Penn Hills boys soccer team looks to build chemistry under new coach

By: Josh Rizzo
Sunday, August 11, 2024 | 11:01 AM

The Penn Hills boys soccer program will need time to grow together.

First-year coach Kevin Truman started an under-19 team over the past few months to allow players to gain experience. With a roster that included players as young as 13 and some 16 or 17, the team was able to get important experience playing together.

“We were around .500,” Truman said. “I wasn’t looking at the results. It was more about getting reps and building chemistry.”

Penn Hills will open the season Aug. 24 at home against Obama Academy. The Indians will be in Section 1-4A this season, along with Central Catholic, Gateway, Norwin and Plum.

Penn Hills finished 6-11-1 overall and 3-10-1 in section play in Class 3A last season. The Indians lost several key players from last year’s team, including all-section goalie Landon Hankey.

Penn Hills also lost all-section players Jeremy Safran and Mack Byrnes.

Truman, who graduated from Penn Hills and has lived in the district for a long time, said getting to know the players has been a smooth process. He already had coached many of them at the youth level.

“I coached with the Penn Hills Soccer Association before I got into coaching club soccer in the past five years,” Truman said. “I knew about 80 or 85% of the players already.”

Truman said Penn Hills will be looking to generate an attack via committee. Chase Delehanty will be an attacking midfielder, while Adam Alaali will be counted on to play striker.

“We’re not going to play through on primary players,” Truman said. “We are going to try and be a possession team, but we aren’t going to go through one player.”

The Indians received a boost this year via a cooperative partnership formed with Redeemer Lutheran. Penn Hills will have three players from the school on the team.

Hamilton Anyang, who attends Redeemer, will play defensive midfield. Jadon Robbins, a tall goalkeeper, will try to fill Hankey’s shoes.

Jay Taylor will be another Penn Hills player who can make a strong contribution on defense.

“We’ve been grinding,” Truman said. “We are a young team. We only have four seniors. … We’ve had about seven training sessions, and everyone is buying into what we are doing.”

Tags: Penn Hills