Charleroi girls have great expectations
As Charleroi’s girls soccer players prepared to complete their run toward a second consecutive section title, head coach Jim Rue wanted to give them a history lesson.
Though the program went 12 years without a section title prior to 2014, he reminded them Charleroi reached the PIAA Class AA championship in 1999 and 2000 with a WPIAL title game appearance in the former season.
His message: a devastating loss in the WPIAL quarterfinals last fall was not the ceiling. Larger goals are attainable.
After leading the Cougars to six consecutive playoff appearances, Rue might have a group that can achieve more.
Charleroi (13-0-1, 14-1-2) clinched the Section 2-A championship with a win over Monessen last night and since losing to Freedom, 4-1, in the WPIAL Class A quarterfinals last fall, the Cougars have outscored opponents 121-12.
“The success we’ve had to this point has been very much a team-oriented one on both sides of the ball,” Rue said. “Last year’s experience was a good one for us, but I know I wasn’t satisfied with how we lost and I know the players weren’t. Some of that was maturity and experience.”
Charleroi had just two seniors last season, but now there are 10 with a host of underclassmen contributing to the fast offense.
The Cougars scored at least seven goals 10 times and much of that has to do with one of the best scoring duos in Class A. Senior midfielder Kyra Watkins is one of the WPIAL’s leading scorers with 43 goals. Sophomore forward Kaitlyn Riley chipped in 20, freshman forward Megan Sterner has 12 and junior forward Adrianna Gottheld has 11.
“Kyra is the key to the whole deal on many occasions,” Rue said. “She’s the type of player who can score for you and has that confidence as a senior. But when she’s being guarded by two or three people at a time, she’s smart enough and talented enough to let her skills do the work. When that happens, different players have stepped up.”
While Watkins has been a consistent scoring threat throughout the season, Charleroi has gotten contributions from every player on the pitch. In a key section matchup against South Allegheny, Riley and Sterner scored the decisive goals.
Though it’s the offense gains much of the recognition, the Cougars have 11 shutouts this season, the most in Class A. Rue pointed to five defenders – Kaitlyn McCann, Jessica Day, Aislyn Lee, Morgan Riley and Shayla Watkins – and senior goalkeeper Sydney Toth for Charleroi’s success, which with a win tonight, would include a second consecutive section title.
“Defenders don’t get much recognition, but those five kids have done a great job,” Rue said. “It’s not all about the offense. It’s the defense doing its job, shutting people down and taking possession of the ball to get into attacking position more. We wouldn’t be where we are without them. It’s been a total team effort.”
The WPIAL Sportsmanship Committee selected Peters Township and South Fayette as two of its five recipients for 2014-15 sportsmanship awards.
South Park, Seneca Valley and West Allegheny also were recognized. According to WPIAL officials, each of the schools promoted and demonstrated elements of good sportsmanship during the school year and representatives from each school will be recognized at the WPIAL Sportsmanship Summit Nov. 12 at Pittsburgh Regional History Center.
A Century Conference game between unbeaten South Fayette and Sto-Rox Friday night at 7 p.m. is being broadcast by Comcast’s Xfinity High School Sports Game of the Week.
All Xfinity TV subscribers can watch the game On Demand beginning Saturday afternoon. The Lions (6-0, 6-0) have a 38-game winning streak, which is tied for the fifth-longest in the country and is tied with Greensburg High for the third-longest in WPIAL history.