Can Lady Raiders repeat?
Bedford's Allison Pittman (9) attempts to dribble around Waynesburg Central's Jillian Kijowski during the first half of last year's PIAA Class AA girls soccer quarterfinal match at Hempfield Area High School. Kijowski tore her ACL in the offseason and will miss the entire 2018 season for the Lady Raiders.
Carmichaels' Matt Barrish watches his putt on the 16th hole at Tom's Run Golf Course settle into the bottom of the cup during last year's PIAA Western Regional. Barrish, who is now a senior, won the section championship and finished sixth in the WPIAL and 11th in the PIAA in 2017.
With fall sports practices in full swing in Greene County this week, you can officially start to countdown until the end of summer.
Last week we took a look at some burning questions around some local football teams, but for this week let蘑菇视频 take a look at the other sports in the county this fall.
Can the Lady Raiders make it two in a row in soccer?
The 2017 girls鈥� soccer campaign at Waynesburg Central was a historic one, culminating with the school蘑菇视频 first-ever WPIAL soccer championship and a win in the first round of the state playoffs.
With the graduation of three key seniors, including the program蘑菇视频 all-time leading goal scorer and current University of Pittsburgh women蘑菇视频 soccer player Madison Clayton, the Lady Raiders still should have plenty of experience and confidence this fall.
Some offensive weapons who will be back in the fold are senior Bailey Fudala (who recently committed to playing at Division-I Winthrop University), junior Kaley Pell, junior Kylie Sinn, junior Jillian Kijowski and sophomore Rhea Kijowski.
Waynesburg will also return starting goalkeeper McKenzie Booth (sophomore) and veteran defender Abby Virgin (senior).
After realignment, the Lady Raiders remain in Section 3-AA and will face off against the likes of Brownsville, Derry, Mount Pleasant, South Allegheny, Southmoreland, South Park and Yough.
Can the Raiders continue their upward trend in soccer?
For the second straight season, the Waynesburg Central boys鈥� soccer team won its section, advanced to the postseason and lost to Shady Side Academy in the Class AA quarterfinals.
Despite some key departures for Coach Matt Blair, the Raiders should still compete in the section with the likes of junior Gavin Benson (the team蘑菇视频 leading goal scorer from a year ago), senior Jack Church, senior Scott Benco (goalkeeper), senior Caleb Blair and junior Lucas Garber coming back.
Besides Waynesburg, Section 3-AA is comprised of Beth-Center, Brownsville, Charleroi, Southmoreland, Washington and Yough.
Will the Lady Mikes and Lady Raiders make it back to the volleyball playoffs?
Carmichaels and Waynesburg had stellar volleyball seasons in 2017. Both qualified for the playoffs and both won in the postseason.
Despite some losses to graduation, both should be able to fight atop their sections for playoff positioning this season.
Waynesburg is in Section 3-AA and will be joined by Beth-Center (co-section champion with Waynesburg last year), Brownsville, Charleroi, Frazier (former Class A powerhouse), McGuffey and Southmoreland.
With Frazier jumping up to Double-A, that leads to a lot of questions on who will be the top team in Section 2-A.
Carmichaels finished last year in second place and handed Frazier one of their two section losses.
Other teams in the section with the Lady Mikes are Avella, Bentworth, California and Geibel Catholic.
Jefferson-Morgan, Mapletown and West Greene also joined the section and it should be interesting to see if one of those teams can put together a strong season and get to the postseason this fall.
Can we expect golf and cross country success?
As a team last year, Waynesburg golf went undefeated and claimed a section title. It should be interesting to see if the Raiders can continue that success in 2018 and which one of their returning lettermen (Richard Bortz, Kyle Shriver and Ray Behm) can step up in individual play.
Speaking of individual play, Carmichaels senior Matthew Barrish will look to add more hardware to his golf career this fall.
Last season on the links, Barrish was a Section 8-AA champion, finished sixth in the WPIAL finals, tied for 17th place in the PIAA Western Regionals and tied for 11th place in the PIAA finals.
Shifting to cross country, West Greene will look to make more history on the course this fall.
Before continuing their basketball and softball careers with the Lady Pioneers later in the year, McKenna and Madison Lampe will look to break more records on the cross country course.
Other notable runners this fall for West Greene that are looking to make an impact are Ashley Cumberledge, Elizabeth Brudnock and Jersey Wise.