Deer Lakes girls soccer program showing promise with young, talented lineup

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, August 20, 2018 | 10:48 PM

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The future looked promising for Deer Lakes’ girls soccer program at this time last year, with a freshman-heavy roster primed to play together and grow over four years.

Forget the future now: It’s all about the present for the Lancers. With nine returning starters from the team that ended a six-year playoff drought, Deer Lakes sees the promise for this season and beyond.

“For them and for me, I think the sky is the limit,” fourth-year coach Frank Accetta said. “You put all this work in, and the fact that we have nine returning starters from last year makes it easier. Last year, they finally made the playoffs for the first time in a long time, but obviously, there’s a lot to be excited about.”

After a 2-3-1 start, Deer Lakes won nine of its final 12 regular-season games last season to qualify for the WPIAL playoffs for the first time since 2011. The Lancers fell 3-2 in the Class AA first round to Brownsville.

All but two starters return from that team, as does sophomore striker Lily Litrun, who scored a team-high 14 goals in the first seven games before suffering a season-ending broken collarbone.

“All these kids that have now tasted playoff experience and tasted what it’s like to be a winning program, they know what it’s like,” Accetta said. “Whereas before, when you’re going into a season and you’re floating around .500 or underneath it, you don’t really know how to win. But I think now that they’ve tasted the playoffs, they know the limit. When you start feeling it, it feels good.”

Deer Lakes started as many as seven freshmen last season, and most of those players will remain in the lineup this season with a year of play under their belts. But the youth movement isn’t ending, as Accetta said as many as three freshmen could find their way into the starting lineup this fall.

“We’re very optimistic about this season,” said sophomore midfielder Nina Lafko, one of the team captains. “We have seven talented new freshmen coming up, and we’re working hard to mix with them and see how we play. We’re really excited. There’s a lot of new energy.”

The youth last season caused some early growing pains, but Deer Lakes showed its tenacity in a pair of one-goal losses to section champion Freeport. Accetta said he’s looking for a stronger start this year with a more experienced group.

“You play soccer in the Valley, I don’t care how talented you are, you’re going to get hit. It’s a lot of physicality, so that took a while to get used to. I think that’s where the growth will come, and now they know what it’s like to play high school soccer. This isn’t Cup soccer. This is high school soccer in the Valley, and it’s chippy. You have to get used to it, and you have to adapt to it.

“Playing under the lights when you’re a young girl or a young guy is not the easiest thing in the world. It’s nerve-wracking. I think that should help.”

With as many as nine potential underclassman starters, Accetta is looking forward to coaching virtually the same group for the next three years.

Junior Gabby Weber returns for her third year as starting goalkeeper, with her 6-foot stature giving the Lancers one potential advantage in net. She’ll be fronted by a pair of strong defenders in junior Maura Cerra and sophomore Maura Rupprecht, an all-section player last year.

Lafko, whom Accetta called a “true leader,” will anchor the midfield, while forwards Litrun, Abigail Boulos and Madeline Boulos provide scoring punch. Rupprecht played forward last season after Litrun’s injury, and Accetta said he felt comfortable at least seven players could fill the scoresheet.

“We’re just hoping to continue to build our skills,” Lafko said. “We have a lot of talented upperclassmen, and we have a lot of talented underclassmen. So we’re hoping to build off of last year, improve our skills and work better as a team.”

Deer Lakes will play in Section 2-2A with Apollo-Ridge, Burrell, East Allegheny, Freeport, Highlands and Valley.

“We really want to go far this year,” Lafko said. “We’re excited; we’re hoping for that. Obviously, there’s no guarantees, but I definitely think there’s some momentum. It gives us some momentum to work a little harder.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Doug at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.

Tags: Deer Lakes