McKeesport, PA. – With the start of the Penn State Greater Allegheny 2019-2020 athletic season just 14 days away, the fall sports teams will be returning to campus when they open their Fall Sports Camps on Monday. PSUGA will be welcoming back the Soccer, Volleyball, Golf, and Cross-Country teams as they begin on their journey through the season.
The first official day of practice welcomes just over 40 of the 125 student-athletes to campus bringing with them an excitement that has been missing through the long summer months. With expectations on the rise, everyone will be bringing their A-game as they start the battle for a Penn State University Athletic Conference playoff spot.
No expectations will be set higher than that of the PSUGA Soccer team, who enters the 2019 season having made the PSUAC playoffs in each of the last five seasons. They will once again be relying on a defensive unit that, last season, helped them build a goal differential of +10. Three of the four defensive starters return in 2019 led by junior goalkeeper Colin Bucsok (Pittsburgh, PA./Thomas Jefferson HS), who became the winningest goalie in PSUGA history last season.
While Soccer is looking to get back to the PSUAC playoffs, the PSUGA Volleyball team will be fighting for their first spot in the tournament since the 2014 season. Last year, they missed the playoffs by just two games and finished (10-14, 3-7), improving their win total by two from the year before. Head coach Alyssa Finocchi has eight returning players in 2019 as they look to take the next step and get into the playoffs.
The PSUGA Golf team returns undertaking a whole new look for the 2019 season. Head coach Mark Valko is entering his first year with the team and brings with him six recruits that will try and put PSUGA on the map in their second year as a program. The lone returner is sophomore Taylor Coccia (Elizabeth, PA./Elizabeth Forward HS), who had an 18-hole average score of 107 last season. She finished just seven points shy of qualifying for a spot in the PSUAC/United States Collegiate Athletic Association National Championship and looks to improve this season.
Finally, the newest of the fall sports programs, Cross-Country is back after being out of competition last year. This year’s crew is headed by Greg Schmitt and features USCAA Track & Field National Qualifiers Eladia Kennedy (McKeesport, PA./Imani Christian Academy) and James Plez (Philadelphia, PA./Northeast HS).
The PSUGA fall sports teams will have a week to practice before PSUGA classes resume on Monday, August 26th. After that, they will be in season mode as they move towards the PSUGA Athletics opener on August 30th.
Volleyball and Cross-Country each start their schedules on the 30th when volleyball heads to the USCAA Tip-off Tournament to take on Carlow and PSU-Mont Alto at 12 p.m. and 4 p.m., and Cross-Country heads to the Father Bede Cross Country Invitational at 2 p.m. PSUGA Soccer starts on September 4th with a home game against Point Park and Golf heads to University Park for their opener on September 5th at the White Course Invitational.
