By: Ted Sarneso Saturday, June 14, 2025 | 11:46 PM Andrew Palla | For TribLive Pine-Richland’s Cate Gentile (7) and Mt. Lebanon’s Quinn Murdoch (31) race for a loose ball in the WPIAL Class 3A championship game May 22 at Upper St. Clair. Andrew Palla | For TribLive Mt. Lebanon’s Chloe Shea (4) advances the […]
Pine-Richland’s Cate Gentile (7) and Mt. Lebanon’s Quinn Murdoch (31) race for a loose ball in the WPIAL Class 3A championship game May 22 at Upper St. Clair.
Andrew Palla | For TribLive
Mt. Lebanon’s Chloe Shea (4) advances the ball up the field against pressure from Pine-Richland’s Mallory Boivin (12) in the WPIAL Class 3A championship game May 22 at Upper St. Clair.
Andrew Palla | For TribLive
Mt. Lebanon’s Grace Manning (14) pressures Pine-Richland’s Kendyll Jerry (11) in the WPIAL Class 3A championship game May 22 at Upper St. Clair.
Pine-Richland girls lacrosse coach Shannen Wood wishes the team’s season had ended differently.
After putting together another outstanding season, making a third WPIAL championship game appearance and a third straight trip to the PIAA state playoffs, the Rams’ season came to an end in a 18-3 loss at the hands of Manheim Township in the PIAA second round.
“I give credit to Manheim. They’re a phenomenal program,” Wood said. “The biggest thing for us was we self-combusted offensively. I think our girls weren’t anticipating how fast Manheim was. The first quarter we were already down six or seven goals, and that’s a tough deficit to come back from.”
For a team with offensive firepower like Pine-Richland (19-4), which scored 16.2 goals a game in the regular season, being held to three goals was very uncharacteristic.
“That was not a reflection of this team or our program,” Wood said. “But for us to make it to states three years in a row is a phenomenal accomplishment.”
The Rams’ road to a third straight PIAA playoff appearance began in March in the first game of the season against Upper St. Clair, which in Wood’s mind was a tone setter.
“That is a big rivalry for us, and the girls wanted to come out and play well against them,” Wood said. “Playing them first was sort of like, all right, how do we want this season to go? And our girls came out guns ablazin’ and they wanted to win.”
The Rams took down Upper St. Clair, 17-6, in that opening game en route to a 6-0 start, averaging 18.3 goals a game.
The team’s only two regular season losses came at the hands of Olentangy and Olentangy Liberty, two schools in Ohio, on April 4 and 5.
The Rams try to do a trip every other year and two years ago, they played some teams in Rochester, N.Y., where Wood is originally from.
“That’s the only way our program gets better is by playing these different programs, different teams,” said Wood. “I was really trying to be strategic about our schedule this past season, which I give thanks to our athletic director as well for helping me create the best schedule I can to help these girls get better. It also served as a team bonding experience, for them to be together for those two or three days.”
What might have hurt the Rams is a large group of players are in different clubs and school programs, and that trip to Ohio came over spring break when a lot of the players were out of town on a Future Business Leaders of America trip.
“It was challenging because a lot of our starters weren’t there, but it was also good for the program because it gave a lot of girls who weren’t on varsity or weren’t getting a lot of time a chance to step up into leadership roles,” Wood added. “It also gave us a chance to test out a new defense.”
Coming out of the road trip to Ohio, the Rams put together another winning streak, winning their next 10 games and claiming a Section 2-3A title with a record of 8-0.
They also locked up the top overall seed and a first-round bye in the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs.
As a competitor, Wood loved that her team went on another winning streak to close out the regular season.
“For these girls and these coaches, we put so much time in that lacrosse is literally our lives,” Wood said. “Having a great record that reflects the hard work we put into it I think is awesome.”
After dispatching Shady Side Academy, 16-5, in the second round and beating Moon, 16-6, in the semifinals, Pine-Richland faced off against No. 3 seed Mt. Lebanon in the championship game.
Two weeks earlier, the Rams thumped the Blue Devils, 20-8, and they felt really good heading into the title game.
