North Allegheny appears to be in perfect position to win its first WPIAL Class 3A boys lacrosse title since 2016.
Not only did the Tigers finish their regular-season section schedule with a hard-fought win over rival Pine-Richland, they will enter the postseason as the No. 1 seed.
And that could end up being their Achilles’ heel.
Being the top seed in the playoffs has not been a guarantee of postseason success. Far from it. The last time the school at the top of the bracket went on to take home the trophy was in 2013 when Mt. Lebanon beat the Tigers, 9-8, Since then, North Allegheny has twice been the top seed and only played for the title once, in 2015, when it lost to Mt. Lebanon, 9-8, in overtime.
“You’ve got a deep field this year ... and I think anybody that takes a game or team lightly is in for a surprise,” Pine-Richland coach Kevin Welty said. “There’s a lot of talent out there.”
Welty knows all about the curse of being the No. 1 seed. Last year the Rams looked as if they were destined to win their first-ever title, but lost a 7-6 overtime heartbreaker to North Allegheny in the semifinals.
This year if the two section rivals face off against each other, it will be with the WPIAL title on the line as the Rams are the No. 2 seed this time around. A second-seeded team has won the title in four of the last five years.
“I think there’s going to be a lot of upsets in this bracket,” Welty said. “I think there are going to be a lot of zone defenses, and that’s kind of been the trend in the WPIAL this year, and we’re lucky that we’ve seen all the best ones to this point.”
Class 2A
There has been no such thing as the No.1 curse in Class 2A, Mars has been the top-rated team each of the last three years and has won the title each time. The last team atop the bracket that failed to win a championship was Canon-McMillan, which lost 15-12 in the 2015 title match
This year’s Planets squad doesn’t quite have the pedigree of its predecessors, but there is still enough talent to bring home a winner. Since losing to North Allegheny on April 18, Mars has reeled off six straight wins and outscored its opponents 124-27. Winning in the regular season, however, is much different than developing the playoff savvy needed in a one-and-done format.
“The team has progressed very well and we have six or seven freshmen who are making significant contributions at this point,” Mars coach Bob Marcoux said. “One of the things we’re hoping for is we have a really good senior class that have been a part of all three of our previous WPIAL championships and we’ve relied on our seniors to carry the freshmen along and had them lead by example.”
Here’s a capsule look at each bracket:
Class 3A
Top seeds: North Allegheny first, Pine-Richland second, Shady Side Academy third, Mt. Lebanon fourth.
The winner will be: Shady Side Academy. Yes, the Indians are the No. 3 seed, but they have also won their last four games, including a 7-5 win over North Allegheny on May 2. If Shady Side makes it to the semifinals, it could face a tough team in Pine-Richland, which beat the Indians, 7-6, on April 23. Shady Side won its only title in 2014 and has not been to the finals since.
The scoop: This tournament will be about as topsy-turvy as any in recent memory. Defending champion Peters Township is seeded seventh and will have a tall task if it makes the quarterfinals with Pine-Richland – a team it lost to 16-4 on April 4. Pine-Richland has the tools to win it all and would have been the top seed if not for an 11-6 loss to North Allegheny in the regular season finale. North Allegheny also can win it all, but that loss to Shady Side was a chink in its armor and no top seed has won in Class 2A since Mt. Lebanon in 2013. Don’t sleep on Mt. Lebanon either. The Blue Devils lost to North Allegheny, 8-6, in the season opener, but they also are capable of winning the championship.
Class 2A
Top seeds: Mars first, Hampton second, Quaker Valley third, Moon fourth.
The winner will be: Hampton. The Talbots revamped their offense this season and have put a hurting on opposing goalkeepers. Prior to their season finale Thursday night against Quaker Valley, they had racked up at least 14 goals in each of their previous eight games and posted shutouts in four of them. Hampton is a veteran team that lost to Mars three times in the tournament — twice in the finals in 2016 and 2018 – since winning it in 2015.
The scoop: Mars is the No. 1 seed and three-time defending champion, but this Planets team isn’t filled with Division I players and seasoned veterans like past squads. In what may ostensibly be a rebuilding year, however, the foundation is in place for a long run in the years to come. The Planets are still the top seed and have reeled off six straight wins since a 17-10 loss to North Allegheny. Quaker Valley is one of those teams that has a tendency to go unnoticed but always seems to find itself in the thick of it in the end. The Quakers have played well, but are untested against top Class 3A schools, which is where Class 2A schools cut their teeth for the playoffs. Moon already has losses to Quaker Valley and Mars on its resume and will likely get the Planets in the semifinals.
First Published: May 10, 2019, 12:32 a.m.
