WPIAL Soccer Notebook: Key things to know as 2024 high school season begins

File photo courtesy Ed Thompson

The wait will be over for many high school soccer teams, as the season will kick off for many boys and girls teams with an opening weekend slate that will stretch from Friday through Sunday.

Pittsburgh Soccer Now‘s team will be assembled opening weekend with coverage of the JRK Memorial Classic, at Pine-Richland High School, so look for coverage all three days.

The high school season is always a sprint, and we’ll be keeping tabs on the competition through the next two to three months.

Look for PSN’s coverage to include new episodes of ‘Kids on the Pitch’ Podcast (we kicked things off this week with Pine-Richland’s Jordan Wiegand), regular WPIAL Notebook posts, game coverage of select, Featured PSN matches and much more.

Of course, we’ll ramp up our coverage when mid-October rolls around when the WPIAL playoffs followed by the PIAA postseason are played out to crown new champions.

In this space, we would also like to reiterate once again, we do not do preseason rankings.

It doesn’t make any sense and it’s not fair to the teams, coaches and players to post rankings of teams we have not seen play or have some level of understanding of how they’ve fared against different levels of competition.  The most important rankings come at the end of the regular season, when the WPIAL Soccer Committee has the difficult task of seeding each classification’s postseason tournament.  That is what do — as the regular season winds down closer to the end of September or early October  — PSN will be sharing our postseason seeding projections leading up to October 16th bracket reveal.

Some of PSN’s High School soccer content — including our postseason seeding projections — will be for subscribers only, so be sure to sign up for your PSN subscription today — and support our efforts to help grow the game in our region.

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What are the key dates for PIAA / WPIAL Season?

First Regular Season Games      Friday, August 23

End of WPIAL Regular Season      Wednesday, October 16

WPIAL Postseason Tournament

October 19, 21, 22        First Round

October 23, 24, 26       Quarterfinal Round

October 28, 29             Semifinal Round

October 31 – November 2     Finals — Highmark Stadium

PIAA Soccer Championships:

November 5  First Round

November 9  Quarterfinals

November 12  Semi-Finals

PIAA Soccer Championships – Bobby Rahal Toyota Field, Cumberland Valley HS, Mechanicsburg

November 15     2A & 4A Boys & Girls

November 16     1A & 3A Boys & Girls

Will 2024-25 realignment reshape WPIAL soccer competition?

In the Winter, the PIAA went through it’s bi-annual process updating School classifications by sport, including soccer, which in District 7 (WPIAL), will see some shifts in realignment among the four classifications, with some school moving up in classification and others moving down.

Boys Realignment Updates 

First, looking at the boys side, below are some of the key updates:

WPIAL boys soccer classification realignment (2024-25)

• Defending WPIAL Boys Soccer Champions:
  • Class 4A: Norwin
  • Class 3A: South Fayette
  • Class 2A: South Park
  • Class 1A: Bentworth
• Boys’ soccer will have 107 teams competing in section play across four classifications. Class 4A has 18 teams competing in three sections, Class 3A has 31 teams competing in four sections, Class 2A has 33 teams competing in four sections, and Class 1A has 25 teams competing in four sections.
• Class 4A has moved from two sections to three in the new cycle, with a total of 18 schools now part of the highest classification, with three six-team sections. Teams that are moving up to 4A include Connellsville, Gateway, Woodland Hills, Penn Hills and Plum.
• The biggest shift in Class 3A will see two schools that have almost always competed in the highest classification, Allderdice and Shaler, dropping down.
• Class 2A will be the largest classification on the boys side, with two very interesting additions, as North Catholic drops back down, from Class 3A, and Charleroi, who were Class 1A WPIAL and PIAA runner up in 2023, move back up to Class 2A.
• Class 1A now includes 24 teams, including defending champion Bentworth.

Girls Realignment Updates 

As for the Girls, below are some of the key updates:

WPIAL girls soccer classification realignment (2024-25)

• Defending WPIAL Girls Soccer champions:
  • Class 4A: Fox Chapel (moved down to 3A)
  • Class 3A: South Fayette
  • Class 2A: Avonworth
  • Class 1A: Freedom
• Girls’ soccer will have 107 teams competing in section play across four classifications. Class 4A has 18 teams competing in three sections, Class 3A has 28 teams competing in four sections, Class 2A has 33 teams competing in four sections, and Class 1A has 28 teams competing in four sections.
• Much like the boys, Class 4A will see a shift from two section set-up the past few years, back to three sections. Also, 4A will see five schools moving up to the top classification, including Connellsville, Armstrong (didn’t compete in 2023), Penn-Trafford, Latrobe and Woodland Hills, plus Upper St. Clair, while through school enrollment figures put them in 3A, they’ve opted to stay in the highest classification.  Kudos to Upper St. Clair for doing this, as they strive to play at high level but also maintain some of the key geographical rivalries with schools like Peters Township, Mt. Lebanon and Canon-McMillan.
• For the second straight cycle, a school that recently won a WPIAL title in a higher classification will be stepping down.  Previously, Moon had won the District Class 4A title (and PIAA too) in 2021, but opted to move down in 2022.  This time around it’s Fox Chapel, who stunned North Allegheny in the 2023 Class 4A WPIAL Final.  The Foxes will move down to Class 3A along with Bethel Park, as 28 teams now make up this classification.  This includes the return of  McKeesport too.
• Same as the boys, the largest classification in Girls WPIAL soccer is Class 2A, with 33 schools represented.  There’s also a bunch of movement of schools into 2A, as a bunch of Mon Valley institutions, Belle Vernon (down from 3A), Charleroi (up from 1A), Ringgold (down from 3A) and Steel Valley (up from 1A) join the fray in what should be a very competitive Classification.  Another note and kudos to another school for opting to stay up despite enrollment numbers dictating otherwise, as Shady Side Academy will remain up in Class 2A for this cycle.
• Class 1A will see just one change, as Brownsville will move down to join another classification that has seen Freedom win the past two years

PIAA Rules Updates / Changes of Note

Back in January, PSN reported that there was some momentum and reports that a referral that extra time (or overtime) was proposed to be eliminated before the PIAA Board, but ultimately this did not happen.

