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WPIAL Girls 4A and 1A Semifinal Round Scoreboard

File photo courtesy Ed Thompson

The WPIAL girls soccer playoffs continue with action in Girls Class 4A and Class 1A semifinal round matches taking place on Monday evening.

When the smoke cleared, it was Moon and Seneca Valley in Girls 4A, while Greensburg Central Catholic and Steel Valley advance in Class 1A.

Match Night Updates: 

Interviews with Mark Perry (Seneca Valley) and Peter Torres (Fox Chapel)

Steel Valley defeats Springdale, 1-0 to advance to the WPIAL final.

This means that Fox Chapel girls have played 240 minutes of nil-nil soccer thus far in the playoffs. They’re 40 (or 60 if they go to PKs again) minutes from advancing to the Finals. Wonder if a WPIAL team ever advanced through 3 rounds without scoring a goal in regulation?

WPIAL Girls Class 4A Schedule

Semifinal Round – Monday, November 1, 2021
  • FINAL: Seneca Valley 1, Fox Chapel 0
  • FINAL: Moon 0, Peters Twp 0 (Moon wins 4-3 on PKs)
Championship at Highmark Stadium – Thursday, November 4, 2021 – 8 p.m.

Seneca Valley vs Moon

WPIAL Girls Class 1A Schedule

Semifinal Round – Monday, November 1
  • FINAL: Greensburg Central Catholic 4, Freedom 3
  • FINAL: Steel Valley 1, Springdale 0
Championship at Highmark Stadium – Friday, November 5 – 6 p.m.

Greensburg Central Catholic (1) vs Steel Valley (3)


Class 4A Preview / Key Storylines 

Fox Chapel (10-7-1) vs Seneca Valley (15-3-2) at North Allegheny – 6 p.m.  (LIVE STREAM)

Fox Chapel have been the cinderella of this year’s Class 4A run, scoring dramatic road wins without scoring a goal in regulation or the run of play.

That’s right — they’ve advanced by winning a pair of on penalty kick shootouts, first at Bethel Park, then against the two-time defending WPIAL champs, North Allegheny.

To do that, the Foxes, who finished in third place in Section 3, behind Latrobe and Norwin, have made things difficult for its opponents to find scoring chances, while goalkeeper Molly McNaughton has been superb, while also coming through with a few PK saves in those shootouts.

Seneca Valley eliminated No. 13 Penn-Trafford, 6-0, and then No. 5 Norwin, 4-3 in overtime, to advance to the semifinals.

The Raiders have won nine in a row since back-to-back losses to North Allegheny and Norwin in late September.

Moon (14-1-1) vs Peters Township (11-3-3), at Montour – 8 p.m.  (LIVE STREAM)

This will be the third time these two section rivals meet this season, and if the previous matches were any indication of what might happen, this should be a great match.

Moon won both times, but they were tightly contested battles (2-0, 1-0).

Bill Pfeifer, the all-time wins leader in PIAA girls soccer history has returned to coach the Tigers since winning back-to-back state titles in 2016 and ‘17, and knew that he had a good squad that was capable of going far this year, but needed some confidence building wins during the regular season.

Those wins came against its next closest rival in Section 2, Peters Township, including on October 4, when Hailey Longwell converted her chance late in the first half, then goalkeeper Serayah Leech came up with some big saves in a match that could have went either way.

Peters scored the upset in the quarterfinal round, knocking off Section 3 champs, Latrobe, 2-0.  They also defeated Pine-Richland, 4-0 in the first round

Moon made it to the semifinal round by beating last year’s runner-up, No. 7 Butler, in another tight contest, 1-0, on Thursday.


Class 1A Preview / Key Storylines 

Greensburg Central Catholic (14-1-1) vs Freedom (14-4-0) at West Mifflin  (LIVE STREAM)

These two teams met eariler this season in a non-section match that gave scorekeepers and scoreboard operators some big time headaches, as Greensburg Central Catholic prevailed, 8-6, back on September 13.

The Centurians can light it up, but they also showed last year that once the games become tighter and more contested, they could clamp down and play solid defense.

GCC had to do that on Thursday when tested against Riverside, needing a golden goal in overtime from freshman Riley Kerr to win 2-1.

Meanwhile, Colin Williams’ Freedom squad continued its attacking prowess, following up a first round, 7-1 win over Aquinas Academy, the Bulldogs smashed Section 4 champion Bishop Canevin by an impressive 9-0 margin.

Leading the way for Freedom is Renae Mohrbacher, who has scored 165 career goals,

Freedom’s only losses this season came to GCC in early September, then to teams above them in classificiation (Montour, Blackhawk and Oakland Catholic).

Its safe to say that that the seeding committee didn’t do No. 1 Greensburg Central Catholic any favors by putting Freedom on its side of the brack.

There’s no doubt that there should be plenty of fireworks in store for this match-up.

Steel Valley (16-3-0) vs Springdale (18-1-0) at West Mifflin – 6 p.m.   (LIVE STREAM)

The key match-up here is can Springdale slow down Steel Valley’s high scoring senior Kelsey Salopek?

The Dynamo are the one team that beat No. 1 Greensburg Central Catholic this season (5-1), so not only can they shut down high scoring teams, but they have some talent at the top of the attack too.

Grace Gent led Springdale in scoring during the regular season with 23 goal, then added another in the Dynamo’s 3-2 Class A quarterfinal victory over No. 7 Seton LaSalle on Wednesday.

Steel Valley, the Section 2 champion, and Springdale meet for the first time since 2015 when both were members of Section 4 in Class A.

Steel Valley’s path to the semifinal has come with strong performances, scoring a 19 combined goals in victories over No. 14 Riverview, 13-0, and No. 6 Chartiers-Houston, 6-2, in the first two rounds.

Steel Valley also made the WPIAL semifinals a year ago, but they were upended by OLSH.

Salopek, a 2020 all-state forward and a Kent State commit, is a lethal scoring threat for Steel Valley, as are Soraya Gibbs and Therese Doering.

John Krysinsky has covered soccer and other sports for many years for various publications and media outlets. He is also author of 'Miracle on the Mon' -- a book about the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC, which chronicles the club, particularly the early years of Highmark Stadium with the narrative leading up to and centered around a remarkable match that helped provide a spark for the franchise. John has covered sports for Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, DK Pittsburgh Sports, Pittsburgh Sports Report, has served as color commentator on Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC broadcasts, and worked with OPTA Stats and broadcast teams for US Open Cup and International Champions Cup matches held in the US. Krysinsky also served as the Head Men’s Soccer Coach at his alma mater, Point Park University, where he led the Pioneers to the first-ever winning seasons and playoff berths (1996-98); head coach of North Catholic boys (2007-08), associate head coach of Shady Side Academy boys (2009-2014).

Glory on the Grass

Riverhounds MF Kenardo Forbes

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