WPIAL Girls Soccer Class 4A Final: North Allegheny defeats Seneca Valley to win 4th title

WPIAL Girls Class 4A Final

North Allegheny 2, Seneca Valley 1 (AET)

PSN Coverage Team — Ed Thompson, Photography

WPIAL Girls Championship History — Class 4A (since 2016) / Class 3A

Match Summary

In an intense battle between section rivals that stretched into extra time, Rosalia Varlotta’s long distance strike lifted North Allegheny to a 2-1 win which was good for the school’s fourth WPIAL Girls Class 4A championship and its first since 2022.

The match proved to be a hard-fought battle — as was expected with two quality sides who were extremely familiar with each other and had split contest results in the regular season.

Seneca Valley took the lead in the 14th minute, off the foot of Madeline Marcotte, who found a loose ball in the box, calmly passing it into the back of the net

North Allegheny quickly responded five minutes later.

The Tigers’ Kieran Shannon was first to the ball after a deflection in the box, then lofted ball ball upward and under the corner for the equalizer.

The remainder of the match saw both teams exchange some chances, but each side defended well.

North Allegheny — especially after Shannon’s goal, spent most of the remainder of the match on the front foot, with significant edges in shots (26-10) and corners (10-2).

Ed Thompson Photo Gallery

 

Match Day Updates

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Match Preview

Rosters:   North Allegheny |Seneca Valley

How They Got Here:

• Seneca Valley — def Upper St Clair, 1-0 (AET); def Norwin, 0-0 (PK shootout)
• North Allegheny — def Armstrong, 7-0; def No. 4 Pine-Richland, 1-1 (won PK shootout); def Peters Twp, 1-0

As expected, no road to the Girls Class 4A title game is going to be easy.  Both Head Coaches Seneca Valley and North Allegheny would agree.

Now, after surviving the gauntlet of the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, the section rivals will meet for the third time this season with a District Championship on the line.

True to form, the two teams split the season series, with each team holding serve on its home turn, as Seneca Valley won, 2-0, on September 15, 2-0, but North Allegheny took the second contest, 2-1.  By the second match, for what it was worth, Seneca Valley had already clinched the section title and North Allegheny were entrenched as the third-place team and likely a 4 or 5-seed in the upcoming playoffs.  The Tigers showed though that they can hang with the Raiders.  After two early goals were scored by each side, the match settled into a tight affair until the late stages when NA’s Avery Ruffus drew a foul on the edge of the box. The senior calmly took the penalty kick, and her right-footed shot found the upper part of the net on the far side for a 2-1 lead.

Though it didn’t mean much in the standings, this was the type of win that helped give the Tigers confidence to be able to get on a postseason run.

Both sides have pushed through adversity in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Though the No. 2 seed overall, Seneca Valley were pushed to extra time in its first two matches of the tournament by Upper St Clair and Norwin.  North Allegheny entered the tournament as the No. 5 seed, meaning the Tigers had to play an extra contest.

Seneca Valley has continued is strong winning tradition under the guidance of one of the WPIAL all-time top coaches, Mark Perry.

Perry steered SV to a WPIAL runner-up finish in 2024 only to lose to Peters Township in a Final decided on penalty kicks.  With Karly Majeski, an All-State midfielder, leading the way this year, they have their sights set on winning the entire thing.

As one coach told PSN, “She (Majeski) is aggressive, fast, and always on the loose ball. You have to know where she is at all times.”

“Karly has been our best player in every game this year so far,” Perry told PSN in Coaches Corner in September.

“Haven’t seen a player better than her in the games we have played. Has scored a goal in eight of our (first) 10 games while being tightly marked in each.”

Maddie Marcotte scored the game-winner for Seneca Valley in Thursday’s quarterfinal round win in Extra Time to eliminate Upper St. Clair.

The standard is always high for North Allegheny program, as Kieran Shannon and Emma Schupansky are among top players for a talented squad that ended up finishing behind both Seneca Valley and Pine-Richland in Section 1 this year.

One coach shared with PSN in Coaches Corner, midfielder Rosalia Varlotta adds to the NA arsenal: “A complete player who can hurt you in many ways.”

As it goes in Class 4A among the top line programs — the Tigers have some high-quality wins (splitting the season series with Seneca Valley, beat No. 1 Peters Township, beat 3A No. 1 Fox Chapel) so they may be the most dangerous team out there who didn’t earn a first-round bye. Among the players to watch for the Tigers include Kieran Shannon and Emma Schupansky.

NA had a chance to get into a playoff groove, with a 7-0 first round win against Armstrong.  Senior forward Averie Bierker scored twice, while solo goals from junior Rosalia Varlotta, junior Bella Montgomery, senior Maddie Williams, junior Shannon and junior Mwende Abai propelled the Tigers to the quarterfinals.

The Tigers then outlasted section rivals Pine-Richland in a match that went to a penalty kick shootout last Thursday, then went on the road to knock off the top seed, Peters Township, as Averie Bierker’s opportunistic goal, coming from a cross from the width tricked up Peters keeper Molly Kubistek and proved to be the difference in the match.

Now, it comes down to a rubber match on Friday night with a WPIAL title at stake.

The one thing we do know — it will be a team from the North who will walk away from Highmark Stadium with the Gold Medal.