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PHIL FIVES TO PLAY AT
UNIVERSITY OF AKRON
 

(2/16/11)  North Allegheny senior Phil Fives has committed to the University of Akron to continue his soccer career.  The Zips won the Division I National Championship in 2010 and Fives will be a great addition to their soccer program.  Fives completed his senior season at North Allegheny as an All-Section, All-WPIAL, and All-State selection.  In addition, Fives was named the Player of the Game in the WPIAL All-Star Game. 

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LUCHINI OFFICIALLY SIGNS ON TO ATTEND LEHIGH UNIVERSITY

(2/1/11)  Jamie Luchini, senior Soccer forward/mid-fielder has signed today on National Letter of Intent Day, with Lehigh University.  Located in Bethlehem, PA, Lehigh is a Division I soccer program that participates in athletics in the Patriot League. Luchini had an impressive season for the North Allegheny Boys Soccer team by leading the squad into the playoffs with 19 goals and 9 assists.  Jamie also plays for the nationally ranked Beadling U17 team that went to nationals last year in Phoenix, Arizona and plays in both the National and Premier Leagues this season. He carries a 4.26 grade point average and is a member of the National Honor Society at North Allegheny.  Jamie plans on majoring in Business at Lehigh University.

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FIVES, LUCHINI NAMED ALL-WPIAL

(11/22/11) North Allegheny Boys soccer players, forward Jamie Luchini and mid-field Phil Fives were named to the WPIAL All-Section 2 team and All-WPIAL teams.  Luchini led the Tigers this season with 19 goals, third in Class AAA and 9 assists while Fives cashed in with 9 goals and 7 assists. Both the boys will play this Saturday at Moon High School in the Western Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association All-Star game at 3pm.

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ONE AND DONE FOR TIGERS SOCCER;
NA FALLS TO KISKI IN OT, 2-1

(10/24/11) Despite the momentum of three straight wins entering the contest, North Allegheny's season came to an abrupt end Monday night. Freshman Zach Wilson's goal at 7:39 of overtime lifted Kiski Area past the Tigers in the first round of the WPIAL Playoffs, 2-1.  Although they were bottled in their own end for most of the night by a relentless North Allegheny attack, Kiski escaped the pressure in the 13th minute of overtime.  After a rush up the left wing penetrated the Tigers zone, a cross from the left wing in the Tigers zone found Taylor, who redirected it for the game winner.

The Cavaliers entered the first round matchup with Northt Allegheny having won the Section 1 crown outright during the regular season with a record of 11-2-2.  However, North Allegheny controlled the tempo and play throughout the night with a relentless attack.  Midfield play of Alex Perry, Sean Dickerson, and Suyash Fulay kept Kiski hemmed in their own zone for most of the half, while Nick Jewell, Phil Fives, and Jamie Luchini tested Kiski netminder Brandon Smail early and often.  Smail was up to the task, unofficially making six first half saves.  In the 31^st minute, Kiski finally broke out of their zone and went on the offensive.  Off a William Oplinger throw-in, forward Tyler Nelson headed it past North Allegheny goalie Ryan Thornton, giving the Cavaliers a 1-0 lead on their first shot of the game.  They only mustered one additional shot during the half.  Consequently, North Allegheny held a strong halftime edge in shots, despite being down a goal.

The Tigers began the second half with similar intensity in the offensive zone, as shots by Dickerson, Fives, and Luchini were turned aside by the standout Cavalier goalkeeper.  North Allegheny finally capitalized when Tavis Taylor found Fives off a rebound opportunity for the Tigers' lone tally of the night.  For his equalizer, knotting the game at 1-1, Fives was named Wright Automotive Player of the Game by the North Allegheny Sports Network.  The Tigers continued to attack the Kiski goal with quality scoring chances, but Smail stood strong and kept the score tied through the remainder of regulation with several solid saves.  Unofficially, the Tigers held a 12-2 lead in shots as overtime began.

Early in the overtime period, freshman Billy Werner had a scoring chance off a corner kick.  However, his volley sailed just over the net.  Thirteen minutes into the extra frame, Kiski finally escaped the North Allegheny pressure, gained possession, and crossed midfield in the rush that culminated with Taylor’s game winner.

North Allegheny ends their season with a 10-7-0 record, while Kiski advances to face Seneca Valley on Thursday.  The Raiders defeated Plum on Monday night, 5-1, in other first round action.  With several seniors graduating, some fresh faces will be in the mix for North Allegheny in 2012, in hopes of building on two straight WPIAL playoff appearances.

