Nov 6, 2017 3 min read

PIAA SOCCER

Three local high school soccer teams begin the PIAA tournament today.

The lone area girls soccer team to advance to the PIAA Class AA Tournament is WPIAL champion Waynesburg.

The Raiders, who are appearing in the state tournament for the first time in school history, will take on the second-place team out of District 10, Harbor Creek, at 6 p.m., at Seneca Valley High School.

If Waynesburg were to advance, either Bedford or Schuylkill would be next.

After narrowly losing the WPIAL Class 4A championship game to North Allegheny, 2-1, the Peters Township boys soccer team will start fresh when it heads north to play District 10 champion Erie McDowell at 3:30 p.m. at Fairview High School.

The loss against North Allegheny was the first of the season for the second-seeded Indians. If Peters Township wins, the Indians will play either North Allegheny or Pine Richland.

In Class 3A, the South Fayette boys team will play District 10 champ Erie Cathedral Prep at 7:30 p.m. at Fairview High School.

The Lions qualified for the state tournament after defeating Chartiers Valley, 1-0, in a consolation game Wednesday.

If South Fayette wins, the Lions will play either WPIAL champion Montour or District 6 winner Hollidaysburg.

Second-round PIAA tournament times and sites have not yet been determined.

Wild Things trade catcher

The Washington Wild Things have traded catcher John Fidanza to the Evansville Otters for a player to be named later. Fidanza spent the last three seasons with Washington.

“We appreciate John’s efforts and sacrifices over the past three seasons here in Washington,” said Wild Things’ general manager Steven Zavacky. “We were extremely fortunate to have the best catching tandem in 2017 with Kyle [Pollock] and John working behind the plate. John has earned the right to be a starter in this league and it was important that we find him this opportunity to further his career.”

The Prospect, Kent., native hit .211 over three seasons. He made just 15 plate appearances in 2016 because of injury. Fidanza enjoyed his best year last season, hitting .245 with seven extra base hits and 15 RBI in 119 plate appearances.

Fidanza threw out 13 of 54 would-be base stealers, and made just seven errors in 593 chances. He had just 10 passed balls.

Cal football 9th in region

The California University football team jumped one spot to ninth in the latest NCAA Division II Super Region One rankings, which were released Monday afternoon.

The NCAA regional rankings determine the participants for the NCAA Playoffs. Super Region One consists of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, Mountain East Conference, Northeast-10 Conference and Great Midwest Athletic Conference.

The rankings remain virtually unchanged from last week with only the bottom two teams flipping positions. IUP continues to be the top-ranked team with a 10-0 overall record and remains one of three undefeated teams in Super Region One.

In the NHL

John Carlson scored the winner in overtime as the Washington Capitals came back to beat the Arizona Coyotes 3-2 on Monday night for their first three-game winning streak of the season.

Carlson scored with 45.4 seconds left on the clock in overtime, his first goal in 16 games, after T.J. Oshie whiffed on his shot attempt. Devante Smith-Pelly and Alex Ovechkin scored in regulation for Washington, which got 24 saves from Braden Holtby.