“That is something I am passionate about. I don’t understand why that was overturned,” Wiegand shared during his appearance on Kids on the Pitch podcast. “I fully support no overtime (in the regular season).  Only because, if you look at the North and also the South, you might be playing at North Allegheny one night, with no result (draw), then have to turn around less than 48 hours, and have to play at Seneca Valley. I was a pretty big proponent. We were going to limit the legs, and save them a little bit with the overtime being gone. But, I was shocked to hear that was overturned.”

The 2024-25 PIAA Soccer Preseason Bulletin on August 5  provided the latest competition updates for the 2024 season.  ‘

The two primary changes are:

1. 4-1-4d — Clarifies there is no limitation on the color of tape or sock worn at or below the ankle under the competition sock. Any tape or similar material used above the ankle must match the sock’s color.
2. Rule 12 — Reorganized Fouls and Misconduct Rule for clarity and consistency of use. A new section was added addressing Stopping a Promising Attack, language was added to Denial of an Obvious Goal-Scoring Opportunity that all conditions must be met for DOGSO to be applied, and the section on Ejections now lists the offenses by severity.

Regarding the overtime question, the PIAA then further issued a recent specific Soccer Bulletin issued on August 12 to address some lingering questions, the PIAA responded to questions about this very issue:

     2.) Must overtime be played? Senior High School Varsity Soccer Regular Season Contests which are tied at the end of 80 minutes shall be resolved by playing two “sudden victory” overtime periods of 10 minutes each; (overtime periods may not be shortened by mutual consent).

The other change of note will be that the PIAA has brought back the ‘Soft Red’ card, as interpreted through the Board Meeting Minutes and a more detailed outline, states specifically that will be adopted for fouls identified as misconduct.  

The bigger question now is, what does this mean in terms of enforcement?

For many years, until 2012-13, if a player or a coach was issued a ‘soft red’ — that meant that their team could still play with 11 men on the field. Additionally, as long as the official approved, that player would not miss the next match.

The rule was changed over a decade ago by National Federation High School Associations (NFSH), to be aligned with FIFA, NCAA and most every other soccer rules enforced throughout the world.  The consensus behind eliminating ‘soft red’ was to align with the rest of the soccer world with strict red card enforcement, seeing aggressive play and behaviors to be cut down and have more severe consequences both for the player, and the team.

But now, the ‘Soft Red’ is back.  If a player is issued a soft red, they will be sent off, but their team will be able to bring on a substitute, and not have to be a player down in the match.  That player will also not have to sit out the next match.

The PIAA has issued a bit more detailed outline of the rationale, procedures and further explaination and examples of what defines misconduct in a Power Point in the Soccer Bulletin issued on August 12, as there was also some clarifications on some additional questions about the ‘Soft Red’.

Opening Weekend Games to Watch

As mentioned, Pittsburgh Soccer Now’s coverage team will be at Pine-Richland to cover the JRK Memorial Classic,that will feature 10 boys teams, eight of those are WPIAL schools (the other two are Wheeling Park and The Kiski School) this weekend.

Of the 10 matches, two of the most intriguing may be the hosts, Pine-Richland taking on Moon, in a Class 4A vs Class 3A match of schools that won WPIAL titles in 2022, but looking to get back there.

Another good one pits George Williams’ Seneca Valley Raiders, who have consistently been one of the top programs in Boys Class 4A, taking on a non-WPIAL side, The Kiski School, in a very good season opening test for both sides.  Last year, Kiski School looked very impressive in defeating Moon, but lost to Seneca’s section rival, North Allegheny.   They would go on to win their fourth straight Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association (PAISAA) championship.

Also, on the boys side, the East-West Classic returns to Highmark Stadium, as both Quaker Valley and Mt. Lebanon will be hosting two schools, Fleetwood and Wilson, from Eastern PA in this annual classic that alternates hosting locations each year from East to West.

There are other schools hosting opening weekend tournaments including two of note on the girls side, with the Moe Rosensteel Memorial Kickoff Classic and the South Hills Kickoff Classic.

Getting excited for our Kickoff Classic ⚽️ Eagle Stadium next weekend!!@_MLTS_ @PrideoftheBison @USCHSsoccer @OCEaglesSoccer @wt_news @lebogirlssoccer @bhsgirlssoccer3 @McDGirlsSoccer1 @TJSoccerBooster #wpialsoccer pic.twitter.com/3VwysklL6v

— South Park HS Girls Soccer (@SPLady_Eagles) August 18, 2024

The four matches at the Moe Rosensteel Memorial Classic include:

• Thomas Jefferson vs. Franklin Regional  (Noon)
• Ringgold vs. Hickory (2 p.m.)
• Avonworth vs. Latrobe (4 p.m.)
• Elizabeth Forward vs. Ringgold (6 p.m.)

In all, this weekend should provide a great start to the 2024 campaign.