GAME SUMMARY
KISKI AREA - 2   NORTH ALLEGHENY - 1 

INDIVIDUAL SCORING
 

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PLAYOFFS BEGIN MONDAY FOR TIGERS SOCCER

Fresh off an incredible run just to qualify for the playoffs, North Allegheny hopes to maintain their end of the season magic when they face Kiski Area at Seneca Valley on Monday night.  Three straight wins over Shaler, Butler, and North Hills, pushed the Tigers into third place in Section 2, with a record of 5-5-0.  An overall record of 10-6-0 garnered an eleven-seed for the WPIAL playoffs.  Their first round opponent will be the sixth-seeded Cavaliers.  Kiski finished the regular season with an 11-2-2 record, winning Section 1 with an 8-1-1 mark in the conference. 

While records and seedings may indicate Kiski as the favorite, both schools fared comparably against several common opponents during the regular season.  The Cavaliers won at Shaler to kick off their year, while they dropped their regular season finale to Butler.  Meanwhile, the Tigers split their meetings against both the Titans and Golden Tornado during the season.  Similarly, North Allegheny won at Norwin last Tuesday, while Kiski split both of their meetings with the Knights during the year.

After sharing the Section 1 title last year, Kiski won the conference championship outright this year, with a mixture of veterans and underclassmen.  Coach Bob Wright’s squad boasts four-year starters in forward James Winiesky, midfielder Brandon Jenkins, and defender Kyle Terrill.  Winiesky is the offensive catalyst, distributing the ball similar to a point guard in basketball.  Despite having his primary responsibilities on defense, Terrill is known to jump up in the play.  In the team’s first nine games this year, the senior tallied four goals.  Along with Terrill, the Cavaliers start two sophomores and a junior on defense, while sophomore goalkeeper Brandon Smail has eight shutouts to his credit.  Overall, the Cavaliers allowed just seven goals all season.  However, four were allowed against non-section opponents.  To win, North Allegheny will have to test Smail, something opponents were rarely able to accomplish. 

Trying to break through the Cavaliers defense will be the Tigers front line, spearheaded by Jamie Luchini.  The Lehigh University recruit has nineteen goals on the season to lead North Allegheny.  Fellow senior Phil Fives is also gifted attacking the net.  The skilled midfielder has been on a recent hot streak offensively, scoring four markers in his past three games.  If the Cavaliers defense concentrates their efforts on either player, a plethora of others are comfortable storming the attacking zone, including Brandon Merry, Logan Burdwood, Tavis Taylor, and Nick Jewell.  Midfielders Alex Perry and Brij Dhanda are active at both ends of the field, spawning scoring chances while preventing opportunities for the opposition.  At the other end of the pitch, Alex McIlvried and Brice Merry experienced with shadowing opposing players, battling for loose balls, and playing superb defense.  Connor Gwaltney was typically on the back line for much of the season, but the versatile senior has provided a spark at forward in recent games, including a goal against Butler in last week’s 3-1 victory.  Finally, both Carl Johnson and Ryan Thornton have spent critical time tending the net, giving North Allegheny a pair of experienced senior goalkeepers.

Preliminary forecasts for tonight are calling for cloudy skies, with a temperature in the 40's.  The atmosphere could be dynamic, as Kiski is known for loyal student support at soccer games, regardless of location.  Kickoff is scheduled for 6:00 pm.  Catch all the action live on the North Allegheny Sports Network, beginning approximately ten minutes prior with a pregame breakdown of both squads.  For the complete playoff bracket, click here.

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NA KNOCKS OFF SIXTH-RANKED KNIGHTS, 4-3 IN OVERTIME
by Jim Luchini

(10/18/11) Continuing a late season surge, North Allegheny rolled off their third straight win and fourth win in their last five games by edging sixth-ranked Norwin Knights on Tuesday night, 4-3.  In another display of team soccer, the Tigers possessed the ball a majority of the contest. During the first eight minutes, North Allegheny's Brandon Merry, Jamie Luchini and Phil Fives peppered the Norwin goalie with shot after shot, but unfortunately could not score.  Eight minutes in, Norwin forward Tyler Livingston got loose from the defense and converted on Norwin's first shot of the game to take an early 1-0 lead. 

