. Little. “There’s a lot of talented players here. Talent aside, we’re a good team. I would brag and say we might be the best team because of how united they are as a group.”
A big part of that continued success was keeping up with traditions. Even without a coach, the girls would work out five days a week, meeting up at the school at 8 a.m. during weekdays for pickup games and to run bleachers.
“We’ve been doing that as a Moon organization for years,” said junior midfielder Chloe Kuminkoski. “Instead of relaxing during the summer, we’re trying to get a step ahead of the competition.”
Former coach Bill Pfeifer moved on to Hopewell, where he has already turned around the Vikings. Last year’s star player, Delaney Snyder, is logging minutes and scoring goals at Louisville. And that years-long winning streak? That officially ended with a 2-2 tie against CanonMcMillan Sept. 8. The unbeaten run ended one game later with a 1-0 loss at Mt. Lebanon.
The resilient Tigers bounced back from that loss with six consecutive wins, with half of those being decided by a goal.
“I think our identity this year is going in and putting up a fight,” Kuminkoski said. “Sometimes you’re not going to have a clean battle. It’s going to get gritty.”
Snyder, the Post-Gazette Player of the Year, racked up 56 goals in 2017 and scored at least once in every game. She graduated with 137 goals and 101 assists, both school records.
Nobody expected another Delaney Snyder to emerge. Goals this season are more spread out among the team.
Kuminkoski and Ana Molnar are the top offensive threats. The defense is bolstered by Ellie Hill and Kylee Evans, who can score as well. She provided the game-winning goal in last year’s WPIAL championship. Madison Sleva minds the net.
Little has experience coaching talented players at both the Beadling Soccer Club and as an assistant at Upper St. Clair. He brought in assistant T.J. O’Brien to round out his staff.
“I knew eventually I wanted to be a head coach,” said Little. “I wasn’t sure when or where the right place was going to be. At some point, you have to do that leap of faith and believe in yourself and say this is the time and the place.” Pine-Richland
How do you make a revenge win against a section rival even better? Make it your 300th career victory. Rams coach Jodi Chmielewski led Pine-Richland to a 3-0 Class 4A Section 1 triumph at North Allegheny Sept. 26. Allie Malovicky scored twice and Megan Donnelly had the other for Pine-Richland (9-2, 5-2). The victory moved Chmielewski’s career record to 300-98-25.
“For us, really, the focus was getting that section win,” Chmielewski said. “NA had beaten us earlier in the season. We knew we couldn’t drop that one.”
Chmielewski has only coached at Pine-Richland. During her 21 seasons she has consistently fielded talented teams. She coached future US Women’s National Team player Meghan Klingenberg to WPIAL and PIAA titles in 2005.
“I think what makes it really special is to be able to do it at the same school,” said Chmielewski. “A lot of people don’t last in high school coaching or they don’t last at a school that long. We take a lot of pride in our program being competitive every single year. We take a lot of pride in that consistency as a program. We’ve avoided having any kind of rebuilding years.”
Vincentian
Liz Gorman played a big role in Vincentian’s 7-2 victory against Winchester Thurston Sept. 28. How big? Gorman netted all seven goals to pace the Royals (5-12, 4-1-2 Class 1A Section 4). Gorman, a senior forward, was an all-WPIAL talent last season.