Schuylkill Haven senior Rileigh Evitts had a hat trick in her first high school girls’ soccer game against Williams Valley on Sept. 3, 2011.
She’s never stopped putting the ball in the net for the Hurricanes. This season, Evitts culminated her career with a record-breaking year.
Pine Grove freshman Rachel Edge quickly developed her reputation as a goal-scoring machine, too. This past fall she helped the Cardinals to heights the program had never been before.
For their performances, Evitts and Edge are the 2014 Republican-Herald All-Area Girls’ Soccer Co-Players of the Year.
Evitts, a forward, scored 39 goals and had 13 assists as the Hurricanes (16-6) won the Schuylkill League Division II title for the third consecutive year and reached their second straight league title game. Evitts also became the league’s all-time girls leader in goals, shattering the old mark of 116 set by Minersville’s Kelsey Weachock in 2008. Evitts ended her career with 152 goals.
Edge, who is also a forward, had 40 goals and eight assists. She helped give the Cardinals much needed offensive firepower as Pine Grove won Division I, overall Schuylkill League and District 11 Class A titles for the first time in program historyEdge also earned a spot on the Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association all-state team.
The Coach of the Year is Pine Grove’s Jason Brown.
Brown, who earned the honor in 2012, helped guide the Cardinals (21-2 overall, 12-0 Division I) to a history-making campaign. In addition to their three titles, the 21 victories and 17-match winning streak were the most in program history as Pine Grove went from a division contender to a league power.
Evitts turns in record season in finale
Evitts has been playing soccer since she was four and plays club soccer for FC Revolution’s FC Blackhawks. She’s played some midfield during her career, but has spent most of her time at forward, building her reputation on her ability to score goals.
Evitts loves the intensity the position brings.
“As a forward you can set the tone of a game just by scoring one goal,” she said. “After scoring a goal, running back to your teammates and hugging them is like the best feeling ever.”
Evitts has done that a lot during her career. Her abilities were perhaps needed more than ever in a season of change for the Hurricanes.
Schuylkill Haven lost its entire midfield to graduation from last year’s District 11 Class A championship team, as well as a good part of its defense, while senior Keegan White transferred in from Nativity. Evitts, along with senior forward Kelsey Sisko and senior goalie Genie Tucci, knew they had to take on more leadership roles this past fall.
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“We knew that we had to be an example for the girls,” Evitts said. “Every time we would do something we would give the girls feedback, try to get them to be the best players that they could so we could just be a better team.”
Evitts finished second in league’s regular-season scoring race to Lehighton’s Allison Andrew (36 goals, 15 assists, 87 points). The Hurricanes had a couple of tough losses during the regular season to Williams Valley, but still won the Division II title.
Evitts, who had eight hat tricks during the year, was solid during the postseason. She scored twice and set up Taylor Felty with the game-winning goal during the Hurricanes’ 3-2 overtime victory over Blue Mountain in the league semifinal Oct. 16 at Pine Grove. Evitts had Schuylkill Haven’s only goal during a 6-1 loss to Pine Grove in the league championship game Oct. 18 and added two more goals during the District 11 Class A playoffs, a 5-0 win over Tri-Valley in the quarterfinals and 8-4 loss to Moravian Academy in the semifinals.
Evitts also entered the season with the league scoring record in sight.
She got her 100th career goal last year and entered 2014 with 113. Evitts tied the mark with a hat trick during the season opener against Jim Thorpe on Aug. 30 and broke the mark Sept. 2 against Allentown Central Catholic at Rotary Field.
When Evitts started as a freshman, the record wasn’t on her radar. It wasn’t until last season that it became a possibility.
The only time Evitts felt any pressure about the record was the night she broke it. After the milestone, the game was stopped and her teammates rushed to congratulate her. Evitts displays that game ball, along with the game ball from her 100th career goal and a ball signed by her teammates, in her room.
“I think it is really amazing,” Evitts said of the record. “I never expected to have that and I hope that it stays for a while. If it doesn’t, I am just proud of that.”
Evitts has certainly put the time in to become the player she is, and believes her offseason workouts at The Jungle in Schuylkill Haven have helped improve her agility, strength and speed. She has also formed a bond through the years with Sisko both on and off the field. The two have been playing soccer together since they were 10 years old and have been a lethal pair during their four years together with the Hurricanes.
Sisko scored 118 goals during her career and holds the league’s all-time girls’ assist record with 64.
“She is my best friend on and off the field,” Evitts said. “We always just clicked. Everything we do is always in sync, kind of, like she knows where I am at and I know where she is at. Some games we would get the ball and we would just pass it back and forth through every single defender until we got to the goal. I’ve never had a teammate ever that I’ve had that connection with.”
Evitts will continue her career at the college level. She verbally committed to Misericordia University two weeks ago and hopes to enter the physician assistant program.
