A-K Valley teams to figure in tight Section 2-AA girls soccer race

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, September 26, 2017 | 10:33 PM

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Frank Accetta is getting used to seeing surprising results from Section 2-AA girls soccer games.

First came Springdale's victory over Burrell, followed by East Allegheny's triumph over Springdale. Then Accetta's Deer Lakes team, which lost to Springdale, beat East Allegheny.

As Accetta, the third-year Deer Lakes coach, said, “It's a weird section.

“On any given day, anything can happen. The second part of the season, I guess you just see what happens. Would anything shock me? No. I think there's a lot of equality.”

With the second half of section play set to begin, Springdale, Burrell, Deer Lakes, East Allegheny and Highlands are in the thick of the section race. Defending champion Freeport is in first place, two games clear of its nearest competition. Valley, a playoff team last season, has yet to win a section game.

“I think all you can do now is take mental notes of what happened the first time around you played someone, and now I guess you'll find out the second half of the season,” Accetta said. “I think that's all you can ask for.”

Burrell and Highlands are looking to make it back to the playoffs for a second consecutive season, while Deer Lakes is seeking its first playoff bid since 2012.

Here's a look at each team's season:

Burrell

Making the playoffs last season established a breakthrough for Burrell, which last qualified in 2007. After a slower-than-expected start, the Bucs (5-2-1, 4-2) are finding a rhythm, entering Wednesday's game against Freeport on a five-game winning streak.

“Our main goal is just to score and not get our heads down when the other team scores on us,” Burrell senior forward Leesha Wagner said. “I think we're just so focused on winning, and it's addictive for us right now. We just keep pushing.”

The win streak began with a 6-0 shutout of Highlands and includes victories over Deer Lakes, East Allegheny, Penn Hills and Valley. Burrell has outscored teams, 25-3, during the run. Burrell began preparation for this season during the 2016 season by getting underclassmen into games. And with 11 seniors on the roster, the Bucs are getting results.

“I think the team's doing good so far,” said coach Shelby Noll, an assistant last season. “Is there room for improvement? Yes, there always will be, no matter what. But overall, I'm happy with how everyone's doing and how we're performing.”

Deer Lakes

Unlike Burrell, Deer Lakes is doing its work with a younger team, with a handful of freshmen in the starting lineup. But the Lancers (5-4-1, 2-3-1) are showing consistent improvement. After winning three games last week, they pulled a near upset of Freeport on Monday, rallying from a three-goal deficit to tie the score in an eventual 4-3 defeat.

“We finally started playing on the same page,” senior Alexis Kaszubowski said. “I think a lot of teams in our section lost a lot of seniors last year, so they didn't know that we were bringing up a lot of good freshmen that all play together. I think they were kind of surprised by that.

“We're just playing more together as a unit.”

Deer Lakes suffered a couple of close losses in the final minutes. But the Lancers are getting scoring from the likes of Kaszubowski and freshman Lily Litrun, who has eight goals in her past four games.

The Lancers travel to Springdale on Wednesday, hoping to avenge a 2-0 loss.

“As long as you play teams you played the first time around and you improve your score from the last time, that's what you're looking for,” Accetta said. “Honestly, that's how you want to close down the season.”

Highlands

Graduation hit Highlands hard after the Golden Rams experienced the two most successful seasons in program history: back-to-back playoff appearances, including a WPIAL semifinal run last season. With that in mind, first-year coach Rick Tamburri expected a rebuilding year.

Although Highlands' lone section win came against Valley, the Golden Rams (1-6-2, 1-3-2) also posted draws against Deer Lakes and East Allegheny and had a narrow one-goal loss to Freeport last week. The team remains in playoff contention.

“From the very, very beginning, I wanted to be competitive,” Tamburri said. “And they just keep getting better, I think, from what I can see. They're getting stronger. Another year, guess what? They could be in contention. For this year, their work ethic is fantastic.”

Tamburri said the team is building through the back, with center backs Larkin Richards and Madison Faas and outside defenders Shaeleigh Welker and Adrianna Vergerio fronting goalkeeper Samantha Gildner. All five are underclassmen.

The Golden Rams begin the second half of section play Monday at Deer Lakes.

“They just keep working harder and harder and keep improving,” Tamburri said. “(We want to) just keep improving and go forward from there. My expectation this year was to be competitive, and when you can take a team of juniors, sophomores and freshmen and compete against Freeport, to me that's a success.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer.