Top-ranked West Allegheny boys soccer all about scoring, setting goals

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, September 24, 2018 | 5:00 PM

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Defense is nice, but offense is what defines West Allegheny’s boys soccer team.

The Indians are all out, all the time on the attack.

So far, it’s paid off as West Allegheny is 11-0. The squad has outscored its opponents 55-5 on the season.

“It’s really great scoring a lot of goals. Everyone wants to get on the scoresheet every game,” Indians junior forward Fletcher Amos said. “Our team focuses on winning and getting the job done.”

That means the Indians want to score more goals than their opponents — and then some.

“People say defense wins championships, but we’re having a lot of fun doing what we do and that’s what soccer’s all about,” coach Kevin Amos said. “If we’re going to lose a one-goal game, I want it to be 10-9 and go down in a blaze of glory. The kids love it.”

The top-ranked Indians own one of the WPIAL’s top players in senior attacker Nathan Dragisich. The Duquesne recruit had 21 goals and 13 assists last fall and was named the WPIAL Class 3A player of the year. However, he’s not the only one racking up goals this year.

“Our first priority always is to be unselfish. We probably have five guys that have seven or eight goals. That’s key. If everything flows through one guy, we could be in trouble once playoffs start,” Kevin Amos said. “We are a very offensive-minded team. Everyone thinks they are a striker now. Sometimes, it’s hard keeping people in the right spots. They are like racehorses — they just want to go, go, go.”

That doesn’t mean West Allegheny’s defense is poor. Quite the opposite. The Indians have seven shutouts.

“There is a good balance there,” Kevin Amos said. “When we have a big lead, it can be hard to keep the focus and the defense can get lax. Our goalie and defense come up big every game. We love to play offensively, but we’re strong defensively.”

Sweeper Caleb Miller, holding midfielder Gabe Haines and outside backs Gavin Chappel and Justin Shaytar team with goalkeeper Braden Wurst to nullify any opposition counterattacks.

“There is definitely a culture with the defense — we always try to keep a clean sheet. A 6-0 win is better than a 6-1 win. That’s how we approach every game,” Miller said. “Our first priority is to keep a clean sheet, but there is some pressure alleviated having an attack as good as ours.”

Miller is part of it. He handles a lot of the free kicks and has cashed in for a handful of goals so far.

“Every set piece or free kick, it’s always fun to get up and get a chance to score,” he said. “All of our games are very entertaining for fans to watch. As a center back, it can drive you crazy with how much we attack. But, I love playing for this team.”

Last year, the Indians reached the WPIAL championship, but experienced a rare power outage and dropped a 1-0 decision to Montour, a team it beat twice in section play. West Allegheny won its first PIAA match, but fell to Lower Dauphin, 4-1, in the quarterfinals.

“After losing last year in the WPIAL championship and seeing Montour as happy as they were, it was pretty tough,” Miller said. “Most of us were coming back and most of us knew we had a really good chance of getting back to Highmark Stadium (for the championship) this year. That’s what the goal is now.”

“Last year was heartbreaking. We have high expectations this year and want to go on a run in states,” Fletcher Amos said. “It’s been really fun this year. Our bench is really good, too. We have a lot of options. I think that gives us an advantage.”

Joe Sager is a freelance writer.

Tags: West Allegheny