Up 12-7 in the third quarter, it looked to be all sewn up for the Rams, but Mt. Lebanon fought back and came away with a 15-14 win.
“We weren’t firing on all cylinders,” Wood said. “When our defense would step up, our offense couldn’t capitalize and vice versa. The hard part is Mt. Lebanon is a great school, a great program. They are a team that capitalizes on mistakes, and they capitalized where we couldn’t.”
It was the second straight year that the Rams lost to the Blue Devils in the WPIAL championship game.
“The loss hurt, especially for our group of seniors,” Wood said. “That was their big goal: to come away with another championship before they graduated. I know how much that upset them. As a coaching staff, we felt like we let them down.
“To this day, we’re asking what could we have done differently. But it is what it is. At the end of the day, we still had a great season, had a winning record. Every team is going to lose eventually.”
Even with their confidence slightly shaken, the Rams headed into the state playoffs looking for ways to learn and grow from the loss to Mt. Lebanon.
“When we came out and played State College in the first round, we kind of proved to ourselves that we’re a really good team. We just need to be consistent across the board for that to happen,” Wood said.
The Rams took care of State College, 15-10, and a couple of players reached some important milestones.
Senior midfielder Kendyll Jerry reached 100 career goals and sophomore midfielder Claire Mill surpassed 100 career points.
But those weren’t the only Rams to reach milestones this season.
Senior midfielder Madeline Mill and junior attacker Cate Gentile each surpassed 200 career goals and 300 career points and sophomore attacker Mallory Boivin also surpassed 200 career points.
“Those girls were our top five scoring or assisting threats,” Wood said. “Yes, they have a ton of goals, but a ton of assists. They were always looking to set up their teammates as well, which was huge.”
During the year, Gentile led the team with 88 goals and 47 assists. Boivin was second in goals with 85 and had 42 helpers. Madeline Mill was third on the team with 64 goals and added 24 assists.
Continuing down the scoring chart, Claire Mill had 52 goals and 13 assists and Jerry produced 31 goals and 19 assists.
“Our offense has scored 800 goals over the last few years. The offense has been very effective,” Wood said. “To have such massive milestones from multiple players throughout the season is a reflection of their hard work.”
What really gets overlooked with how explosive the Rams were on offense was how dominant they were on defense.
Including the playoffs, the Rams scored 15.5 goals a game, but they were second by only a tenth to Upper St. Clair in goals against a game with 7.3.
“We had a lot of people step up this year,” Wood said. “Erica Waite, a four-year varsity starter, was the backbone to the defense. Bridget Gilardi was a returning starter from last year. Lucy Kucinic, Ella Tarasovich and Reis Valenty were the three that would rotate between. We were really good with communication, one versus one, and we were a lot more aggressive this year.”
Kucinic was the team’s rookie of the year.
“She really stepped up, and I rarely subbed her off the field,” Wood said. “She filled some big shoes when she was in there.”
Every defender had their strong suits. If one of their players were weak in one area, the Rams were fortunate enough to have another player that excelled in that area.
“We were able to move players around to be adaptive to whatever an opposing team was playing,” Wood said. “Our midfielders were not only catalysts on offense, but came up with a lot of turnovers as well. They were the workhorses of the program.”
In net for the Rams, senior goaltender Claire Dosch eclipsed 300 saves this season.
Dosch also missed some games due to her commitment with other school activities, and sophomore Cara Murray stepped up and made some big saves for the Rams.
“Cara played in our Mars game and she was crucial to our victory in that game,” Wood remarked. “Both goalies are phenomenal.”
The Rams are graduating a lot from a squad that has played plenty of postseason games, including two seniors along the midfield, two defenders, two attackers and the starting goalie.
“We have a lot of positions open as we go into next season,” Wood said. “That being said, we have a lot of returning talent, which I’m very excited about.”
Madeline Mill will play at Pitt next year. Jerry will be playing at Youngstown State and Waite at the University of Charleston in West Virginia.
