Headed to nationals
CRANBERRY TWP — Nobody saw this coming.
The SCS United 2010 Girls Black soccer squad — comprised of 12 and 13-year-olds from Seneca Valley, Mars, Knoch and surrounding school districts — went 1-10 in US Club Soccer qualifying competition last year.
That same team — with only three newcomers from last yer’s roster — lost its final five games of the 2022 fall season to finish that campaign at 4-5-2. It then began the spring 2023 season with an 0-4-2 record.
“These girls never stopped believing in each other, never stopped working,” their coach, Tim Kunkel of Chippewa, said of his U-13 team. “They’ve been playing together for a long time and everything finally came together.”
Based in Cranberry Township’s Graham Park, the team returned to US Club Soccer qualifying play this year and went 15-0-3 through the qualifying rounds. It recently won its bracket at the US Club Midwest Regional Championships in Chicago.
SCS United competed against teams from Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota and Ohio during that regional. It defeated South Dakota, 3-0, in the semifinals, then edged Club Ohio, 1-0, in the regional title game.
Club Ohio defeated SCS United, 3-0, last season.
“We’ve since come back to beat them 1-0 twice now,” Kunkel said. “That’s how much this team has improved.”
SCS United is now headed for the US Club Soccer National Championship, slated for July 18-22 in Colorado. Teams from Hawaii, California and Texas, among other states, will be among the competition.
Butler County youths on the squad include Sophia Sipp, Sophia Lawryk, Laurel Wood and Reagan Pattem from Seneca Valley, Camryn McSwaney from Knoch and Makenna Weaver from Mars. McSwaney, Alayna Mizerak from Moon and Deliah Arrigo from Shaler are the only first-year players on the 17-player squad.
“We scored 16 goals in regional play and nine different girls scored those goals,” Zundel said. “The balance on our team is incredible. Everybody plays a team game and these girls are dedicated to this team.
“The majority of our players ... This is the only team they play soccer for.”
Last month, SCS United compiled a won-loss record of 17-1-2.
“We scored first in each of our last 15 games,” Zundel said. “We played well with a lead.”
Other players on the team are North Allegheny products Kayla Schwerin, Giuliana Bontempo, Violet Peluso, Sam Carmen and Sawyer Johns, Shaler’s Lillian Trgovic, Blackhawk’s Lyla Zundel and Central Valley’s Reagan Patten.
“The team practices together through the winter as well,” Zundel said. “We’ve become very fundamentally sound. A number of our goals in the regional were scored off set pieces.
“Execution, coming from experience, has been the key for this group. They’re peaking at the right time.”
