Plum girls soccer aims to maintain contender status

By: Michael Love
Sunday, August 29, 2021 | 11:01 AM

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With back-to-back runs to the WPIAL Class 3A championship game, the Plum girls soccer team has established itself as a team to beat.

Despite the loss of eight seniors who were starters or significant contributors from the last two postseason trips, including a berth to states in 2019, coach Jamie Stewart is optimistic the current group can put it all together and make another strong playoff run.

“Obviously, we’re one of those teams where others look at us and they want to play their best against us,” said Stewart, who saw his team capture its second straight Section 3-3A title and finish 16-1 overall in 2020.

The season ended with a 1-0 loss to Mars in the WPIAL title game at North Allegheny. Plum was denied a trip to the state playoffs as the PIAA established that only the WPIAL champions would advance under a covid logistics policy.

Plum went a combined 33-4-1 the past two years.

“It will be a little tougher this year as we lost a good group of seniors, but we have a lot of good girls back, and there are others who are ready to step up and step in to fill those available spots. The hunger is there from everyone to come out and show what they can do.”

Stewart said the team was able to get a good look at where they stood Aug. 23 with a scrimmage against perennial WPIAL power Norwin.

“It was a good test against someone other than themselves,” Stewart said.

“I was impressed with the girls’ resiliency. We gave up a goal early and then fought back. They learned a lot about themselves with what it is going to take for a lot of them who are starting now. We lost six starters, so a number of them are stepping into that starting role. It was good for them to get to that pace with a team as good as Norwin. That’s the high level of talent we wanted to face as we see what roles everyone will play.”

Plum then further gauged its progress two nights later with a scrimmage against Latrobe.

All of the workouts and scrimmages lead up to the season opener at 11 a.m. Saturday at rival and former section foe Gateway.

“That is going to be a great game right off the hop,” Stewart said. “They have a lot of talent back.”

Last year, six Plum players scored at least five goals with graduate Gino Proviano, a freshman at Long Island University, leading the way with 20 goals and 15 assists. She scored five of her team’s 11 playoff goals.

Gannon freshman Jamie Seneca capped her Plum varsity career with 14 goals and nine assists.

Junior All-WPIAL midfielder/forward Kaitlyn Killinger produced a strong encore to her breakout freshman season with 15 goals and 12 assists.

“We’ve had some really productive practices with a lot of girls stepping up,” Killinger said. “We’re all really competitive with each other. That’s what we want.”

Junior forward Annabel Ahrin (eight goals, four assists), sophomore midfielder Ava Weleski (seven goals, four assists) and senior midfielder/forward Marissa Liberto (five goals, five assists) also return after helping pace the Plum offense a year ago.

“One of the things I’ve liked the past couple of years is that things have been pretty balanced,” Stewart said.

“Our scoring attack is not one player. It’s many, and that is the attitude this team continues to take. We have a good, talented group who can score a lot of goals. We can move the ball around and get a number of people into the scoring mix. That’s what happened in the scrimmage with Norwin where we had three different varsity players score goals.”

Kelly Kvortek and Erica Taylor, a 1-2 punch for the Mustangs at goalkeeper the past couple of years, graduated. Getting the shot in net this season is sophomore Megan Marston.

Marston broke out this past winter as a key member of the Plum girls basketball team.

Stewart said there are a few others who also have competed for the position.

“We’ve seen value in having multiple quality keepers with injury always a possibility,” Stewart said. “We hope to continue that.”

Junior defender/midfielder Kaley Simqu will help lead the defensive corps in front of Marston.

Others looking to make an impact are returnees in senior defender Tori Ruggiero, junior midfielder Cameron Collins, and junior defender/midfielder Camryn Rogers.

“We’re so beyond excited,” Simqu said. “Over the past two years, we’ve gone farther than any team in Plum history. We’re hoping to do it again this year, and we can do it if we continue to put all of the pieces together. ”

Plum went 12-0 in section last year, and its closest games were 4-1 and 1-0 victories over runner-up Thomas Jefferson.

“Thomas Jefferson played us really tough last year,” Stewart said. “Oakland Catholic had kind of a down year, but I always expect them to be right there at the top of the list. Penn Hills always is a solid contender. We’ll see how that goes.”

Stewart said he is excited about the out-of-section schedule of games against the likes of Norwin, Fox Chapel and Hampton.

The Foxes edged Norwin for the Section 3-4A title last year, and Hampton won the Section 1-3A crown.

“All of those games will help us get ready to hopefully make another run,” Stewart said.

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.

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