Westmoreland high school notebook: Locals make soccer award watch list

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Saturday, August 21, 2021 | 5:09 PM

Purchase Photo Options

The Moe Rosensteel Player of the Year Award recognizes the best WPIAL girls soccer player “whose play, leadership and passion for the game emulates that of the award’s namesake.”

Kaitlyn “Moe” Rosensteel was a soccer standout at Ringgold who was about to begin a college career at West Virginia Wesleyan when she was killed by a lightning strike at Mammoth Park in the summer of 2019. Her memory lives on through a foundation that was formed in her name. The top player award has been given out twice, and a third player will win it in 2021.

A watch list came out last week that a panel of foundation officials, coaches and media members will use as a guide to nominate players this fall.

Westmoreland players on the list include sophomores Ella Bulava and Regan Reilly and junior Sofia DeCerb of Latrobe, junior Olivia Cernuto of Southmoreland, seniors Morgan Einodshofer and Adelina Guess and junior Farrah Reader of Belle Vernon, senior Tatum Gretz and junior Sara Felder of Greensburg Central Catholic, senior Malia Kearns of Penn-Trafford, junior Sydney Lindeman of Franklin Regional and senior Paloma Swankler of Norwin.

Nominations will be narrowed to three finalists. Past winners were Ellie Coffield of Mars (2019) and Sarah Schupansky of North Allegheny (2020).

All-American watch

The High School All-American soccer games will be played Dec. 11 in Orlando, Fla.

The WPIAL might have quite a showing on a national stage.

Ten senior players from the district are on the All-American games watch list, which came out Wednesday, including eight girls.

Four local players made the list: Midfielders Gretz and Lindeman on the girls side and forwards Anthony DiFalco of Franklin Regional and Daniel Sassak of Belle Vernon for the boys.

Selections will be announced at a later date.

WPIAL soccer season opens Sept. 3. Teams are three days into preseason practice.

IUP bound

Norwin senior baseball pitcher Sebastian Rosado Guindin made a verbal commitment to IUP.

The 6-foot-3, 245-pound left-hander who was clocked in the high 80 mph range on the radar gun, was born and raised in Puerto Rico. His family moved to the area after they were displaced by hurricane devastation.

Guindin did not pitch for Norwin last season as he returned to Puerto Rico. When he came back, he pitched some and hit for the junior varsity team, finding success in both areas in limited action.

Welcome back

Penn-Trafford is allowing spectators at fall sports events again.

Last year, fans were only allowed one or two tickets per athlete, but that policy has been lifted for now.

Tickets will be $7 for all regular-season home athletic events and can be purchased at the gate. The district will introduce an online ticket option where tickets can be purchased online at ptwarriors.org/event-tickets. Season passes also will be available online now that paper passes or cards have been discontinued.

“We look forward to seeing our P-T Warrior community back in the stands,” athletic director Kerry Hetrick said. “This year, we are providing live-streaming and electronic ticketing options to add convenience and make our games accessible to everyone near and far.”

Golf postseason

WPIAL golf season opened Thursday, but it’s never too early to look ahead to the postseason because the regular season seems to go so fast.

The boys and girls golf individual championships are set to be played at three courses: Class AA boys, Sept. 30 at Allegheny Country Club; Class AAA boys, Oct. 5 at Nemacolin Country Club; Class AAA and AA girls, Oct. 7 at Hannastown Golf Club.

As usual, the boys and girls team championships will be Oct. 14 at Cedarbrook Golf Course.

Brewer holding off

Greensburg Central Catholic senior track and cross country standout Corinn Brewer has a number of Division I opportunities, but she does not plan to make a decision until January, said her father and coach, Mike Brewer.

She is considering Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Cornell, Columbia and Yale. Other schools are interested, as well.

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

Tags: Belle Vernon, Franklin Regional, Greensburg C.C., Latrobe, Norwin, Penn-Trafford, Southmoreland