GIRLS OUTLOOK
And then there were two.
Only two teams enter the WPIAL girls soccer playoffs with an unblemished record — and both are seeded No. 1 in their class.
North Allegheny posted a 17-0 record, which includes a 14-0 mark in Class 4A Section 1. Meanwhile, Mars boasts a 14-0 mark, which includes a 12-0 record in Class 3A Section 1.
Four other teams have only one blemish on their record — Plum (15-0-1) in Class 3A, Upper St. Clair (15-1) in 4A, Thomas Jefferson (16-1) in 3A and Charleroi (14-1) in 2A.
All four champions return with a chance to defend their title. In fact, all 16 teams who made it to the semifinals last year are making a return trip to the playoffs.
The playoffs begin Saturday. Here is a look at the playoff field in each classification.
Class 4A
Defending champion: North Allegheny.
Top seeds :1. North Allegheny (17-0),2. Upper St. Clair (15-1),3. Peters Township (13-1-2),4. Seneca Valley (13-2-1).
Winner will be: North Alle-gheny. The Tigers have won the Class 4 A title three of the past four years and this team has the talent required to defend their ti-tle. Heading into Wednesday’ s regular season finale against Nor-win, the Tigers had out scored their opponents ,90-10. They also registered 12 shutouts, including eight in their last nine games. Coach Chuck Kelley’ s squad is led by Kentucky recruit Abigail Stag er, a forward who has 28 goals for the season and 59 in her career. M id fielder Jadyn Coy has 11 goals. Natalie Rak has been solid in goal.
Team that could surprise: Fox Chapel. The Fox es are back in the Class 4 A bracket after falling short of a berth last year. Two years ago, the Fox es posted back-to-back penalty kick victories to earn a spot on the semi finals. This year’s squad has allowed only 16 goals in 16 games.
The scoop: Upper St. Clair is clearly a team to watch. The Pan-thers registered a clean sheet in 14 of their 16 games. Their only loss was a 1-0 decision at Peters Township. The Panthers avenged that loss with a 2-0 win against the Indian sin the second half. Sierra Dupre has been Upper St. Clair’ s top scorer, while Camry n Friday has been stellar in goal. Upper St. Clair has outscored its opponents90-3.…Peters Township has been almost as impressive as the Indians have outscored its opponents, 63-6. The Indians were last year’s runner-up.
Class 3A
Defending champion: Moon
Top seeds:1. Mars (14-0), 2.Plum (15-0-1), 3. Moon (12-1-2),4. Thomas Jefferson (16-1).
Winner will be: Mars. The Planets have made six consecu-tive appearances in the Class 3A title game and won three consec-utive titles from 2019-21. Theylost to Moon in last year’s show-down of defending champions. With Kate McEnroe in goal, the Planets have registered a shutout in 13 of 14 games and Mars has outscored its opponents, 73-1.Addison Girdwood leads the Plan-ets with 13 goals, while Rosie Pellegrino has chipped in 11.
Team that could surprise: Latrobe made its first appearance in the final four last year. The Wildcats’ only two losses are to Plum, both by one goal and one in overtime. Sisters Regan and Robin Reilly give Latrobe a potent scoring combo.
The scoop: Could this be theyear Plum finally wins its first title? The Mustangs finished second three consecutive years before losing in the semifinals last year to eventual champion Moon. The Mustangs are led by Ava Weleski(20 goals) and Gianna Revetta(12 goals). … Moon has won two consecutive titles, including a Class 4A crown in 2021. The Tigers have found it tough toscore with only 41 goals in 15games, but goalkeeper Serayah Leech has allowed only two goals.… Thomas Jefferson is a team towatch after scoring 119 goals in17 games.
Class 2A
Defending champion: Avonworth
Top seeds :1. Avon worth (14-1-2),2. North Catholic (13-2),3. Mount Pleasant (15-2),4. Free-port (13-1-1).
Winner will be: Avon worth. The Antelopes have won two con-secutive titles after losing to North Catholic in the 2020 title match. Avon worth’ s lineup features three players who have scored in dou-ble figures—Gianna Babusci (23), Fiona Mahan (15) and Caro-line Sweeney (10).
Team that could surprise: Freeport. The Yellow Jackets advanced to the quarterfinals last year and to the semifinals in 2019. Freeport’s only title match appearance came in 2016. This year’s squad had allowed only 14 goals going into Wednesday’s regular season finale against Seton LaSalle.
The scoop: Don’t be surprised to see Avonworth and North Catho-lic face off for a third time in the ti-tle match. They split two regularseason matches and both were decided by one goal. North Catho-lic is led by Simone Sharpless (23goals) and Lauren Mealie (10). …The wild card is Mount Pleasant, last year’s runner-up. The Vikings lead the WPIAL with 135 goalsscored, which averages to 7.9 pergame, and have five girls who have10 or more goals. Morgan Gesin-ski (26) and Maggie Piper (24) arethe leaders. Laurel Rummel was ingoal for 15 shutouts, as the Vikings allowed only three goals in17 total games.
Class 1A
Defending champion: Freedom.
Top seeds :1. Riverview (15-2),2. Freedom (14-3),3. Char le-roi (14-1),4. Winchester Thurston(10-2).
Winner will be: Riverview. With Pitt recruit Lola Abraham leading the way, the Raiders sur-vived Section 1— the strongest of the four Class 1 A sections—with only one loss to claim the first section title in school history. Abraham registered 56 goals and 17 assist sin 17 games. She is one of three Raiders who have 10 or more goals. The other two are Mary Quinlan (15) and Cailey Trosch (12).
Team that could surprise: Greens burg Central Catholic. The Centurions have made 13 con-secutive semifinal appearances since Class 1 A was added in 2010. Despite several injuries and about with COVID that forced two postponements, the Cent uri-ons are still strong.
The scoop: The championship could come down to a showdown between Freedom’ s Shaye Bailey and River view’ s Lola Abraham. Bailey, who has 38 goals, was the Post-Gazette’ s female athlete of the year last year. Freedom has advanced to the semifinals four of the past five years. Maddy Meyer has chipped in 10 goals for the Bulldogs .… Winchester Thurs ton and Spring dale are teams to watch. Winchester Thurston went unbeaten in Section 4 and out-scored its opponents,41-13.Spring dale, last year’s WPIAL run-n er-up, finished third in Section 1. The Dynamos outscored their op-ponents ,78-15.