“I think of Madeline and Kendyll,” Wood said. “They both know their hustle and their grit is very hard to replace. I have nothing but positive thoughts on the girls who will be replacing them and girls who will be stepping up. We have a lot of leaders on our team, so I know we’ll be led to a winning mentality and record.”
Other graduating seniors include MacKay Young, Addie Robb, Sara Irwin, who was injured this season, and Dosch.
The only junior who is committed right now is Cate Gentile. She’ll be playing at Virgina Tech.
Wood said there are some things that might look different next year than they have in that past, but that’s just fine with her.
“We have had a great program the last three years, and I don’t see it not being great moving forward,” she said. “The girls hold themselves to a high standard, and I know they will go above and beyond my expectations to keep up the high intensity and winning that Pine-Richland is known for.”
The Tour de France picked up where it left off Sunday with another wildly aggressive day of racing in northern France. There was a brawl between monument masters Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar for the sprint win, Visma-Lease a Bike was all offense, and there was a bizarre beef between some of the […]
The Tour de France picked up where it left off Sunday with another wildly aggressive day of racing in northern France.
There was a brawl between monument masters Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar for the sprint win, Visma-Lease a Bike was all offense, and there was a bizarre beef between some of the world’s top sprinters.
Van der Poel pulled on the maillot jaune for the second time in his career with what was – surprisingly – only his second win at Le Tour. He edged out Pogačar in a superstar uphill sprint that saw Jonas Vingegaard third rider home, only a length back.
Podium hopefuls Remco Evenepoel and Primož Roglič didn’t show their legs in the final kick, but they might just be thankful to have made the elite front group after they suffered costly losses on stage 1.
A couple of interesting narratives out of the stage?
Vingegaard and Visma-Lease a Bike mean business. Just like Saturday’s opening stage, the “Killer Bees” were on the attack through the final, and the two-time maillot jaune himself threw a few jabs over the closing climb. Pogačar won’t be able to stampede his way through the Tour’s three weeks like he did last year.
The second storyline span out of the other end of the peloton. Is there something sour among the sprinters? Biniam Girmay, Brian Coquard, and Jonathan Milan were seen sharing some seriously terse words after they contested the intermediate kick.
Class of 2027 guard LJ Smith announced a scholarship offer from Indiana on Sunday afternoon. It appears IU assistant Kenny Johnson is leading the charge here. Smith thanked Johnson in his announcement of the offer on X. Based on the average of the national recruiting rankings, Smith is a 4-star, the No. 49 player in […]
Class of 2027 guard LJ Smith announced a scholarship offer from Indiana on Sunday afternoon.
It appears IU assistant Kenny Johnson is leading the charge here. Smith thanked Johnson in his announcement of the offer on X.
Based on the average of the national recruiting rankings, Smith is a 4-star, the No. 49 player in the 2027 class, and the No. 2 combo guard. Two outlets — 247Sports and ESPN — have Smith as a top-30 player in the class. He appears to be trending favorably.
Smith played his first two years of high school at Lincolnton H.S. in Lincolnton, N.C. As a high school sophomore he averaged 33.1 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.6 steals per game. He scored at least 40 points in seven games as Lincolnton went 24-6.
In 2024-25, the 6-foot-4 Smith broke the NCHSAA sophomore single-season scoring record.
For travel basketball Smith plays for Team Thad on the Nike EYBL Circuit. He is playing up a year with the 17u team and averaging 13.8 points while shooting 44.4% from three on 54 attempts.
Smith is a fluid athlete and a skilled guard who can score the ball at an elite level. He’s a very good shooter and has a solid frame for his age. That latter point should allow Smith to be a force in the paint on offense, and a top-end defender.
Smith is already one of the most coveted guards in his class. He also has offers from North Carolina, Cincinnati, Clemson, Georgia, Kansas, LSU, Memphis, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, and West Virginia.
For a complete look at Indiana’s 2026 through 2028 offers and prospects, GO HERE.
For complete coverage of IU basketball recruiting, GO HERE.
