We’ve reached the official start of high school soccer season, as all teams across the district put in training beginning August 16, many of them putting in the work with two-a-day sessions and now they’ve been scrimmaging for the past week or so.
In this first edition of the WPIAL notebook we hope to help you get caught back up to speed with everything.
PRESEASON — OFF & RUNNING
It starts today. DL Team back at it. #letsgo #lancers #2021season pic.twitter.com/7zoTELGrv4
— Deer Lakes Boys Soccer (@BoysLakes) August 17, 2021
Tie dye night to end day 1 of camp. Great first day ladies! #KOSoccer #Believe #Changetheculture pic.twitter.com/CWNwBZQOKd
— KO Lady Golden Eagles ⚽️ (@lady_eaglesko) August 17, 2021
at the old Fairgrounds… #WPIALSoccer https://t.co/dw14rnFVSI
— John Krysinsky (@JohnKrysinsky) August 16, 2021
PRESEASON SCRIMMAGES OF NOTE
Excuse the delay…Varsity game ends 0-0!
— USCHS Soccer (@USCHSsoccer) August 26, 2021
FINAL
Quaker Valley: 1
Mt. Lebanon: 2#wpialsoccer #piaasoccer pic.twitter.com/UPhOiWOeW1— Quaker Valley Boys Soccer (@qv_soccer) August 25, 2021
DELLAROSE NOT PLAYING HER SENIOR SEASON
PSN Contributor Ed Rosensteel shared a few weeks ago that Brownsville standout Tessa Dellarose, a North Carolina commit, is not playing for the high school team this season.
The forward scored 33 goals last year. Has 108 goals in her career.
HS ALL-AMERICAN GAMES TO INCLUDE WPIAL PLAYERS
The 2021 High School All-American soccer games will be played Dec. 11 in Orlando, Fla.
Ten senior players from WPIAL schools are on the All-American games watch list, which came out Wednesday, including eight girls.
Those on the watch list include:
Girls
Madeline Boulos, F, Deer Lakes
Tessa Dellarose, F, Brownsville
Tatum Gretz, MF, Greensburg Central Catholic
Sydney Lindeman, MF, Franklin Regional
Jillian Marvin, D, Peters Township
Cecilia Scott, D, Peters Township
Jayden Sharpless, F, North Catholic
Renae Mohrbacher, F, Freedom
Boys
Anthony DiFalco, F, Franklin Regional
Daniel Sassak, F, Belle Vernon
COACHING CHANGES OF NOTE
While there’s probably too many to include in this section, here are some of the key coaching changes that we are aware of around the district:
Boys:
- Belle Vernon – Al Yeschenko
- Deer Lakes – Aaron Smith
- Franklin Regional –
- Greensburg Central Catholic – Rob Fabean
- Highlands – Jakub Kasprzyk
- Shaler – Tyler Schulz
Girls:
- Upper St. Clair – Zach Hamilton
- Moon – Bill Pfeifer (note — Pfeifer was at Moon from 2001-17)
- Bethel Park – Rob Heuler
- Norwin – Diane Metzger
If you know of any other coaching changes of note, please feel free to share with us (DM @pghsoccernow on Twitter or email us)
CLASSIFICATIONS / REALIGNMENT
As this is not a year when we typically see any drastic or wholesale realignment, but there still had to be some slight adjustments made for this coming season in some of the lower classifications due to a few school closing and coop’s.
We updated this in July, and posted the link to this story below
WPIAL forced to realign some boys soccer sections for 2021 season
RULES CHANGES & UPDATES
PIAA recently published its 2021-22 Soccer Preseason Bulletin that typically contains the latest updates and rules changes.
There appear to be no significant changes relating to the Rules of the Game.
However, there was an change relating to Head coverings worn for religious reasons.
KEY DATES IN 2021 WPIAL/PIAA SOCCER SEASON
First Practice Date Monday, August 16
First Inter-School/Scrimmage Saturday, August 21
First Regular Season Play Friday, September 3
WPIAL Playoffs (2021)
Bracket Selection Day
Wednesday, October 20
First Round
Saturday, October 23
Monday, October 25
Quarterfinal Round
Wednesday, October 27
Thursday, October 28
Semifinal Round
Saturday, October 30
Monday, November 1
Finals (Highmark Stadium)
Friday, November 5
Saturday, November 6
Last Regular Season Contest Date and District Championship Deadline
Saturday, November 6
PIAA Soccer Championships (2021):
First Round
Tuesday, November 9
Quarterfinals
Saturday, November 13
Semi-Finals
Tuesday, November 16
PIAA Soccer Championships (Hersheypark Stadium, Hershey)
2A & 4A Boys & Girls
Friday, November 19
1A & 3A Boys & Girls
Saturday, November 20
We are looking forward to sharing more in the coming weeks as we prepare for the season ahead.
Also, please keep in mind, that don’t expect to see any preseason rankings for High School soccer teams on Pittsburgh Soccer Now. It’s just not something believe can be done fairly as it’s way too difficult gage teams. Late in the season, prior to the release of the playoff brackets, is the best time to take a look and see how the playoff teams stack up against each other, but for now, early in the season, we’ll be focused on posting daily results each night.
We will also be on site for occasional featured games this season (look for our schedule to be released soon of games that have been confirmed). If you are interested
Look for our Players to Watch lists coming this week and more!