Josh Rizzo stories, Page 45
Focus on defensive effort lifts Shaler Area girls to fast start
Senior guard Meghan Lacey wants this season to be a revenge tour for the Shaler Area girls basketball. The Titans made quite a statement to open the season at the Ambridge tournament. Opening against two teams that beat Shaler by double digits last season, the Titans showed they’ve learned from...
Pitt volleyball suffers stunning loss in 2nd round of NCAA Tournament
Watching the Cincinnati Bearcats mascot wave the school’s red flag near the script Pitt logo at the end of the court was tough for the Panthers’ women’s volleyball program. For the second season, what appeared to be an ideal scenario for marching through the NCAA Tournament evaporated in front of...
Shaler Area sports notebook: Swim team must overcome small roster
Keith Simmons knows winning dual meets will be a tough task for the Shaler Area swim program this season. The Titans don’t have a deep roster. “Success will have to come from a collective group because the size of our team has gone from 35 swimmers to 22,” Simmons said....
Shaler girls basketball will lean on trio of seniors
Shaler Area girls basketball coach Cornelious Nesbit doesn’t mince words with seniors Emily Cavacini, Meghan Lacey and Claire Grunden. If the Titans are going to navigate through Section 1-6A and return to the WPIAL playoffs, those three can’t have nights off. None of them will shy away from her responsibility....
North Allegheny girls finding their way with revamped roster
Every year is a new situation and new challenge for North Allegheny girls basketball coach Spencer Stefko. For the Tigers to adjust this year, they’ll need to bring along many new faces. North Allegheny lost seven seniors from a team that reached the WPIAL finals and PIAA quarterfinals before finishing...
Duquesne overcomes shaky spell against VMI, stays unbeaten
Duquesne men’s basketball coach Keith Dambrot could see it in practice. The Dukes didn’t have the energy they needed to play against VMI on Wednesday night at La Roche. Sleepwalking was not the best option in getting to the program’s best start since the 1979-80 season. When the Dukes started...
Shaler boys ready to take next logical step
Once all the pieces are in place, Shaler Area boys basketball coach Rob Niederberger has set clear goals for his team. He believes the Titans are good enough to win the section and Class 5A WPIAL titles. For a team that made a return to the state playoffs for the...
Shaler Area bowling teams enjoy encouraging growth
Shawn Pilyih is brimming with optimism about the Shaler Area bowling program. Not only does Pilyih think the Titans have potential for the upcoming WPIBL season, Shaler has its highest numbers in several years. The Titans have 14 boys and eight girls. Shaler also added another coach to the program,...
North Allegheny boys ready to dig in on defense
Keith Noftz knows this version of the North Allegheny boys basketball program may take time to grow up. The Tigers don’t return a roster long on varsity experience, but Noftz believes North Allegheny can compete. Starting at the Hempfield Tournament on Dec. 6 against Penn-Trafford, the Tigers will compensate for...
New Shaler wrestling coach ready to take on challenge
Ethan Swope knows his first head coaching opportunity will be more about development than team success. Swope, Shaler Area’s first-year wrestling coach, will take over a Titans roster with 10 wrestlers. Having low numbers will make it difficult to compete in dual meets, which feature matches in 14 weight classes....
Talented veteran Shaler indoor track team sets sights high
Shawn Ryan wants everything to be on the right course for the Shaler Area indoor track team. The Titans have a number of returning state qualifiers pursuing school records and state medals. Shaler will have about 30 athletes competing during the winter season, including a travel roster of about 20....
Shaler notes: Duquesne-bound Cam Mbalo among Shaler athletes making college choices
Four Shaler Area athletes signed national letters of intent last Wednesday. Cam Mbalo, who set the Titans’ record in the triple jump and won the WPIAL Class AAA title last season, signed with Duquesne University. Mbalo, who also qualified for the indoor state championship last season, competed in the New...
Oakland Catholic’s Taylor Cigna commits to Colgate volleyball
Taylor Cigna didn’t expect to hear everything she wanted when she visited Colgate. The 5-foot-9 Oakland Catholic senior didn’t want the coaches there to tell her how great she was. Cigna, a Shaler Township resident, wanted a school and athletic program which would challenge her. When Colgate’s volleyball coaches were...