The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”
Milwaukee girls soccer team highlights culture, love of the sport
MILWAUKEE – At Riverside University High School, the girls soccer team is in a league of their own. What they’re saying: “It’s very fun, very energetic,” said Hser Mu Nar, Riverside senior defender. “We’re all pretty close, like we all get along pretty well,” said Eh Moo Gay Paw, Riverside senior forward. As you can […]
Many of these girls have played together since freshman year, but they have much more than soccer in common.
“We’re another family,” said Eh Gay, Riverside senior goalkeeper. “Some of us are related. Some of us aren’t.”
Dig deeper:
Riverside has a pretty significant Karen population.
The Karen are an ethnic group who come from the mountainous region of Southeast Asian, mainly Myanmar, which is formerly known as Burma, along with Thailand. However, hundreds of thousands of Karen have fled their homes due to religious and ethnic persecution.
“We come from all over,” said Eh Moo. “We come from like, either Burma or Thailand, and then we don’t really have a country of our own. I guess you could say like we come from like a refugee camp, so we’re like all over the place.”
For Eh Moo Gay Paw, Hser Mu Nar and Eh Gay, their families immigrated in the early to mid-2000s to Milwaukee with other Karen refugees to join an already growing Karen population in town.
“I know it was tough for them,” said Hser Mu. “I remember my dad telling me on the way here, my mom was crying since she was leaving her hometown where she grew up and everything.”
“My parents, my mom grew up in the mountains,” said Eh Moo. “My dad was born in Burma. It wasn’t easy, but we had help.”
Years later, their love for soccer brought them all together, and now, the team boasts quite a few Karen.
“It was easy since we spoke the same language, had the same background and culture,” said Hser Mu. “It was easy for me to get along with them and just be friends with them.”
On the pitch, speaking Karen is an added advantage.
“We all speak it,” said Eh Gay. “It does help us on the field as well because we can just yell out each other’s name.”
And it’s clear, this trio takes pride in who they are.
“At first, people would ask us like where we come from, who we are, what we speak,” said Eh Moo. “We’re not very known, so we don’t really take offense to it.”
What we know:
In turn, they enjoy teaching others about the Karen.
“I don’t have the actual flag, but this is what our flag looks like,” said Eh Moo. “There’s red, white and blue and there’s like a tiger because we’re called the tigers and it represents our school.”
“It has sunrays,” said Hser Mu. “The nine sunrays represent the nine different regions we come from and in the middle of the sunray, there’s a frog drum which is our traditional instrument.”
The girls also celebrate Karen New Year and go to summer school to stay connected to their roots.
“If we stick more to our culture, there’s going to be more people that understand us and what we have gone through and our past,” said Eh Gay.
Consider their head coach Vincent Goldstein one of those people.
“I’ve learned a lot,” said Vincent Goldstein, Riverside girls soccer coach. “First of all, culturally, I know they’re people that are very vibrant. They’re a population of people that really enjoy soccer. Soccer’s really big among the Karen population. They’re a lot of my favorite students. They’re really good kids.”
That’s the beauty of being on a team because the assists come not only on the field, but also in life.
“I would have a lot less life experience if I wouldn’t have met them,” said Goldstein. “Here at Riverside, we really embrace the Karen population. We want more of them to come here, so we do what we can to try to promote them and try to make this place welcoming to everyone, but including the Karen.”
And for these girls, their pact will be an everlasting one.
The Source: The information in this post was collected and produced by the FOX6 sports team.
Stefan Frei taken off field in ambulance as Sounders and Crew play to 1
SEATTLE — Paul Rothrock scored a goal for Seattle in the 43rd minute and the Sounders and the Columbus Crew played to a 1-1 tie on Sunday. Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei took an accidental knee to the head with seconds remaining in stoppage time and was taken off the field in an ambulance. Seattle coach […]
SEATTLE — Paul Rothrock scored a goal for Seattle in the 43rd minute and the Sounders and the Columbus Crew played to a 1-1 tie on Sunday.
Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei took an accidental knee to the head with seconds remaining in stoppage time and was taken off the field in an ambulance. Seattle coach Brian Schmetzer and the Crew’s Wilfried Nancy agreed to call the game with Columbus due for a corner kick.
