Opportunity knocks for Kiski Area girls soccer in 2nd half of season

By: Michael Love
Tuesday, September 28, 2021 | 9:40 PM

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The Kiski Area girls soccer team finds itself in the middle of a playoff chase in Section 1-3A.

The Cavaliers are tied for fourth place in the section at 3-3 and are 5-6 overall heading into the second half of section play, which begins Thursday at Franklin Regional.

Coach Mike Spagnolo said he feels his team, buoyed by the experience of eight seniors and 11 juniors, is ready to make a strong push in the second half after several competitive battles over the first few weeks of the season.

“We talked to them Friday about the opportunities we’ve created for ourselves going into the second half,” said Spagnolo, who hopes to guide the Cavaliers to their sixth consecutive playoff appearance.

“It was a pretty positive (Friday) practice. They are pumped up and ready to go. They are confident in what they can do. The cake is on the table for them, and they realize that.”

Five of Kiski Area’s six section games in the first cycle were decided by two goals or less, with three a one-goal difference.

“This section has notoriously been competitive since I’ve been around it,” Spagnolo said. “Mars left the section, but you still have the Franklin Regionals, the Hamptons and the Gateways, who are always strong teams. We saw that against them in the first half. This year, you can see the scores against everybody, how close and competitive they are. It goes either way. You never know what you are going to have. We have built off of every game.”

Franklin Regional and Hampton lead the section with 5-1 records, and Gateway is in third at 4-2. Kiski Area and Indiana are tied for fourth at 3-3, but the Cavaliers own the tiebreaker advantage over the Indians based on a 2-1 victory at Indiana Sept. 21.

“We have high hopes for the second half in the section,” senior captain and defender Karly Keller said. “We know what each team does, what their weaknesses are, what our weaknesses are and what we need to work on. We’re very hopeful we can fix those things and be ready to win games and put us in good position for the playoffs.

“We knew Hampton and Franklin Regional, especially, would be tough games because of last year. We knew Gateway was aggressive because they won against Hampton. We came up short in those games but have to make sure we keep pushing through in those games. We know we can’t take anyone lightly in this section.”

Kiski Area kicked off the season with a pair of 2-0 wins over Baldwin and Hempfield at the Belle Vernon tournament.

“Those games help us really bond together, the older players all the way down to the freshmen who had never played before at the high school level,” Keller said. “To see all of us do so well together, even though it’s a new group, it was a really positive start.”

The first matchup with Franklin Regional on Sept. 11 was back and forth before the Panthers pulled out a 3-2 victory.

Three days later, the Cavaliers went toe-to-toe with Hampton in a defensive battle before Hampton won it with a goal in overtime.

“We were very frustrated after the game (against Hampton),” Keller said. “But it was a real eye-opener for us. Our defense did a really good job of keeping them from scoring for that long. They have a really good offense and were attacking us constantly. We were putting pressure on them and making them take shots farther out than where they wanted to, and (junior goalkeeper) Max (Crosby) made some great saves for us. We trust Max 100%.”

The rematch with Hampton is set for 7 p.m. Monday at Kiski Area’s Richard Dilts Stadium.

Spagnolo hopes his team can get healthier as injuries and quarantines took some key players from the lineup over the first 10 games.

He also hopes the offense can put up a more consistent attack in the second half.

“Every game we lost, we had a number of opportunities to win,” Spagnolo said. “We are outshooting these teams. We’re just not putting them in. We’ve had 144 shots on goal in 10 games. We only have 11 goals, and two of them are on penalty kicks so they are not counted in the shot totals. If we can turn that around, we should be in good shape.”

The Cavaliers also are sharpening their swords in the regular season with nonsection games against Class 4A Latrobe, Butler and Seneca Valley. Those teams entered play Tuesday a combined 18-1-5.

Butler topped Kiski Area, 4-2, on Tuesday.

Kiski also faced North Allegheny in a preseason scrimmage.

“Playing those teams only will make us better,” Keller said. “They really help us grow and become stronger for the playoffs. If you want to be the best, you have to play and learn from the best.”

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.

Tags: Kiski Area