Jeannette boys soccer team successfully hits recruiting trail

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, August 22, 2018 | 8:03 PM

Kellen Wensel is interested in working on motorcycles and cars once he finishes high school, and Logan Harshell is thinking about going to college for business, but both could look toward sales when it comes to a future career.

They received a crash course in sales this summer, trying to convince friends to play for the Jeannette boys soccer team.

After a large group of players graduated, Jeannette was faced with having too small of a roster and was in danger of not being able to field a team this year. But Wensel, Harshell and teammates Nyzaiah Friscarella and Caleb Bertok recruited friends to ensure there were enough players.

“I told them to just sign up, you might learn something and, if we pull some wins out, that will be great, but we’re going to just have fun and put in a good effort,” said Harshell, a junior midfielder/defender.

Jeannette has 15 players on the roster and more than a half dozen never played the game before.

Seniors Jon Carper and Muhammad Faraj, juniors Dimitri Sensenich and Calvin Coffman, sophomore Daniel Harris and freshmen Mason Yates and Matthew Riston are all newcomers.

The goals won’t be measured in wins and losses, but more so in having fun, learning the game and building a base for the program to keep it healthy for the future.

“We put a lot of work in to getting people to agree to play soccer,” Jeannette coach Rob Rundle said. “It’s hard to do that for kids, because we play in one of the hardest conferences in Class A with Greensburg Central Catholic, Serra Catholic and Winchester Thurston. These are some of the top schools in Western Pennsylvania in our section and, with us not having a feeder program, it makes it tough to get them ready for that. These kids are willing to step up and do it anyhow, so I’m appreciative of that.”

Wensel, who plays goalie, is the lone returning senior. There was a time when Wensel, who has played soccer since he was 4 years old, wasn’t sure if he would play his final season.

“I love soccer, and these guys make it better for me,” Wensel said. “Even though they haven’t played before, I know they have me in mind and that they are trying their best just so I can have that joy of playing soccer my last year.”

Harshell also is on the Jeannette golf team and plays trumpet in the marching band. Wensel was in the marching band until this year, but quit to focus on soccer, school and work. Both have full schedules but are glad to still have soccer on the list.

The newcomers have gone through an instructional phase. Rundle and his assistant rented a room at Seton Hill and showed them different formations and rules on a whiteboard to give them a primer before training camp.

Jeannette scrimmaged at Vincentian on Monday and lost, but there were some positive steps taken.

“I liked what I saw,” Harshell said. “Yeah, we did lose and they ran up the score a little bit, but we did score a goal. That showed some life. We had a couple rushes up and down the field and the back line, which is pretty much entirely new players, did a good job. It was really nice seeing the new guys lay it all out there.”

Jeannette is the lone public school in Section 2-A. The Jayhawks are with perennial playoff contenders Greensburg Central Catholic and Winchester Thurston along with Serra Catholic, St. Joseph, Geibel Catholic and Trinity Christian.

“We just have to have fun and not worry about scores, because no one is going to have any expectations for us,” Rundle said. “We just got to go out there and do the best we can. I think it will help us in a sense, because there’s not much pressure.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer.

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