This past Fall, Pittsburgh Soccer Report provided coverage of the WPIAL/PIAA boys and girls soccer games — and a riveting playoff season.
Now begins the next step for many of the top players in this area who are currently seniors, and looking to play beyond High School.
Next week will mark National Signing Day – and the Pittsburgh Riverhounds organization will be getting into the act — as they will hold a special event at Highmark Stadium on Wednesday, February 3 as they will be spotlighting many of their own academy players who will be signing to play in college.
It will be the first graduating class of Riverhounds academy players signing letters of intent — that includes a large group of girls players that had a big impact in WPIAL and have already made their commitments. This includes a pair of players from WPIAL Class AAA Champions Norwin (Micayla Livingston- Dayton and Jessica Boytim-Virginia Tech) and three from Yough (Jessica Moore-St. Francis-PA, Mikayla Mance-Virginia Tech and Shawna Zaken-N. Kentucky).
These players were part of the Riverhounds Academy team that won a U-15 National Cup Tournament in 2013 and reached the finals of the same tournament last summer at the U-17 level.
In total, the Riverhounds Academy currently boasts 14 girls and three boys who are going to sign to play collegiate soccer this fall with a few more potentially being added over the weekend.
The committed players are:
Girls
Name
|
College
|
High School
|
Position
|
Carli Chiatto
|
Indiana State
|
South Fayette
|
Defender
|
Elaina Walnoha
|
Cleveland State
|
Upper St. Clair
|
Def/Mid/Fwd
|
Emma Bruno
|
Baldwin Wallace
|
Bethel Park
|
Goalkeeper
|
Jessica Boytim
|
Virginia Tech
|
Norwin
|
Defender
|
Jessica Moore
|
St. Francis (Pa.)
|
Yough
|
Defender
|
Kaitlyn Snyder
|
Rollins College
|
Linsly
|
Def/Mid
|
Marrisa Zetty
|
West Virginia Wesleyan
|
Belle Vernon
|
Midfielder
|
Maya Watkins
|
Hofstra
|
New Brighton
|
Mid/Fwd
|
Megan Herr
|
Rutgers
|
Pine Richland
|
Mid/Fwd
|
Micayla Livingston
|
Dayton
|
Norwin
|
Midfielder
|
Mikayla Mance
|
Virginia Tech
|
Yough
|
Forward
|
Reilly McGlumphy
|
California (Pa.)
|
Peters Township
|
Goalkeeper
|
Samantha Hoinville
|
Brandeis
|
Mount Lebanon
|
Midfielder
|
Shawna Zaken
|
Northern Kentucky
|
Yough
|
Midfielder
|
Boys
Name
|
College
|
High School
|
Position
|
Benjamin Vester
|
Roanoke College
|
Morgantown
|
Forward
|
Christian Snatchko
|
Robert Morris
|
Canon McMillan
|
Goalkeeper
|
Corey Cunningham
|
Robert Morris
|
Linsly
|
Def/Mid
|
Keep in mind, this list is inclusive only of the players who were part of the Riverhounds Development Academy.
There still are numerous other High School seniors who will be continuing play that will be coming out of our area who weren’t part of the Riverhounds Academy.
Maybe the most notable player not coming from the Riverhounds Academy that is college-bound would be Emma Hasco, who led the Upper St. Clair girls team to the PIAA Class AAAA Title in November. Hasco, who played for the local club Beadling, has committed to Penn State, joining former Greensburg Central Catholic standout Frannie Crouse and the reigning NCAA National Champions.
There will be numerous other players from the area signing with a wide-range of schools from NCAA Division I to III and NAIA in the coming month.
We’ll be watching as signing day approaches and more players commit to schools.