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The Avonworth Boys Soccer Team, coached by Mr. Affaneh has an overall record of 17-3-1. Their captains are Nate Kline, Calder Mahan, Jagger Boyd, Carter Beard and Jimmy Quinn. Each one of them also received the award of All Section as well as Nate Kline and Calder Mahan receiving the All WPIAL award. Some highlights of their season include tying the section winner and #2 seed in the bracket, Quaker Valley, in double overtime. Another highlight is beating Central Valley, another top team in their section, 2-1! In past years, Avonworth Soccer has been very successful. Last year they went to the WPIAL final, losing 1-0 to a well rounded South Park. Nate Kline says, “We hope to go back to the final again this year. We want it real bad.” This year, the team looks to continue to strive for that success once again.
Although they received the #4 seed in the playoffs, it wasn’t easy getting there. At the end of last season, the boys old coach resigned leaving players confused and stressed for next season. Luckily, Mr. Affaneh, who coached the boys team from 2015-2019 and is a math teacher at Avonworth Highschool, stepped into the role, determined to make an impact once again. Mr A. shares his opinion on coming back to coaching: “I was so excited to come back. I knew this was a talented group of kids who could go super far”. Another challenge they had to face was their team’s leading scorer and other influential leaders on the team graduating. How did they adjust you may ask? “We had many other players step up. Although the seniors last year were super talented, they didn’t make up our whole team. Players like Nate, Cody, Calder, Liam and others stepped up to put more in the back of the net” coach Affaneh adds. Even with all of these obstacles, they still managed to fight to the WPIAL semi finals where they played Beaver, for the third time this season, in hopes to go to the finals. While they fought hard, the outcome was unfortunate. Captain Calder Mahan says, “They outplayed us. We worked very hard but didn’t want it enough. Nothing more than that”. With a final score of 8-2, the boys WPIAL run came to a close. On the other hand, making it this far still has its perks. They will now play a consolation game against Quaker Valley, 10/29 at 6:00 pm, to fight for a bid to the state playoffs. “The outcome is not what we want to be remembered for. We made it this far for a reason and our other successes are still very impressive” says sophomore Alex Hayes. Mahan ended with one thought, “We aren’t done yet”.
The Avonworth Girls Soccer Team, coached by J.C. Mahan finished the season with an overall record of 11-9-1. Their one and only captain is Bria Onyshko who received All Section honors along with Gianna D’Agoustine, Megan Obersteiner, Reese Berad and Lucy Szakelhidi. In the past 4 years, Avonworth Girls Soccer has notoriously been known to be a powerhouse. Winning 3 WPIAL championships back-to-back-to-back and 2 state runner-ups in 3 years, put their name on the map.“Having such a high bar to live up to was stressful to say the least,” says Junior Megan Obersteiner who has been on the varsity team for the past three years. “We had to try and meet very high expectations but the pressure definitely got to us these past two years.” she added. This year, unlike in the past, they received a very low seed. Captain Bria Onyshko stated her opinions on the seed: “Being given the 13th seed was a slap in the face. Our record might not be perfect but we are not that low of a seed”. The team felt like their hard work and dedication was all for nothing after being shafted all the way down to the thirteen seed.
Some highlights of their season was beating Beaver 2-0 in their home opener and also tying Quaker Valley, the section winner and #2 seed in the bracket, in double overtime. While their season did conclude in the first round of the playoffs, losing to #4 seed Mt. Pleasant, that does not define their whole season. Their record was significantly better than last year and they are still dealing with the adjustments of key players. Graduating seniors from class of 2024 and 2025 were significant losses. Onyshko adds, “The adjustment to play without Fiona, Minah and Gianna was huge. We had major shoes to fill with such a young team.” A majority of the starting lineup consisted of sophomores and other underclassmen who had never seen the varsity field. “I feel like that aspect of our team is very overlooked. We have a young team that has to rebuild the next couple of years to eventually become that powerhouse again.” Obersteiner adds. The girls soccer team is already thinking of plans for next year in the hopes of heading back to the WPIAL finals.