Pitt men’s basketball brought back to earth with loss to Nicholls State
Jeff Capel doesn’t expect anyone to be lauding the Pitt men’s basketball program. The second-year Panthers coach knows adjustments will be necessary after losing to Nicholls State on Saturday at Petersen Events Center. Pitt looked uneasy on offense and played with a general malaise during a 75-70 loss. Any goodwill...
Shaler runners savor PIAA cross country experience
Shaler Area sophomore runner Tyler Paszkowski was happy to have an opportunity to run in the PIAA Class AAA cross country championships earlier this month in Hershey. For the first-time state qualifier, it was an opportunity for him to take everything in. One thing that stood out was the speed....
Late-season success boosts confidence for Shaler football
Once the Class 5A football playoffs started, things got ugly for the WPIAL’s Northern Conference. While the conference had the most playoff participants, as Fox Chapel snagged the wild card, only Penn Hills remained after the smoke cleared. The other five teams lost by a combined margin of 28.6 points...
North Allegheny girls soccer continues to find success
Facing a team with more experience in the PIAA Class AAA playoffs wasn’t a big issue for the North Allegheny girls soccer program. If the Tigers lined up against any program, they would have approached things the same way. North Allegheny took 85 minutes, but ultimately found the back of...
North Allegheny volleyball shakes off WPIAL title loss, turns focus to states
Seeing a 65-match losing streak end wasn’t ideal for North Allegheny girls volleyball coach Heidi Miller. It wasn’t a crushing blow for the Tigers, either. North Allegheny, which dropped a five-set match to Canon-McMillan in the WPIAL Class AAAA finals, bounced back in the first round of the PIAA tournament...
Shaler runners make impact at postseason cross country meets
Tyler Paszkowski, Dalton Kalbaugh and Samantha Hennen have developed into great examples for Shaler Area cross country coach Justin Eskra. Put time and effort into the sport and future Titans can follow their lead. The trio made a big splash at the WPIAL Class AAA cross country championships, turning in...
Shaler girls volleyball goes down swinging in WPIAL playoffs
The Shaler Area girls volleyball team didn’t concede much ground to Canon-McMillan during the WPIAL Class AAA quarterfinals last Tuesday night in Canonsburg. While the host and third-seeded Big Macs were able to complete a 3-0 sweep of the sixth-seeded Titans, Canon-McMillan had to work in every set. Shaler lost...
Riverhounds beat Birmingham for club’s 1st playoff win since 2004
Neco Brett’s goal in the 71st minute was one of many indelible moments created by the Pittsburgh Riverhounds on Saturday night at Highmark Stadium. The Riverhounds ended a 15-year drought without a playoff victory in style, crushing 10th-seeded Birmingham Legion, 7-0, in the USL Championship Eastern Conference quarterfinals. Brett, a...
Shaler caught in crowded Northern Conference playoff picture
Keeping track and making sense of the WPIAL’s Class 5A Northern Conference football standings required a lot of extra attention. Other than the two teams at the top, Penn Hills and North Hills, and the one at the bottom, Armstrong, the other five teams have flip-flopped nearly every week. Shaler...
North Allegheny enters girls volleyball playoffs as dangerous as ever
Pointing out a 63-match winning streak for the North Allegheny girls volleyball program somehow feels like underselling the Tigers’ story. The two-time defending PIAA and WPIAL Class AAA champions have labored to stack up victories. When the undefeated, top-seeded Tigers opened the playoffs Oct. 28 against Seneca Valley, they earned...
Unflappable approach carries Shaler volleyball to playoff season
Dealing with the nerves of being in a playoff match didn’t seem to rattle the Shaler Area girls volleyball program. Opening the WPIAL Class AAA tournament with a 3-0 sweep of Penn-Trafford fit with the narrative the Titans have tried to build around the program. “We played a calm, but...
North Allegheny girls soccer reaches new heights with undefeated section season
Knocking down every obstacle on the way to a Section 1-AAAA crown wasn’t a one-year process for the North Allegheny girls soccer program. The Tigers, who wrapped up their first-ever unbeaten section record by beating North Hills 8-1 on Oct. 14 at Newman Stadium, have been working toward this for...
