Oct 20, 2021 4 min read

WPIAL soccer pairings released

Seventeen local teams will be competing in the WPIAL soccer playoffs. Pairings for the boys and girls tournaments were released Wednesday.

The postseason begins Saturday with preliminary and first-round contests for boys and girls.

The only postseason matchup that pits local teams is a Class 2A preliminary round game Saturday (noon) between McGuffey and Waynesburg. The Highlanders and Raiders, who split a pair of section matches earlier this month, will play at Chartiers-Houston with the winner advancing to play top-seeded North Catholic on Tuesday (8 p.m.) at Mars.

Two Class 4A boys teams, second-seeded Peters Township and fourth-seeded Canon-McMillan, received first-round byes and will not play until Oct. 30.

The Charleroi and Bentworth boys teams each received top-4 seeds. Charleroi is seeded No. 4 in Class 2A and will open the playoffs at home Monday (6:30 p.m.) against Keystone Oaks. Bentworth, the No. 4 seed in Class A, plays Tuesday (6 p.m.) against Beaver County Christian at South Park.

Complete playoffs pairings can be found in the Scoreboard section on Page C2.

Boys soccer

Peters Township prepared for the upcoming WPIAL playoffs by defeating Pine-Richland 4-1 Tuesday night in a non-section contest.

Goals for PT were scored by Andrew Massucci, Nick Magee, Brady Sorrell and Austin Marmol. Massucci assisted on two scores and Blake Gabelhart had one assist.

Men’s soccer

Senior midfielder Thomas Einolf knocked home the game-winning goal in overtime to give Washington & Jefferson a 2-1 win over host Thiel Tuesday night. The W&J win keeps hope alive of qualifying for the PAC tournament, as they improve to 3-4 PAC play.

In college football

Former Washington State football coach Nick Rolovich’s termination for refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccination was unlawful and an attack on his Catholic faith, his attorney said Wednesday.

Attorney Brian Fahling also said in a statement that Rolovich intends to take legal action and that the litigation will detail what the attorney called athletic director Pat Chun’s “animus towards Coach Rolovich’s sincerely held religious beliefs” and his dishonesty at the expense of the former coach.

Rolovich and four of his assistants were fired Monday for not complying with the governor’s mandate that all state employees be vaccinated against the coronavirus. The attorney said Rolovich was escorted by campus police to his car and not allowed to speak to the team or visit his office after his dismissal.

Rolovich had requested a religious exemption but it was denied Monday, the state’s vaccination deadline.

“The institution also indicated that even if the exemption had been granted, no accommodation would have been made,” Fahling said in the statement.

The statement didn’t specify Rolovich’s religious grounds for seeking an exemption and the coach himself had declined to discuss details in recent weeks.

Pope Francis and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have stated that all COVID-19 vaccines are morally acceptable and that Catholics have a duty, responsibility or obligation to be vaccinated. However, some Catholics still oppose vaccination.

Rolovich was the highest-paid state employee in Washington at $3.2 million per year. He was fired for cause and will not be paid the balance of his contract.

• The American Athletic Conference’s latest rebuild leaves Conference USA in a precarious position. Six schools from C-USA – UAB, UTSA, Rice, North Texas, Charlotte and Florida Atlantic – have applied for membership with the American and are expected to be accepted by the end of the week.