Nov 11, 2025 By Jerin Steele 4 min read

ELLWOOD CITY – Silvi Rossi said she had never played in a game with as cold of temperatures as she did Tuesday.

The temps in the low 30s didn’t seem to bother South Fayette.

In fact, the Lions were on fire in the second half.

Rossi provided a major boost with a go-ahead goal going into halftime and the Lions scored four times in the second half to run away with a 6-1 victory over DuBois in the PIAA Class 3A girls soccer semifinals at Ellwood City’s Helling Stadium.

Mia Deramo had two goals and Emma Ferrari and Nora Davidovich scored once in the second half to help the Lions clinch their first state championship appearance in program history.

They quickly turned the disappointment of not winning a third WPIAL title in a row and channeled it into a state playoff run.

“This is awesome,” Deramo said. “This team has faced some adversity throughout the season. It’s hard to go for a three-peat (at WPIALs) and we kind of took that as a challenge instead of a failure. Making it to a state championship for the first time is unbelievable. It’s history at South Fayette and this team deserves it.”

The Lions (21-2-1) will play Radnor in the Class 3A state championship 1 p.m. Saturday at Northeastern High School in Manchester. They are the second girls program at South Fayette to recently make a state final, joining the girls basketball team, which won a PIAA title in March.

DuBois was seeking to become the first District 9 soccer team, boys or girls, to make the state championship.

With the score tied 1-1, Rossi, a freshman, chased down a through ball from Quinn Miller, beating DuBois keeper Harper Johnson to the ball. Rossi dribbled around Johnson and put the ball into an open net to give South Fayette a 2-1 lead going into halftime.

“It was a really nice pass from Quinn and it was fun to celebrate the goal with her,” Rossi said. “I saw (the goalie) was coming at me straight on, so I just had to take a touch around her and then shoot it.”

South Fayette rallied from a three-goal deficit to stun Cocalico, 4-3 in overtime in the quarterfinals and found itself with an early deficit again Tuesday.

That was because of a wonderful individual effort by DuBois’ sensational sophomore Anna Korney.

Korney chased a ball down the right side, circled back, got just enough space and ripped a shot that went over a leaping South Fayette keeper Cailtyn Thompson into the top of the net.

South Fayette had a unique perspective on Korney, who’s already DuBois’ all-time leading goal scorer.

Korney played in a forward pairing with South Fayette assistant coach Sabrina Bryan on the Pittsburgh Riveters in their inaugural season this summer.

Outside of the moment of brilliance in the first half, South Fayette did a good job of limiting Korney’s chances.

“Sabrina, (South Fayette goalie) Caitlyn (Thompson) and (Mia) Deramo all played with her,” South Fayette coach Nick Rosser said. “She’s a heck of a player. I watched some of (DuBois’) film and they are a heck of a team. We were just a little bit better today.”

Miller evened the match in the 32nd minute. The goal came off a free kick that bounced around in the box and settled for Miller right on the goal line and she tapped it in.

South Fayette dominated possession in the second half and with DuBois chasing a goal, took advantage of open space to score four times.

“Once we can get one goal we can just keep going,” Rosser said. “That’s what I always tell them. Get one goal and keep it going from there.”

Tuesday’s match was originally scheduled to be played at Franklin Area High School, but was moved to Ellwood City because several inches of snow fell in Franklin Tuesday.