Defending WPIAL boys soccer champion North Catholic adjusting to Class AA opponents

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, September 25, 2018 | 1:45 PM

Every time North Catholic’s boys soccer team hits the field it displays a lot of talent, especially up top with the trio of Ryan Augustine, Joe Kearney and Bryce Kopchak, and now it’s a group that’s experienced the pressures that come on the path to winning a championship.

Trojans coach Aaron Kelly said last year’s run to winning the program’s first WPIAL Class A title and a runner-up finish in PIAA title game matured his team, and it’s already shown as they’ve made the jump to Class AA this season.

The Trojans, who are ranked No. 2 in the Class AA Trib rankings, have adjusted well to their new digs, going 6-1 in the first half of Section 4 play, with the lone loss coming against defending Class AA state champion Quaker Valley.

“It’s a little more physical and other teams have a little bit more depth to them, which I guess makes sense with the number of students each school has,” Kelly said about the move to Class AA. “Another difference that we like is that most of the teams have turf unlike in single-A when we were playing most of our games on grass.”

North Catholic has outscored section opponents 49-7 this season with five of those goals coming in a 5-0 loss to Quaker Valley.

Augustine, Kopchak and Kearney filled the net with regularity last year, combining to score more than 70 goals, and they’ve picked up where they left off, while continuing to build chemistry among themselves and with their teammates.

“We actually call them the ‘Big Three’ and they play very well together,” Trojans center back Anthony Rivetti said. “They’ve all started since freshman year, and they have good chemistry together. They play well off of each other and obviously they produce. They score a lot of our goals.”

Rivetti is one of three seniors who are tri-captains with Owen Dougherty and Braiden Wills. Dougherty is Rivetti’s partner at center back and Wills is a center midfielder.

While the “Big Three” have taken care of the goal scoring department, Rivetti and Dougherty have been locking things down on the back end, helping the Trojans post four shutouts. They have been playing together since their days at St. Alphonsus’ Blessed Francis Seelos Academy in Wexford.

“Our back line is pretty well-rounded,” Rivetti said. “Owen and I have been playing together for 10 years, so we kind of hold it down back there. Ben Esser played a lot last year as a freshman, and he’s fit in really well as a starter. We have a couple of other younger guys that have played outside back, and they’ve all fit in well.”

The setback against Quaker Valley was an eye-opening experience for the Trojans. The Quakers have been one of the most successful programs in the WPIAL, with seven state titles since 1985 and 12 appearances in the state title game. They also have eight WPIAL titles. Kelly said they didn’t see a team as talented as the Quakers last year in Class A and that Camp Hill, who they played in the state title game, was the only team comparable.

“It was a lot of fun to play them, because they are really talented, physical and well-coached,” Kelly said “I thought our guys did well. Obviously, they exposed some things that we’re going to need to correct moving forward, but we were also able to see us do some other things well. I know the guys are excited to play them again. It’s nice to play that level of competition.”

North Catholic gets its rematch with the Quakers on Oct. 9.

The Trojans scored a nonsection win against perennial Class A contender Sewickley Academy and have matches scheduled against larger classification schools like Pine-Richland, Canon-McMillan and Moon to get ready for postseason play.

Kelly said there’s good focus at every drill in practice and that his team doesn’t need much motivating when it comes to wanting to get better. They’ll continue to build cohesion as they prepare to try and win a second consecutive WPIAL title.

“I would say the most satisfying thing is when we’re clicking on all cylinders and sticking with the game plan that we put in place,” Kelly said. “When the team is working together and building each other up is when I get the most joy out of it. When we do that we can be pretty dangerous.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer.