Michael Love stories, Page 99

Kaitlyn Killinger probably couldn’t have imagined a better start to her high school soccer career. The Plum sophomore striker led her team in scoring last season with 18 goals, and she came up big numerous times in the Mustangs’ run to the WPIAL Class AAA championship game and state playoffs....

Laura Greb wants to make WPIAL tennis history. The Knoch senior standout hopes to put herself in position to win a fourth WPIAL Class AA singles championship. She would be the first player to accomplish the feat in the history of either classification. “There’s a little bit of pressure, but...

It was a season to remember for the Avonworth football team. The Antelopes rolled to the program’s second WPIAL title and remained undefeated until falling to Southern Columbia in the PIAA Class 2A championship contest in Hershey. “It was an incredible ride, week in and week out,” said Avonworth coach...

Hockey parents and players gathered at Center Ice Arena in Delmont on Wednesday evening to call for changes to the state government mandate limiting indoor athletic events. This summer, the office of Gov. Tom Wolf released a series of safety guidelines for a return for all amateur sports, from youth...

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League on Wednesday sent information to officials from each league member detailing the status of its varsity, junior varsity and middle school seasons based on the state-government mandate of a 25-person limit for indoor gatherings amid the coronavirus pandemic. Varsity games will not start unless there...

The Hebrew Oilers (Class AA) and the North Park Senators (Class A) recently brought home Pittsburgh North American Baseball Association championships with sweeps in their respective finals series. Both teams also won NABA titles in 2018. The Senators, seeded first in Class A after compiling a 12-4-1 record in the...

Editor’s note: This is the first installment of Trib HSSN’s high school football preview series. One WPIAL conference will be previewed each day through Wednesday, Sept. 9. Thomas Jefferson returned to the top of the WPIAL mountain last season, and the Jaguars hope to stay there this fall. The Jaguars...

Former McKeesport girls basketball standout Johnasia Cash will play her final collegiate season a little closer to home. Penn State announced Wednesday afternoon that Cash, a cousin of former WNBA star Swin Cash, will join the Nittany Lions after three seasons as a starting forward at Southern Methodist University. Because...

Zoe Skirboll was not cavalier when she made the announcement Tuesday of her verbal commitment to swim for the Virginia Cavaliers. The rising junior at Fox Chapel and one of the top swimmers in the state and the country expressed her excitement with photos and a message on Instagram. Skirboll...

The renovation of Buccaneers Stadium at Burrell High School continues forward, and the project now is expected to be completed in about a month, athletic director Drake D’Angelo said Tuesday. The Burrell School Board voted unanimously in March to move ahead with the renovations, which include the installment of artificial...

Nico Popa aspires to play professional baseball. The Seton LaSalle graduate and standout right fielder for Pitt hopes an extra year with the Panthers will have multiple benefits, including bolstering his draft stock. Popa, who graduated in May with a degree in marketing, is one of three Panthers — Chris...

The Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Softball League’s 15th fall season is scheduled to begin Labor Day weekend. League officials are planning to start on time, but they also are monitoring upcoming announcements from the PIAA and other possible rulings from school districts and local and state government officials that might throw...

Emily Carter is heading west to continue her cross country and track and field pursuits. The Bethel Park senior distance running standout has verbally committed to Oklahoma State in the Big 12. Carter said she informed the Oklahoma State coaches Wednesday and posted announcements of her decision on social media...

The Allderdice girls soccer team will not hold conditioning workouts for two weeks after one of its players tested positive for covid-19. Pittsburgh Public Schools announced the move in a release, stating that the asymptomatic athlete notified the district Thursday of the positive test result. It said the student trained...

The PIHL hopes to begin its 2020-21 season in early October, but league officials and teams are waiting for clarity on certain issues before going full speed ahead. While many of the programs have been working out on and off the ice in anticipation of a season, PIHL commissioner John...

One day after Robert Morris University athletics announced it plans to move its football season to the spring in connection with the Big South Conference postponing its fall sports seasons, the remaining Colonials fall sports teams found out they will not play this fall. The Horizon League, of which RMU...

The Pittsburgh chapter of the National Adult Baseball Association continues with its playoff tournaments this week, and league president Joe Graff said the postseason is an extension of a successful regular season despite the challenges of the covid-19 pandemic. “Everybody really worked together through everything from the start in June...

On the heels of the Big 12 board of directors’ announcement to proceed with the fall sports seasons, West Virginia on Wednesday morning announced its updated 2020 football schedule. “When the Big 12 announced a revised 10-game season, we knew that the schedule would change and there would be some...

Whether it has been because of injury recovery or lack of match opportunities through the entirety of the coronavirus pandemic, Bjorn Fratangelo has missed competitive tennis. But the Plum native is refocusing his efforts toward a couple of tournaments next month as he hopes to get back in a professional...

Max Matolcsy wanted to wait until his birthday to announce his college decision. The Plum senior football standout followed through with his wish Saturday morning as he posted to Twitter a verbal commitment to Penn in the Ivy League. Matolcsy said Penn was there from the start of the recruiting...

Richard “Dick” Dilts and Frank Morea were opponents on the football field in high school in the mid 1940s. Dilts played at Butler, and Morea represented Vandergrift. “We had a little verbal confrontation on the field one time, and later in college (at Slippery Rock), I heard his voice,” said...

Jeroen Walstra, the all-time winningest coach in the history of men’s soccer at Point Park University, announced his retirement Thursday. Walstra coached the Pioneers men’s team, which included many WPIAL alumni among numerous international standouts, for the past 13 seasons (2007-19) and also served as the Point Park women’s coach...

When Ben Smith raced at Pittsburgh International Race Complex for the first time in 2017, he had a lot of momentum on his side with top finishes throughout the first half of that year’s MotoAmerica KTM RC Cup motorcycle series schedule. The Downingtown, Pa., native and rising sophomore at Penn...

Registration is open for the 2021 Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon. “We’re excited to get people back to the start line in May,” said Troy Schooley, CEO of P3R, the organization that puts together the Pittsburgh Marathon each year. “Hopefully, we are able to do that. Registration has been open...

Mark Ackerman’s journey both in and out of sports the past three decades has brought him home to western Pennsylvania. The 1987 Latrobe graduate continues to settle into his role as the new athletic director at Eden Christian Academy. His career as an athletic administrator and a coach for both...