Youth Soccer Spotlight: Three Pittsburgh-area girls club teams find success in national competitions

Photo courtesy Century West

Usually we will receive requests to share information from local clubs which have reached the National stage of various leagues and competitions.

This summer, there seems to be more teams and players from the Greater Pittsburgh region taking part in national competitions — making it pretty difficult to keep up with all the teams with success on the national stage.

Among the teams with successful summers include:

• Century Steel 2006 Blue (reached U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships —  15U division)
• Pittsburgh Hotspurs 2005 Blue (U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships — 16U division)
• Century West (USYS National President’s Cup winners — 15U division)

Good luck @Century_Utd Steel 15 Girls and @HotspursClub Blue 16 Girls in the 2021 @usysncs Follow along at home at https://t.co/1qstGDPBeo #FORitALL pic.twitter.com/OLtkydDFTV

— PA West Soccer (@SoccerPAWest) July 19, 2021

Century Steel features rising freshmen and sophomores from North Allegheny, North Catholic, Moon, Mars, Butler, North Hills, Pine-Richland, Armstrong, Ambridge and Shaler high schools.

2021 PAWest U15 State Cup Champions. 4-0. Goals by Stager (2), Riggle, Pellegrino. Shutout McEnroe/Yaracs. #RoadToFL #RepCentury #SteelProud #EarnYourPlace #GoingtoRegionals #GoingtoNationals #PlaceEarned @USYouthSoccer @Century_Utd @century_steel pic.twitter.com/g9FvXhhIrG

— CenturySteel2006GirlsBlue (@Steel2006Blue) June 6, 2021

2 Days until @usysncs Honored for the opportunity to play #ForItAll @usyouthsoccer@soccerpawest@century_steel@century_utd @topdrawersoccer#steelproud#repcentury pic.twitter.com/nDfTd0FVB2

— CenturySteel2006GirlsBlue (@Steel2006Blue) July 18, 2021

A collection of rising sophomores and juniors from Plum, Yough, Gateway, Norwin, Latrobe, Oakland Catholic, Mt. Lebanon and DuBois comprise the Hotspurs team.

2005G Blue — ready to go at Nationals! @usysncs #hotspursway #pittsburghsoccer #homegrown https://t.co/6oORF4hGsN

— Hotspurs Soccer Club (@HotspursClub) July 19, 2021

The journey to nationals for the Hotspurs started with a division win in the USYS Great Lakes Conference and capturing the PA State Cup.

The team punched its ticket to nationals with a 5-0-1 record and the title at the 20-team Eastern Regional earlier this month in Hammonton, N.J. It outscored its opponents 23-9.

These two teams have a common goal of challenging for a national title starting Tuesday in Sarasota, Fla.

Each division will play three pool games from Tuesday through Thursday. After a rest day, the semifinals and finals will be Saturday and Sunday.

TheHotspurs’ first match on Tuesday morning can viewed on the following link: https://t.co/5iE0i9JixM

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Last week, Century West girls (2006), coached by Chris Lantzy, captured U.S. Youth Soccer’s President’s Cup 2021 on July 11, defeating Metasport FC (Utah), 1-0, in the Championship game.

Century West’s squad was the first PA West soccer team (girls & boys) to win the Presidents Cup National Title

Century West squad is comprised of players from Pittsburgh-area’s western suburbs (Moon, Hopewell, Beaver, Canon-McMillan, to name a few) stretching into Beaver County and even from West Virginia.

The team has received coverage in local media (see WTAE report above and interview with Coach Lantzy below).

Three years ago, the Century West girls soccer program struggled to form a roster. This week, the U15 team will compete for a National championship.https://t.co/4j6Y7araKz

— Noah Hiles (@_NoahHiles) July 2, 2021