Kiski Area girls soccer showing ‘bit of consistency’

By: Ted Sarneso
Wednesday, September 27, 2023 | 10:22 PM

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Purchase Photo Options

Previous Next

Kiski Area’s girls soccer team came into this season knowing it would go through some growing pains.

Any outfit that graduates 10 seniors and watches all that experience leave is going to have a tough following year.

Coach Dave Anderson and his staff came into the year with a young group but found they had a rare situation in which to capitalize.

“We’re taking almost a two-year development mindset because we have no seniors graduating this year,” Anderson said. “It’s a unique situation where we’ll have no turnover. We’ll have the same team to focus on for those two years.”

Anderson’s main task in his second year as coach was finding players to fill in positions vacated by last year’s seniors.

“Over those first couple of games, we were putting players in different formations and positions,” Anderson said. “The girls are responding and doing a great job.”

The Kiski girls soccer season started off well as the team went 2-1 through a tough stretch that included playing three games in five days.

The Cavaliers suffered a 3-0 loss to Franklin Regional to open the schedule, followed by a 7-1 win over Obama Academy and a hard-fought 1-0 win against Connellsville.

Then the team went into a three-game slide with a 1-0 loss to Belle Vernon and defeats at the hands of Penn-Trafford and a Hampton squad that sits in second place in Section 1-3A.

“At that point, the girls were getting to know the expectations of the coaching staff and each other,” Anderson said. “They were just starting to settle into their roles. Now we’ve combined it and have shown a bit of consistency.”

Kiski used that newfound steadiness to rebound and win two of their last three, including a 1-0 win at section foe Indiana on Sept. 20 and a 12-0 drubbing of Ligonier Valley on Monday night.

“Most of the early part of the year was about learning to play as a team. Now, we’re trying to have some fun, and if we win games along the way, that’s great, but we talk about effort,” Anderson said.

“Mistakes are going to happen, and you learn from mistakes. But the effort has to be there.”

Kiski Area’s back end is one of the strong points of the team and is roamed by junior center backs Alexis Zidek and Rachael Spaniel.

Both girls lead a group working in tandem with freshman goalkeeper Ashley Dudzik that has limited opponents to an average of two goals per game.

Offensively, the Cavaliers are getting contributions from junior leading scorer Sophia Hranica (seven goals) and junior Camryn Kunz. Sophomore Marlee Koziatek leads the team in assists, and sophomore Addison Bell is playing well at the six, a defensive midfielder position new for her.

“We’re so young, we are asking a lot of this group,” Anderson said. “All of them are buying into what we’re asking them to do.”

In their last six overall, Kiski is 3-3-1 and settled into fourth place in Section 1-3A. They look to gain ground as their last six games are against squads in their section.

It will be difficult, though, as powerhouses Mars and Hampton are the top teams in the section and the Cavaliers will face each team one more time before the end of the season.

“It’s tough. Just the caliber of those two teams, so we’re just doing the best we can in those two games,” Anderson said. “It’s a gauntlet to get through these last six games and then get into the playoffs. We just have to perform and win the games we need to win.”

As long as the Cavaliers girls soccer team continues to grow and develop while putting forth a strong effort, their goal of making the playoffs this year could become a reality.

“The staff and I talked with the girls in the summer, and the playoffs are definitely an expectation,” Anderson said. “We just need to win the games we have to and make sure we’re still in the hunt at the end of the season.”

The Cavaliers (5-6-1, 3-2-1) begin their final run of section opponents at 7 p.m. Thursday at Obama Academy.

Tags: Kiski Area