Norwin enjoying the target on its back
Tri-State Sports & News Service
All season long Norwin has played as though every opponent was coming at the Knights with the singleminded purpose of knocking the reigning WPIAL Class 3A girls soccer champions off their pedestal.
For the most part, it didn’t work.
A 1-1 tie against Section 4 rival Hempfield was the only blemish for Norwin (16-0-1), which finished with the best record in the newly formed 4A classification, one-half game in front of Canon-McMillan (15-0-1). The Knights have also grabbed some attention nationally as they have moved up the ranks and into the top 15 of the USA Today poll.
“You just can never take anything lightly,” Norwin coach Lauren Karcher said. “Obviously we’ve been in different situations this season where we’ve run into different kinds of challenges, so it doesn’t really matter what number you are but how prepared you are for what you’re going to face in the playoffs.”
Now, however, Norwin will have to play even better than the team that allowed only 10 goals in 17 games and posted nine shutouts to earn the No. 1 seed in the WPIAL playoffs. It’s a path the Knights trod last year when they went undefeated in the regular season on their way to their first title in 18 years, but this time things will be a little different.
No team has ever won a title in one classification and moved up to win the following year. Norwin will also be attempting to repeat for the first time since 199697, the year the PIAA first made its initial split into two classes.
“I think having the experience and having been there before, they’re definitely ready,” Karcher said. “I think that they’ve been ready since last November because, once you’ve had a taste of it, you want to go back. I think we’ve been preparing for it all season long.”
Norwin won’t be the only team in a similar situation as to the one it was in last year. Canon-McMillan was the No. 2 seed a year ago and the Big Macs went undefeated (16-0-1) in the regular season before being upset in the second round by Fox Chapel.
Class 3A
Moon was one of only three 2015 playoffs teams that remained in Class 3A from last year and did not move up, so it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that the Tigers finished the regular season with the best record in the classification (17-1-0) with its only loss coming at the hands of 4A Seneca Valley.
Then again, Moon has been in the catbird seat before and did not come away with the title. In 2009, the Tigers were the No. 1 seed in 3A, but lost to Norwin in the quarterfinals.
Moon has not won a WPIAL title since it won 3A in 2004, but did take the 2012 2A state championship.
“There’s a little bit of pressure and I’ve been there before, but the kids haven’t and they’re excited,” Moon coach Bill Pfeifer said. “We’ve had a lot of pressure all year because we’ve been No. 1 pretty much all year. The kids are used to other teams coming tough to play them and I think we’ve handled it well.”
Franklin Regional (14-31) was another of last year’s playoff teams that stayed in 3A and was co-Section 1 champion with Mars (10-22), the team that won the 2A title a year ago. Like Norwin, the Planets are looking to become the first team to move up in class and win a title after winning in a lower classification the previous year.
Oakland Catholic (15-2-1) was the third 3A team to stay and it ended up tied with South Park (14-1-2), the other 2A finalist from a year ago. South Park opted to play up a classification and was riding a nine-game winning streak when the brackets were announced Wednesday.
Class 2A
Freedom (17-0-0) was the only team in the WPIAL to finish with a perfect record, but it will be interesting to see how the Bulldogs perform in the postseason as the favorite to win a title.
Not only has Freedom never been the team to beat, the only time the Bulldogs even played for a WPIAL title was in 2014 when it was the No. 11 seed and pulled off three upsets before losing to Greensburg Central Catholic, 9-1, in the 1A final.
Freedom also made the 1A playoffs a year ago, but once again lost to the Centurions, this time in the semifinals, 7-2, before taking a 32 loss in the third-place consolation match that knocked the team out of the state playoffs.
After Freedom, there are a host of teams that could make a run to the finals as Waynesburg (15-2-0), Freeport (13-3-1), Highlands (112-3) and even Section 1 rival Beaver (12-4-0) could make a run by the time all is said and done.
Class 1A
All season long, every team in 1A has been trying in vain to catch Greensburg Central Catholic. None has succeeded. Not only are the Centurions (16-1-0) a two-time defending WPIAL champion, they have won four titles in the past five years, lost in the finals to Shady Side Academy in 2013 and played in Hershey in the PIAA 1A finals a year ago. They also have the WPIAL’s all-time leading scorer in senior Bailey Cartwright.
If that weren’t enough, the only team that beat Greensburg Central Catholic was St. Ursula Academy of Ohio in the season opener. In its 16 wins, the team has outscored its opponents, 10412, with seven shutouts.