Freeport duo will compete in girls soccer playoff game, WPIAL cross country this week

By: Michael Love
Monday, October 24, 2022 | 6:29 PM

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Freeport senior Nora Mahan and sophomore Addy Kristofik have a busy week ahead of them.

The starters for the Yellowjackets girls soccer team (13-2) hope to help lead the No. 7 seed to victory over Southmoreland in a WPIAL Class 2A first-round matchup Tuesday at 8 p.m. at Freeport Area Athletic Stadium.

The duo then will turn their attention to Thursday’s WPIAL cross country championships on the Roadman Park course at Cal (Pa.). The Freeport girls team will run in the Class 2A race at 1 p.m.

“It is my senior year, and it is kind of bittersweet that I will be finishing it all,” said Mahan, a first-year soccer team captain — one of four along with fellow seniors Aleah Parison, Crystal Zembrzuski and Akina Boynton — and a four-year starter.

“But this week is pretty special with our game (Tuesday) and then WPIAL cross country. We have a pretty good (soccer) seed, so, hopefully, we can continue to play well and make a deep run. And then Addy and I can run our best and help the cross country team get a pretty good place at WPIALs.”

Mahan scored five goals in the regular season, but she sees herself more as a facilitator, helping to set up teammates for goals. Kristofik has yet to record a goal, but she owns several assists for the Section 2 runner-up.

“It’s exciting,” Kristofik said about the potential of this week’s competitions. “I put a lot of time into both soccer and cross country. It’s nice to be able to do both. I think it will be a pretty good week.”

Mahan has run at the WPIAL cross country finals all four years. As a freshman, she competed at WPIALs early in the day — she was 96th in Class AA — and then traveled to Freeport’s WPIAL quarterfinal soccer match at No. 1 Hopewell and helped the Yellowjackets upset the Vikings, 2-1. Mahan said she remembers the celebration after Boynton’s winning goal with 27 seconds left.

“I was a little tired coming off of my cross country run, but I still felt pretty good in that Hopewell game,” Mahan said. “It was such an amazing finish to the day.”

Mahan has run cross country since seventh grade.

“With my mom’s encouragement, I wanted to give cross country a try to help me stay in shape for soccer,” Mahan said. “I learned how to run cross country races and just ended up really liking the sport. I was pretty good at it my seventh- and eighth-grade years, and I decided to stick with it all four years.”

Kristofik, in her first year as a varsity soccer starter, also began cross country during her seventh-grade year and has kept going in the sport.

Last year, Mahan took 108th and Kristofik 110th in Class 2A at WPIALs as the Freeport girls placed 20th overall. Both took a big step in preparation for WPIALs Thursday with runs at the Tri-State Coaches Invitational on the same Cal U course.

“I felt pretty good there at Tri-States, and hopefully, that can carry over to WPIALs,” Mahan said.

Kristofik led Freeport in the Class AA girls race, taking 50th overall. Mahan was 89th.

Both said soccer and cross country go hand-in-hand through the endurance needed for both and how maintaining a proper fitness regimen feeds off each other.

“When I am not running for cross country, I know I am staying in shape with how much we run in soccer practice or games,” Kristofik said. “We’re always moving.”

Soccer is No. 1 for Mahan and Kristofik, but both have been able to find a nice balance.

“We haven’t had any conflicts between soccer games and cross country meets, thankfully,” Mahan said. “We’re willing to do both, and both coaches have been really good about us having to miss a practice if we have a game or meet.

“We’ve helped each other through what we’ve had to do with our responsibilities with both soccer and cross country. Addy’s a really strong runner and a great teammate. I am grateful she is there.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Freeport