Edge makes immediate
impact as a freshman
Edge has been playing the sport since she was five and plays her club soccer for Schuylkill West FC. Not much was known about Edge when the high school season started, but she quickly become a household name.
She scored 10 goals in her first four games, including four during the Cardinals’ 4-3 win over Schuylkill Valley on Sept. 4, helping get Pine Grove off to a 4-0 start.
It was a sign of what was to come and Edge quickly became the focus her opponent’s defensive efforts.
“I just thought it was kind of funny,” Edge said. “I laughed every time there was more than one person on me. I just took it as more of motivation to try and push myself even harder.”
That’s what she did.
Edge excelled at getting through balls, using her speed to dribble around and past defenders and take a run at the goal. She scored four goals in a game three times and had seven goals during the Cardinals five postseason contests, including two apiece during the league playoffs as Pine Grove beat Williams Valley 5-1 in the semifinals Oct. 16 and Schuylkill Haven in the title game at Alumni Field.
All Edge wanted to do this season was to break the Pine Grove freshman record for goals and help the Cardinals win. She ended up setting new single-season program records for goals and points (88).
Even Edge was surprised at what she accomplished.
“I didn’t think I was going to do that good, to be honest,” she said. “I don’t know how I did it.
“I just never gave up and just tried my hardest in whatever I do. I am just highly motivated.”
Like Evitts, Edge formed a close bond with a teammate. In her case, it was fellow freshman Mariah Lesh (23 goals, seven assists). The two combined to score 61 percent of Pine Grove’s goals this season and should be together for years to come.
“We work pretty well together,” Edge said. “We just know where each other is going to be. It just helps when we have that connection.”
The right-footed Edge feels she needs to work on becoming more adept at using her left foot and improving her overall ball skills. Edge also learned about the rigors of playing in the Schuylkill League and a full high school schedule this past fall.
“I feel like I learned I have a high pain tolerance,” she said with a laugh. “I have a lot of determination.”
Brown guides the Cardinals
to new heights
Brown was the All-Area Coach of the Year in 2012 by helping Pine Grove become league contenders. This season, the Cardinals became champions.
Pine Grove was coming off a 12-7-1 campaign in 2013, reaching a District 11 title game for the first time, a 4-0 loss to Schulkill Haven in the Class A final. With nine starters back, Brown wanted the Cardinals to take the next step and join the upper echelon of Division I, but two key areas needed improvement.
The first was getting the Cardinals to become a family and play together on the field. Brown felt that was an issue in previous years, so he had Pine Grove work hard on fixing it, including himself as a coach.
“When I first started coaching, I thought it was just all about soccer,” Brown said. “I’ve been doing this for seven years now and I have evolved a lot as a coach. I can honestly say how I was when I first came into it and from then to now, I am a completely different coach. That was one of the big things. You realize there is other things that have to be tweaked.
“We did a lot of team-building things that didn’t even involve a soccer ball. It was just us working together as a team and building a family. That is what I say to them. Every year when they come in, every team is a family. They don’t have to like each other. Not all families like each other, but you will respect each other and when it comes time to be on that field, you will play together.”
The second key component that needed improvement was the offensive. In the past, Brown felt the Cardinals were a defensive team that occasionally scored a goals. This season, he wanted Pine Grove to become more offensive.
The Cardinals did both.
Pine Grove scored 58 goals in 20 games in 2013. This past season, the Cardinals finished with 104 in 23 games, an average of 4.52 per game. That included 20 goals during their five postseason games. The defense was pretty good, too, allowing 24 goals on the season with seven shutouts.
“You win games that way but you don’t dominate,” Brown said of the past. “You don’t win leagues and you don’t win districts by being a defensive team that scores goals. We needed to be an offensive team that plays defense.”
Brown felt Pine Grove’s biggest win was a 2-1 overtime victory at Blue Mountain on Sept. 17. It was the first time the Cardinals have ever beat the Eagles, who were the four-time defending league champs. Pine Grove then downed Pottsville in a span of three days — 2-1 on Oct. 2 and 3-1 on Oct. 4 — and beat Blue Mountain again 1-0 on Oct. 7.
“That was equivalent to winning districts for us,” Brown said of the first victory over Blue Mountain. “I knew in my mind of what this team was able to accomplish. They are always going to have that thought process of ‘Can we really do it?’ They are still going to be a little tentative and not really know. Once we beat Blue Mountain, they knew we were up there. We were in that mix with the big teams. Before, we were always right below those big teams.
“Once you know that when you have that win under your belt and you can beat them, now we are playing to win. Now we don’t have to worry about playing not to lose. We can play to win because it is possible.”
Anything is possible next season. Pine Grove will lose just one regular starter — midfielder Emily Weaver — to graduation. In addition to Edge and Mariah Lesh, among the key players expected to return are midfielders Mackenzie Lesh and Steph Aungst, defenders Maddilyn Frew, Faith Shiffer and Cierra Geiger, and keeper Jen Kaufman.