MAKING
HISTO RY
North Allegheny Girls’ Soccer Team
captures first-ever WPIAL victory.
BY JENNIFER BROZAK
F
or the first time in school history, the North Allegheny
girls’ soccer team has captured a WPIAL victory.
In a windy, rain-soaked battle at Highmark Stadium on
Halloween, the Tigers defeated top-seeded Norwin 2-0,
capturing their first championship. The Section 1-AAAA
WPIAL win marked a banner season for the girls’ team, which lost
only two non-section games the entire year.
With 33:26 remaining in the second half, senior Ava
Ruppersberger passed to senior captain Emma Bundy, who then
passed to a wide-open Sarah Schupanksy, who gave the Tigers a
1-0 lead. Then, with only 2:30 left in the game, Bundy passed to
Hannah Kirkpatrick in front of the Norwin net. Kirkpatrick scored
her fourth goal of the season in the shutout against the Knights.
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When he took over the team five years ago, head coach Chuck
Kelley says that he was driven by the opportunity to take the girls’
team to a championship level.
“Each sports program at this school is competitive, and it prides
itself on that history of competition. When you walk into the gym,
and see all of the championship banners hanging—you want to be
a part of that,” says Kelly. “For this program to have fulfilled that
aspiration, it’s just been fantastic.”
Kelly says that the girls’ offensive playing style helped to propel
them into the finals.
“We don’t just play high school soccer,” says Kelley, who was
recently named Section 1 Coach of the Year. “It’s easy to say,
but when you see the girls playing the game, it’s amazing. Some