Westmoreland high school notebook: Girls soccer award formed to honor late Ringgold player

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Saturday, November 9, 2019 | 8:19 PM

When the Rosensteel family tragically lost their beloved daughter and sister, Kaitlyn, the Western Pennsylvania soccer community embraced them, consoled them and did their best to help them through the grieving process.

Kaitlyn “Moe” Rosensteel died in June. Five months later, her father has formed the Kaitlyn “Moe” Rosensteel Scholarship Foundation — along with a unique award.

The foundation will present the inaugural Moe Rosensteel Most Outstanding Player of the Year Award to the WPIAL’s top girls soccer player at the end of the season.

A scholarship also is in the works, but the foundation still is working on the details. It will be separate from the award.

A 10-person panel of those in the know — friends of the family, colleagues and media members — will vote to choose the top player, who will be announced Nov. 16.

Kaitlyn Rosensteel had just graduated from Ringgold and planned to continue her soccer career at West Virginia Wesleyan. The family, originally from Monongahela, lived in North Huntingdon for eight years. Ed Rosensteel used to be an assistant coach for the Greensburg Central Catholic girls soccer team.

Rosensteel wants his daughter’s memory to carry on through others sharing stories about her and for people to “live the way she lived.”

He said the local soccer community “laid their hand on our shoulder” when the tragedy struck the family.

“We want to be able to give back,” he said. “We could never thank everyone, but we hope this is a small thank you back to the community.”

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McGowan transfers

Junior basketball player Christian McGowan transferred from Greensburg Salem to Greensburg Central Catholic. The WPIAL approved the move, and McGowan is eligible to play this season.

McGowan, the younger brother of former Greensburg Salem star guard Marvel McGowan, is a 5-foot-11 guard who averaged about seven points and three assists a game last season and made 18 starts, missing the final four games because of injury.

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Pulling rank

With back-to-back WPIAL championships in hand, Franklin Regional climbed a few notches in the national boys soccer rankings.

TopDrawerSoccer.com released its latest “Fab 50” teams for the fall season and Franklin Regional jumped 10 spots to No. 23.

The Panthers (20-0-1) won their second straight WPIAL Class 3A title with a 2-1 victory over West Allegheny on Saturday at Highmark Stadium. The Panthers topped previously undefeated Cathedral Prep, 2-0, on Saturday in the PIAA quarterfinals.

The Panthers received some postseason accolades last week, as well.

Rand Hudson was named WPIAL Class 3A Coach of the Year. Sophomore forward and 30-goal scorer Anthony DiFalco was voted the classification’s player of the year.

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PIAA parameters

The PIAA released enrollment parameters last week, giving schools a general idea of where they will be in terms of classifications for next year. Ligonier Valley is set to leave District 6 and join the WPIAL next year — WPIAL approval is pending but expected to be a formality — and the Rams’ numbers show them with 183 boys and 154 girls.

Assuming they don’t play up, that puts football in Class 2A.

Girls soccer, as another example, would be in Class A and softball in 2A.

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Volleyball stars

Several area girls volleyball players were named to All-WPIAL teams. In Class 4A, Hempfield senior outside hitter Mekayla Dedo was a first-team selection, and Franklin Regional junior middle hitter Aly Kindelberger made the Class 3A first team and teammates Elizabeth Sarneso (senior setter) and Alexa Feorene (junior hitter) were second- and third-team players.

Derry senior middle hitter Rylee Ellis made the Class 2A second team, and senior outside hitter Kamryn Kelly was a third-teamer.

Senior setter Elizabeth Colecchia (second team), junior setter Ava Bailey (third team) and sophomore outside hitter Rebecca Hess (third team), all of Greensburg Central Catholic, were Class A picks.

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Field hockey stars

The WPIAL announced its all-star teams for field hockey. Hempfield senior forward Rachel Lundy and junior forward Karlie Pavlic of Norwin made the Division I first team.

Five local players were selected to the second team: junior forward Allyson Doran and junior midfielder Emma Little of Penn-Trafford; senior midfielder Teresa Dube of Hempfield; and junior forward Emma Mazur and senior goalkeeper Bailee Kelly of Norwin.

Latrobe junior forward Lauren Jones was a first-team pick in Division II.

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Signing day

Wednesday is National Letter of Intent day for all sports except football. It marks the start of the early signing period for Division I basketball with the regular period starting April 15, 2020.

Early signing day for football is Dec. 18, and the regular signing period for football begins Feb. 5.

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Caputo to Point Park

Norwin senior basketball player Jackie Caputo made a verbal commitment to play at Point Park. She is a 5-11 guard/forward for the Knights. She played in 13 games last season as a reserve forward and shot 41% from the field.

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

Tags: Derry Area, Franklin Regional, Greensburg C.C., Greensburg Salem, Hempfield, Latrobe, Ligonier Valley, Norwin, Penn-Trafford