Playoff season rejuvenates Norwin girls soccer program

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Saturday, November 2, 2024 | 11:01 AM

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After 110 minutes of playoff soccer and one round of penalty kicks, Norwin girls soccer players were wrung out with emotion.

They cried. They hugged each other. They didn’t want to leave the field as exhaustion collided with finality.

“It’s OK, girls,” first-year coach Ashley DeVito said. “Listen, it’s OK. Look at what we were able to accomplish this year. You should be proud.”

DeVito helped to restore Norwin to a playoff contender again, putting a shine on a perennially powerful program that had lost it.

Norwin returned to the postseason after a two-year hiatus and earned the No. 5 seed before falling to No. 12 Mt. Lebanon, 1-0 on penalty kicks in a terrific WPIAL Class 4A first-round game Oct. 21 at Knights Stadium.

Julia Bursick, Carmella Simco and Delanna Colarusso made PKs in the shootout, but the Knights misfired on two attempts and it cost them.

Norwin finished 10-8-1, going 7-3-1 in its final 11 games.

“We took (Mt. Lebanon) to the bitter end,” DeVito said. “They were not a No. 12 seed, the last seed. No way.

“These girls came a long way. We won 10 games and made the playoffs. That’s Year 1. Year 2, we get 12 wins and win a playoff game? I am so proud of what the girls created.”

The team will lose 10 seniors, including Bursick, Simco, and Carlolyn Pensenstadler, but will return several key players including goalie Rebecca Kostrobala, Neeva Graham, Alexa Kobus, Tatum Casper and others.

DeVito got the Knights back on the same page, and that goes much farther than the roster.

“Give credit to Ashley for what she has been able to do here,” Mt. Lebanon coach Seth Yough said. “They are a tough opponent to scheme against.”

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Norwin