High school roundup: Moon girls advance in soccer; OLSH girls volleyball wins; West Hills runners compete

Anna Palm scored with two minutes remaining in the game to snap a 1-1 tie and lift Moon Area to a 2-1 victory over Shaler Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the WPIAL Girls Class 3A soccer championships, played at Tiger Stadium.

The win vaults the third-seeded Tigers into the tournament semifinals against No. 2 seed South Fayette, which defeated Montour, 5-3, at South Fayette.

The date, time and location of that semifinal match will be determined later.

Bella Taylor put the Tigers on top 1-0 with 18 minutes left in the first half when she outraced two Shaler defenders and scored off a long pass from Palm.

Shaler, seeded 11^th in the tournament, pulled even at 1-1 when Gabby Alcalde converted a penalty kick with a little less than 6 minutes remaining in the second half.

That set the stage for Palm’s game-winning goal, which came when she launched a shot from about 30 yards out that went just over the hands of the leaping Shaler goalkeeper.

Moon improved to 18-1 with the victory and now has outscored its opponents 78-8 on the season.

The Tigers’ only loss came on Sept. 6 to Pine-Richland in a 2-1 overtime decision. Since then, Moon has won 14 straight games and has allowed only four goals during that stretch. The Tigers have posted 12 shutouts this season.

Montour, seeded seventh, finished its season at 12-5. Silvanna Rossi and Mia Deramo each scored a pair of goals for South Fayette while Gabby Beinecke added one. Beneicke also contributed two assists while Deramo, Lily Chiappetta and Quinn Miller each added one.

Details on Montour’s scoring were not available at the time of publication.

Photos by Mike Longo Jr.

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL

Our Lady of Sacred Heart 3, Mohawk 1

The Chargers earned a semifinal berth in the WPIAL Class 2A tournament by defeating the Warriors, 27-25, 25-18, 16-25, 25-15, at OLSH’s Angela Activities Center.

The Chargers, now 15-3, will move on to play a familiar foe in Hopewell, which defeated OLSH in the final regular-season game last week to win the section title.

The date, time and location of that semifinal match will be announced later.

Leah Parker registered eight kills, three aces, 10 digs and a block for the Chargers while Carmella Rippole had 24 assists, two kills, three digs and two blocks.

Sophia Wasko chipped in 18 digs and three aces and Frankie Schlatterer had 10 kills and 2.5 blocks.

Lola Garner contributed five kills and five digs and Bella Coladonato had six kills, five digs and an ace.

CROSS COUNTRY

WPIAL Championships at White Oak

West Hills girls results

Our Lady of Sacred Heart raced to a third-place in the Class A meet, finishing behind champion Shady Side Academy and Winchester Thurston, and earned a spot in next month’s PIAA Championship meet.

OLSH’s Jules Goshen and Hannah Hayes finished fifth and sixth, respectively, with times of 19 minutes, 29.10 seconds and 19:33.10. Eva Crofford placed 16^th (20:46.80), Lindsay Bressler was 21^st (21:08.90), Charlotte Gaunter was 32^nd (21:35.40), Molly Gaunter was 57^th (22:51.10) and Mira Mosca placed 69^th (23:23.10). All will race in the PIAA meet, which is scheduled to take place Nov. 1 at Parkview Cross Country Course in Hershey.

Three Carlynton runners competing in the Class A meet clocked times that were fast enough to send them to Hershey in Maria Leithauser, who finished 25^th overall in 21:25.60, Lani Blevins (26^th, 21:26.50) and Ava Pancake (28^th, 21:31.10).

In the Class AAA meet, Moon’s Elise Ashcroft placed 22^nd overall to qualify for the PIAA meet. The Tigers’ next two best times belonged to Rachel Stepp (44^th, 20:08.30) and Alexis Schuler (20:30.40).

Montour also competed in the Class AAA meet, and its top three runners were Elise Hornyak, who finished 116^th in 21:52.60, Dalia Trevenen (119^th, 21:53.90) and Mackenzie Keating (126^th, 22:12.20).

West Hills boys results

OLSH wound up fourth among Class A schools, led by Brayden Douglass, whose 13^th-place finish overall with a time of 16:58.80 earned him a spot in the PIAA meet. The Chargers’ next two best finishers were Andre Kolocouris (28^th, 17:41.50) and Jeremy Ye (30^th, 17:45.80).

Carlynton’s Ethan Moldovan claimed a spot in the PIAA Class A meet by finishing seventh overall with a time of 16:37.10.

In the Class AA meet, Montour finished eighth and will send three runners to the state meet in Jacob Chacon (17^th place, 16:45.20, Lucas Benson (19^th, 16:50.90) and Andrew Ludwick (25^th, 17:04.30).

Moon’s top three finishers in the Class AAA meet were Owen Romasco (40^th, 16:45.10), Samuel Herrera (63^rd, 17:06.10) and Ryan Slawuta (90^th, 17:25.80).