Westmoreland County girls soccer notebook: Latrobe senior set for international play

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Tuesday, October 4, 2022 | 11:01 AM

Latrobe senior Chloe Boyette plays defender on the Wildcats’ back line, but, come December, she will be lining up as a goalkeeper on a national stage.

Boyette was selected to play for the U19 U.S Youth Futsal International Team set to compete in two months in Lisbon, Portugal.

Boyette, a member of the Hotspurs club program, has been a goalie for the Assassins Futsal Club since eighth grade. Last spring, she made the cut at a regional tryout and then a national tryout over the summer. The four-year starter was selected as the keeper for the U.S. team.

“She plays as a central and outside back for us,” Latrobe coach Jamie Morrison said. “She has a fighting spirit that never stops battling. Even as a defender, Chloe uses her foot skills and fast reactions that she has fine-tuned through futsal to shake up the opposition and help us begin our attack from the back line.”

Wildcats score upset

Latrobe’s Ella Bulava scored an overtime goal as the Wildcats upset No. 3 Plum, 1-0, in a Section 3-3A game Monday night at Latrobe’s Rossi Field.

The win, which avenged an earlier 4-2 loss for Latrobe, ended Plum’s 43-game section winning streak.

MP No. 1

Mt. Pleasant (11-0) was one of only six undefeated girls soccer teams in the WPIAL at the beginning of the week.

The Vikings’ hot streak and sound play — they have allowed only four goals — has earned them a No. 1 ranking in WPIAL Class 2A.

Mt. Pleasant leapfrogged Avonworth, which lost to then-No. 4 North Catholic, 3-0, the same night Mt. Pleasant edged No. 5 South Park, 3-2.

The latest shaken-up top five has North Catholic No. 2, Avonworth 3, Burrell 4 and South Park 5.

Saylor plugs along

An underrated player who is among the top scorers in the county plays for Monessen.

Junior midfielder Sam Saylor had pumped in 13 of her team’s 32 goals through nine games.

A Century club player, Saylor was trailing only Southmoreland star Olivia Cernuto (18 goals) for the Westmoreland lead.

Free soccer

Four Westmoreland girls soccer games Monday went to overtime. Three of them reached double overtime. Norwin, Belle Vernon and Latrobe won in extra time, and Yough and Southmoreland played to a scoreless tie.

Upon further review

What appeared to be a short-handed goal for Class A No. 1 Springdale last week in the waning seconds against No. 2 Greensburg Central Catholic was actually a 10-on-10 situation.

Springdale’s Georgia Dale received a red card with about a minute remaining, which was clear, but GCC’s Jillian Botti also was red-carded seconds later, leaving both teams a player down.

Brooke Taliani scored on a cross from Briana Ross with 28 seconds remaining to lift the Dynamos to a season sweep of the Centurions.

Dale and Botti received two yellow cards each, which is an automatic red.

8 vs. 8?

Speaking of teams not playing at full strength, Mt. Pleasant ran into a unique situation last week at East Allegheny.

When the Vikings arrived in North Versailles, they learned the Wildcats had only eight available players.

That forced Mt. Pleasant coach Rich Garland to condense his lineup to fit the 8-on-8 format.

Garland said this was not against the rules, but the veteran coach also noted he had never seen that before.

Mt. Pleasant won 15-0.

Games to watch

Some key matchups coming up next week:

• Franklin Regional visits Latrobe in Section 3-3A on Monday night. The teams are jockeying for position behind first-place Plum. Latrobe won the first matchup 1-0, as both teams saw key players get injured.

• Also Monday, Mt. Pleasant travels to Yough in Section 3-2A. Mt. Pleasant, which is closing in on its first section title since 2016, won the first meeting 5-0.

On Wednesday, Mt. Pleasant hosts Southmoreland, an injury-plagued team it beat 6-1 earlier in the season. Also that night, Plum visits Franklin Regional. The Mustangs won the first game 2-0.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Franklin Regional, Greensburg C.C., Latrobe, Monessen, Mt. Pleasant, Southmoreland, Yough