North Allegheny girls soccer reaches new heights with undefeated section season

By: Josh Rizzo
Thursday, October 17, 2019 | 5:16 PM

Knocking down every obstacle on the way to a Section 1-AAAA crown wasn’t a one-year process for the North Allegheny girls soccer program.

The Tigers, who wrapped up their first-ever unbeaten section record by beating North Hills 8-1 on Oct. 14 at Newman Stadium, have been working toward this for several years.

“This is what the program has been trying to strive for,” North Allegheny coach Chuck Kelley said. “This year, a lot of things aligned for us and fell just right. In the past, we’ve been trying to do this and fell just short.”

For their effort, the Tigers earned a bye through the first round of the WPIAL playoffs. North Allegheny will take on the winner of Penn-Trafford and Pine-Richland on Oct. 24.

Against the Indians, senior Riley Miara and junior Sarah Schupansky scored two goals apiece. Emma Bundy, Allie Burns, Lucia Wells and Anna Bundy also scored for the Tigers. North Allegheny outshot North Hills, 16-2.

Emma Bundy is one of two North Allegheny seniors, along with Ava Ruppersberger, who have started since their freshman seasons. The Tigers’ five other seniors — Isabella Pietropola, Miara, Hannah Kirkpatrick, Natalie Mudd and Sophia Spano — have also seen a lot of time during their careers.

Having that type of experience has been a boon for the Tigers.

“We have a lot of returning starters who played this year,” Kelley said. “That’s helped us prepare for the season. Some schools graduate their entire lineup. We are fortunate to have these players for the last three years.”

The Tigers utilized that experience by playing a challenging non-conference schedule. North Allegheny beat Upper St. Clair in overtime, while dropping a pair of games against Westmoreland County powers Norwin and Penn-Trafford.

“We believe that preparation will help as well,” Kelley said. “We want to get an idea of what teams are like in other sections. We’ve played Peters in the past. We used to play Canon-McMillan when I first got here. We are reaching out to see what those other sections are like. We don’t just want to have games just to fill out our schedule. We want to have games that prepare us for a later time.”

Tags: North Allegheny