Rytel aims to lead Shady Side Academy to 2nd straight PIAA title

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, July 20, 2018 | 11:06 PM

Shady Side Academy senior Krystyna Rytel is looking forward to the start of the high school soccer season.

She’s spent her summer playing for her club team, Century, and helped the team reach the regional championships last week. She spent the early part of this week at the national championships in Texas, along with Fox Chapel players Sarah Sinnott and Kate Fetzko.

After the championships, she will get some relaxation before getting ready for the fall season.

“We’re going to Deep Creek for a relaxing family vacation,” she said.

Rytel, who is also on the track team, recently committed to continue her soccer career at Pitt, where she will major in medicine or business. She is unsure of how much impact she will make as a freshman.

“I have no idea how much I’ll be contributing,” she said. “I’ll just do my best.”

Last year, the Indians won the PIAA championship with a 4-0 win over Camp Hill. She scored two goals, giving her 101 goals in her career.

Maggie Scott, a 2014 grad, holds the career scoring record with 152 goals and also the single season mark with 51 goals. Though both records are within reach, Rytel doesn’t give them much thought.

“They’re achievable, but I don’t concern myself with them,” she said. “We’ll just see what happens during the season.”

Her main goal is to help the team get back to the state championship game.

“We’ll be good again,” Rytel said. “We lost two starters, but we have some pretty talented freshmen coming in. We’ll be a confident team.”

She’s spent the summer working on the accuracy of her long balls and playing in the air.

“I felt that those parts of my game could improve,” she said. “I feel that my strength is my passing distribution. I want to improve my game and hopefully help us win two state titles in a row.”

Marty Stewart is a freelance writer.