Westmoreland County girls soccer notebook: Yough star jumps at Robert Morris offer

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Wednesday, September 29, 2021 | 10:01 AM

Purchase Photo Options

McKenzie Pritts said the college where she will continue her soccer career checked all the boxes.

The standout junior forward from Yough made a verbal commitment over the weekend to Robert Morris.

Pritts leads the Cougars, who are ranked No. 2 in WPIAL Class 2A, with 12 goals.

“It’s a very exciting time,” Pritts said. “(Robert Morris) has a great business school, they’re a small school and still D-I, and they’re close to home.

“I liked coach (Chris) Shaw and his plans for me. He really wants to build the program, and I want to be a part of it.”

While more offers could have come in for Pritts, she was ready to commit now.

“I was just in the middle of the recruiting stages with about 10 to 15 schools,” she said. “I thought my journey would take a little longer. It just so happened that the offer was great, and that’s where I decided that I wanted to be.”

Sleith to Edinboro

Pritts wasn’t the only Yough player to announce a college commitment last week. Senior goalkeeper Marin Sleith gave a verbal pledge to Edinboro of the Division II Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.

Sleith will get to go against her sister in college. Hadley Sleith is a sophomore defender/midfielder at Clarion.

Knights-Warriors, Round 1

The first game in this year’s Norwin/Penn-Trafford rivalry series went to Norwin.

The Knights posted their fourth straight shutout, 3-0, over the Warriors as freshman Julia Bursick scored a pair of goals. Senior Paloma Swankler also had a goal for Norwin, which has outscored its opponents 18-0 since a 2-1 loss to Latrobe.

Norwin (6-1, 5-1) hosts No. 5 Latrobe (7-0-1, 4-0-1) at 6 p.m. Thursday.

Norwin will host Penn-Trafford on Oct. 12.

Cernuto healing

Southmoreland standout forward Olivia Cernuto has missed about three-and-a-half games with a right knee injury.

There are no fractures, and she is expected to miss another week or two.

Cernuto, the reining Trib Westmoreland Girls Soccer Player of the Year and athlete of the year, leads the Scotties with 12 goals. She scored 37 last season, with nine assists.

Rankings

There was some movement in the latest TribLive HSSN rankings.

Latrobe moved into the No. 5 spot in Class 4A, while Yough jumped from No. 4 to No. 2 in 2A, trading spots with Southmoreland.

Moon is the new No. 1 in 4A, while Mars (3A), North Catholic (2A) and Springdale (A) held serve in other classes.

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

Tags: Latrobe, Norwin, Southmoreland, Yough