Two WPIAL girls soccer programs have reached the PIAA (State) Championship game for the first time ever in their respective classifications, as Burrell advanced in the Class 2A bracket where they'll take on Archbishop Wood (Friday evening, 7 p.m. kickoff) and South Fayette are headed to the Class 3A final where they'll face Radnor (Saturday afternoon, 1 p.m. kickoff).

Both matches will be played at Northeastern High School in Manchester.

Pittsburgh Soccer Now's John Krysinsky caught up with captains from both squads on Thursday for a special edition of Kids on the Pitch Podcast.

Joining John from South Fayette included Caitlyn Thompson, Mia Deramo and Quinn Miller; and from Burrell, captains included Mikayla Coury, McKenna Miller, Parker Moore

We've reached Championship week, the PIAA Boys and Girls Soccer tournament has a handful of teams who have made it deep into the tournament.

Instead of the field from Western PA including all WPIAL (PIAA's District 7) schools, there's Pittsburgh City School program, designated in PIAA's District 8, Allderdice boys, have crashed the Class 3A party.

On Saturday night, Allderdice faced off against a WPIAL champion, West Allegheny.

For the second straight year, the Dragons took the WPIAL's top team to extra time in the PIAA Quarterfinal Round, but this time around, the City League school advanced, beating West Allegheny in a match that was decided in a penalty kick shootout right around the same time the Pittsburgh Riverhounds were doing the same thing.

On the newest episode of Kids on the Pitch Podcast, PSN's John Krysinsky is joined by Allderdice Head Coach, David Thyberg to talk about the City League program, which has built a strong tradition of success, but has never come this far in the State tournament.

John will also set the stage for PIAA Championship Week and talk about some upcoming Pittsburgh Soccer Now high school soccer coverage and features.

The WPIAL boys and girls soccer playoffs are halfway complete and will come to a mad dash finish this week with the semifinal round and then quickly turn to the WPIAL Finals at Highmark Stadium.

Pittsburgh Soccer Now's John Krysinsky is joined by Westmoreland Sports Network soccer analyst Mike Powers to take a look a quick look back at some of the highlights of the first two rounds of the WPIAL playoffs, including both Quarterfinal Round matches featuring Norwin, which Mike was on the call when Plum eliminted Norwin in Boys Class 4A tournament in a penalty kick shootout and Norwin girls edged Mt. Lebanon in Girls Class 4A tournament.   

John and Mike discuss those matches and much, much more! 

The 2025 WPIAL Boys and Girls Soccer Playoff brackets are out!

In the newest episodes of the Kids on the Pitch Podcast, Pittsburgh Soccer Now's John Krysinsky is joined by Fox Chapel's Carlo Prati (Girls 3A) to get reaction and insights on the seedings, the postseason, match-ups, who may be the sleepers in their respective classifications and much more!

In the coming days, look for more interviews with more coaches as they look forward to the District Tournament, which will kickoff on Saturday and culminate with the District Finals at Highmark Stadium, October 30-November 1.

The 2025 WPIAL Boys and Girls Soccer Playoff brackets are out!  

In the newest episode of the Kids on the Pitch Podcast, Pittsburgh Soccer Now's John Krysinsky is joined by Pine-Richland's Jordan Wiegand his reaction and insights on the seedings, the postseason, match-ups, who may be the sleepers in their respective classifications and much more! 

We are excited to bring Libby Mascaro back to the Kids on the Pitch Podcast!

If you recall, in her first appearance Mascaro shared her passion as a coach by 'leading with love' in crusade to promote Mental Health Awareness with young student athletes.

Now, Libby joins the Podcast to address some of the questions we recently posed to High School boys and girls coaches, especially what some of the biggest challenges and rewards of coaching young student athletes in their most formative years.

Mascaro has coached for Beadling SC and was a part of the Mt. Lebanon ‘Dream Team’ of the 1990s soccer dynasty and played collegiately at Penn State University.

Libby has two daughters who attend and play soccer at Upper St. Clair HS (Mary and Abby) each who are committed to attend Kent St and Delaware, respectively.

• Addressing ongoing challenges for youth coaches, parents, soccer organizations and schools in mentoring, guiding and supporting young athletes and students.
• Resources to provide help and assistance
  • NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness (website: https://www.nami.org/Home)
  • AFSP: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (website: https://afsp.org/) 

More about Libby Mascaro

For the last 10 years Libby has worked closely with two organizations, as she co-founded the Upper St. Clair Wellness Committee and the No Place for Hate initiative, a national program supporting schools in their commitment to celebrating diversity, promoting respect for differences, and challenging bias and bullying at all levels.  USC’s Wellness Committee’s mission is to make sure the students (and staff) in USC are healthy, both physically and mentally. I have held several fundraisers over these years raising almost $300,000 for local mental health resources. Plus she advocates strongly for mental health awareness through affiliations with organizations including the National Alliance on Mental Illness and American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Through Libby’s coaching experiences, currently with Beadling SC, she empowers young female athletes to be the best at their game and their mind.

LIbby was recently awarded the Citizen of the Year award by Judge Ron Arnoni for work in the USC Community – specifically for mental health. She has spoken many times at hearings, Congressional meetings, Notary meetings, NAMI conferences, USC community events, the PTA and PTOs in USC, school assemblies and many other places.

The high school soccer season is nearly at the halfway point of the regular season, so it's perfect time to get the Kids on the Pitch Podcast cranking up again.  

Pittsburgh Soccer Now’s John Krysinsky is joined by Plum High School boys soccer coach, Rafal Kolankowski, to ask the same five questions he presented to 15 WPIAL boys coaches for PSN's new feature, Coaches Corner.

That's right, a new High School soccer season is getting ready to kick off!  

That means the Kids on the Pitch Podcast returns for regular, ongoing episodes through the course of the Fall season.

To get started, Pittsburgh Soccer Now's John Krysinsky sits down with Pine-Richland Boys and Girls Head Coach Jordan Wiegand, who is excited to talk about a loaded field of boys' schools -- both in the WPIAL and from outside the area -- who will take part in the 12-team JRK Memorial Classic.

John and Jordan also talk about numerous topics including: 

• Pine-Richland boys and girls teams as they venture once again into another gauntlet of competition in WPIAL Class 4A
• Rigorous High School Schedule -- and what can be done to make it better 
• Importance of playing quality non-conference matches 

And, much more!  

On the newest episode of this podcast, Pittsburgh Soccer Now's John Krysinsky is joined by Blair Gerlach, who many in soccer circles in Western PA will know from his successful and ongoing tenure as Head Coach of Mars girls' soccer program.  

What you may not know, is that Gerlach is also Director of Coaching and coaches a number of teams for Northern Steel, which has become an excellent club-based North of Pittsburgh.  In addition, Northern Steel began a women's U23 squad under Gerlach’s leadership.  Since that time, in the Ohio Valley Premier League, Northern Steel has become a dynasty, winning back-to-back OVPL titles in 2024 and 2025. 

In this interview, Gerlach talks about the journey of building a club culture at Northern Steel, the challenges of the ever-changing landscape of youth soccer, the tremendous growth of girls/women's soccer, progression and path of US Club Soccer National Championship winning squad (2011 Blue) and he also takes a few moments at the end of the interview to talk about Mars girls program and challenges of playing in one of the most competitive Classifications in all of high school soccer in Western PA (Girls 3A).