A few minutes later, Tiger goalie Ryan Thornton made a momentum-changing save on a Norwin breakaway, holding Norwin to a one-goal lead.  Luchini then scored his 19th goal of the season on a penalty kick, awarded because of a handball in the box to make it 1-1.   Later in the half, Fives and Luchini had two quality scoring chances each, only to be stopped by the Norwin netminder. The Knights withstood the threat, and counterattacked. Nine minutes before halftime, Norwin's Ben Gallina scored to make it 2-1.  Gallina displayed some nice footwork leading to the goal.  The half ended with Connor Gwaltney just missing wide on a header off a corner kick.  Alex Perry exhibited consistent and reliable play throughout the half, while the Tigers benefited from offensive pressure by Logan Burdwood and Tavis Taylor.  North Allegheny tallied eight shots on goal for the half while Norwin was held to just five.

At halftime, Coach Vosmaer made some sly adjustments and North Allegheny quickly knotted the score following the break. Gwaltney fed a long pass to Brandon Merry, who scored to tie the game at 2-2.  A strong defensive effort by Perry and Thornton stopped two Norwin breakaways and the game remained deadlocked.  Several underclassmen entered midway through the second half.  Chris Richards, Alex Correa, Billy Werner, along with Sean Dickerson, Ryan Fulton and Nick Jewell played quality minutes and pressured the Norwin net.  At 5:44, Correa blasted his first goal of the season into the Norwin twine off a cross from Jewell, giving North Allegheny a short-lived 3-2 lead.  A minute later, Norwin forward Livingston scored his second goal of the night on another breakaway, tying the game 3-3, setting the stage for the Tigers' first overtime game of the season.

At 4:22 of the extra period, Suyash Fulay dribbled into open space down the right side and crossed a ball into the box.  Richards redirected the pass into the Norwin goal, giving the Tigers a 4-3 overtime victory.

The Tigers improved to 10-6 overall while sixth-ranked Norwin dropped to 13-5.  North Allegheny will host Kiski Area on Wednesday night in another game featuring playoff-bound squads.  Kickoff for the final regular season contest is scheduled for 7:30 pm. 

Congratulations to the junior varsity players, parents and coach Lenny Muckle Sr. as their season came to an end Tuesday night after their game against Norwin.  During the season they displayed quality effort in their play and strong determination.  Here's good luck to all the players next year!

GAME SUMMARY
NORTH ALLEGHENY - 4  NORWIN - 3 

INDIVIDUAL SCORING
 

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2011 WPIAL BOYS' SOCCER

The Tigers will compete again in the WPIAL Class AAA along with 30 other teams.  The top three teams and ties that CANNOT be broken will enter the WPIAL tournament.  All playoff entries will be determined by section record only and will be determined by the following method:  Three points for a win, one point for a tie.  Teams that tie for first place will not have the tie broken and each will be declared champions and receive a section winner's plaque.  Those teams will enter the tournament;  and if the teams tied for first place equal the maximum for sectional qualification, NO OTHER TEAMS WILL BE ENTERED INTO THE TOURNAMENT.  In the event of a tie for second, third or in some cases fourth place, the Tie Breaker System will be employed.  If a tie persists, head-to-head competiton will determine the qualifier.  In the event of a multiple tie, the following tie breaker will be employed:

1.  Section records of the tied teams will be compiled.
2.  The team that has the best won/loss record in head-to-head competition among the tied teams only will be the qualifier.
3.  If the tie cannot clearly be broken, all tied teams will enter the tournament.

Teams that qualify for the tournament should be aware that they may be placed in a preliminary round and may be assigned to play the weekend prior to the first round of the tournament.

Each game will consist of two equal halves of 40 minutes each.  Regular season game overtimes shall be resolved by playing no more than two "sudden victory" overtime periods not to exceed ten minutes each.  If a tie persists at that point, the game is over and is recorded as a tie.  In post-season play, the procedure to determine a game winner will be the state adopted method of the National Federation Soccer Rules Book.

PIAA Qualifiers - only two teams qualify, the WPIAL Champion and runner-up.

Players and coaches who receive hard red cards and are disqualified from any game by the game official will not be permitted to participate in the next scheduled game played by their team at the same level of competition.  Repeated red card offenders will be subjected to more severe penalties.

The PIAA Board of Directors has adopted a rule for ALL LEVELS OF SOCCER for the 2010-2011 school year that REQUIRES "that a player who receives a yellow card sit out a mandatory period of five minutes as indicated on the soccer game clock."

2011 CLASS AAA ALIGNMENT - 31 TEAMS

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Any questions or comments should be directed to Athletic Director
Bob Bozzuto at:  bbozzuto@northallegheny.org