Frei had three saves for Seattle (8-6-6) and has 1,002 since joining the club prior to the 2014 season. The 39-year-old Frei is just the second player in MLS history to record 1,000 saves with a single team, joining Real Salt Lake’s Nick Rimando (1,128).
Columbus (10-3-8), which had won three in a row, in unbeaten in four straight.
Rothrock put away a one-touch shot, off a feed from Kalani Kossa-Rienzi, from the left-center of the area to make it 1-1.
Diego Rossi gave Columbus a 1-0 lead in the 27th minute. Ibrahim Aliyu, on the counter-attack, slipped a perfectly-placed cross between three defenders to a charging Rossi for a first-touch finish from point-blank range.
The Sounders are 8-4-6 all time against Columbus, which includes a 4-0 road win in the only meeting between the clubs last season.
Kossa-Rienzi was shown yellow cards in the 87th minute and the second minute of stoppage and the Sounders played the final few minutes a man down.
Capital Prep Harlem Clinches Fifth Straight CSAANYC Basketball Title
NEW YORK – The Capital Preparatory Harlem Charter School Middle School basketball team continues to etch its name in New York City basketball history, claiming their fifth consecutive Charter School Athletic Association (CSAANYC) Basketball Championship this year. The Harlem-based program, led by Harlem-native Head Coach and school principal Dermon Player, alongside Jamaican-born Coach Garfield Richards, […]
NEW YORK – The Capital Preparatory Harlem Charter School Middle School basketball team continues to etch its name in New York City basketball history, claiming their fifth consecutive Charter School Athletic Association (CSAANYC) Basketball Championship this year.
The Harlem-based program, led by Harlem-native Head Coach and school principal Dermon Player, alongside Jamaican-born Coach Garfield Richards, overcame steep challenges to keep their championship streak alive — making this year’s win perhaps the most remarkable yet.
Dermon Player
“This year’s win is more memorable and meaningful because without the lack of a gym facility, we were not able to have on-court practices,” said Coach Player. “We spent our time doing conditioning and team meetings.”
Instead of letting the absence of a home court derail their preparation, the coaching duo leaned on their experience, philosophy, and the resilience of their players to stay sharp and focused.
In an exclusive interview with South Florida Caribbean News, Coach Richards reflected on the effort that went into the season:
“We had two coaches with very similar coaching philosophies, determination and know what it takes to win. We also had one of the best players in the country, Amare Almodovar.”
Almodovar, already making waves nationally, is ranked 13th and 5th in the Class of 2030 by most scouting reports, and is projected to become a top college recruit in the years ahead.
Alongside Amare, a talented supporting cast of Isaiah Freeman, Keanu Santana, David McCorkle, Blake Alvarez, and A’mir Quadalupe provided the depth and chemistry needed to secure yet another championship.
Despite fielding a very young team this season, the program’s culture of hard work and family continued to pay dividends. Coach Player noted they plan to bolster the roster even further for next season and hope to finally secure an affordable gym facility to train in properly.
While the middle school program thrives, Coach Player acknowledged that the high school does not yet have sports teams — but he remains committed to building out full athletic programs for Capital Prep Harlem Charter School.
Garfield Richards
The two coaches share complementary but distinct philosophies. Richards emphasizes effort: “If other players are working out two hours, we are working out six hours. Work hard, work smart, and have fun,” he said.
Player, on the other hand, focuses on competing at a high level while fostering discipline, skill development, and a sense of family: “Seeing my players become successful motivates me. Success to me is a scholar athlete who struggles in the classroom but graduates middle, high school, or college — or a player with limited athletic ability who earns an athletic scholarship,” he explained.
As they look ahead, Coaches Player and Richards have no plans to slow down. “Every time we step on the court, our goal is to win a championship,” said Player.
With two coaches who live and breathe success, and a roster of hungry, talented players, the future of Capital Preparatory Harlem Charter School basketball looks brighter — and perhaps more limitless — than ever.
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