Michael Love stories, Page 68
Pittsburgh native and former Riverhounds midfielder Robbie Mertz returns to team
Robbie Mertz once again will suit up and play for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. The Hounds announced Wednesday that the midfielder, Pittsburgh native, and Upper St. Clair graduate is returning through a transfer agreement with Atlanta United II. The transfer must meet USL and U.S. Soccer Federation approval before it is...
Blackhawk grad Michael Turconi selected by Toronto Blue Jays in 15th round
Michael Turconi is among the latest Western Pennsylvania products to be selected in the 2022 MLB Draft. The Blackhawk graduate and redshirt junior on the Wake Forest baseball team was drafted Tuesday afternoon by the Toronto Blue Jays with the No. 458 pick in the 15th round. Turconi follows a...
New coach Skoda eager to help Highlands girls soccer team get back on track
Preseason practices for the girls soccer season at Highlands begin in less than a month, and Matt Skoda said there is much work to be done before that first official workout. The veteran high school soccer coach recently was hired to head the Golden Rams program, and, he said, he...
Excitement builds as Plum joins growing girls wrestling movement
When it became official last month that Plum will sanction a girls wrestling program, Saphia Davis was excited, but she was not 100% sure of the validity of the news. “When my dad told me the news, I was like, ‘Are you joking with me?’ But he was being serious,...
Gateway lineman Matt Brooks finds perfect fit with Duquesne
Matt Brooks struck up a strong connection while talking with new Duquesne defensive line coach Reggie Wells Jr. But the Gateway rising senior and two-way standout lineman said he didn’t know that Wells played in the NFL as an offensive lineman for 10 years with the Arizona Cardinals, was a...
Riverhounds name Robert Morris grad new club president
The Pittsburgh Riverhounds have their new president. Jeff Garner, a 1999 Robert Morris graduate, returns to the Pittsburgh area to head up the organization. The Riverhounds announced the hiring of the veteran sports executive Thursday. Garner owns experience both in the USL Championship and in the Western Pennsylvania market. “We’re...
New AD charting course for future of Springdale athletic programs
Amanda Noel is three months into her new role as Springdale athletic director, and she said she is equally as excited with what has been accomplished so far and with what is yet to come as the fall sports season begins in less than a month. “Our coaches and athletes...
French team brings international flair back to annual Freeport baseball tournament
For the first time in several years, an international team will join the fun for the 28th annual Freeport International Baseball Invitational. FIBI president Chuck Sarver and vice president Dave Brestensky said the arrival of a team from France will add to the excitement and anticipation of what should be...
2022 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Central Catholic’s Anthony Speca
Editor’s note: The Tribune-Review and the TribLive High School Sports Network are profiling each member of the 25-player Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star team. The players will be recognized July 15 during HSSN Media Day at Kennywood Park. On the heels of a breakout freshman season when he led the...
Coach’s death stuns Slippery Rock women’s basketball community, including Plum grad
When Krista Pietropola decided to transfer out of Youngstown State’s women’s basketball program after her freshman year in 2015, Bobby McGraw was quick to reach out to the Plum graduate. Pietropola and McGraw first made a connection during Pietropola’s college recruiting process in what was McGraw’s final year as an...
2022 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Armstrong’s Cadin Olsen
Editor’s note: The Tribune-Review and the TribLive High School Sports Network are profiling each member of the 25-player Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star team. The players will be recognized July 15 during HSSN Media Day at Kennywood Park. Cadin Olsen passed for more yards in 2021 than every quarterback in...
Gateway’s Courtney Jackson ready for increased leadership role at Syracuse
Courtney Jackson broke out on the field for the Syracuse football team in 2021. The Gateway graduate and redshirt freshman receiver and kick returner appeared in all 12 games with eight starts for the Orange and led the team in receptions (37) and yards (389). He caught three touchdowns and...
Deer Lakes’ Justin Brannagan named 2022 Valley News Dispatch Baseball Player of the Year
2022 Valley News Dispatch Baseball All-Stars Player of the Year Justin Brannagan Deer Lakes, Sr., P/INF Justin Brannagan had a propensity this year for coming up big in clutch playoff scenarios. In February, Deer Lakes trailed Blackhawk by one point in the final seconds of a WPIAL Class 4A first-round...
Burrell’s Katie Armstrong earns 2022 Valley News Dispatch Softball Player of the Year honors
2022 Valley News Dispatch Softball All-Stars Player of the Year Katie Armstrong Burrell, Jr., P If the regular season didn’t already show it, then a WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinal game against Belle Vernon proved just how dominant Burrell junior pitcher Katie Armstrong was throughout the spring. Armstrong held a potent...
Burrell’s Jarrett relishes being part of 1st PIHL girls hockey season
Ellie Jarrett was smiling ear to ear after the PIHL girls hockey championship game June 11 at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry Township. The rising sophomore at Burrell proudly held the trophy after she helped Team East, with players also from Armstrong, Elizabeth Forward, Hempfield, Latrobe, Norwin, Penn-Trafford, Windber,...
Coach who built Deer Lakes boys basketball into perennial playoff team steps down
Terence Parham called it one of the hardest decisions he’s ever had to make. Citing changing work requirements, the veteran Deer Lakes boys basketball coach has resigned after seven years at the helm of the program. The Deer Lakes School Board voted to accept his resignation at Tuesday’s meeting. “My...
Cal (Pa.) softball’s Caleigh Rister earns national freshman award
Caleigh Rister made quite a splash in her debut for the Cal (Pa.) softball team this spring. The two-way standout from Bucyrus, Ohio, recently was selected the Schutt Sports/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division II National Freshman of the Year. Rister is the first player from the Atlantic Region, comprised...
6 W.Pa. athletic greats part of PA Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2022
A dozen athletic greats comprise the Class of 2022 for the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, and half of the class was nominated by state-affiliated chapters located in the Western Region. PA Sports Hall of Fame State Executive Director Dale Hamer, a Murrysville resident, former NFL official and a 2012...
2022 Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star Team: Gateway’s Brad Birch
Editor’s note: The Tribune-Review and the TribLive High School Sports Network are profiling each member of the 25-player Trib HSSN Preseason Football All-Star team. The players will be recognized July 15 during HSSN Media Day at Kennywood Park. Brad Birch led the WPIAL in passing in 2021, throwing for 2,623...
Gateway’s Zeisloft adds Positive Athlete Award to resume
Dietrich Zeisloft was a leader on the field for several seasons for the Gateway boys soccer team with his ability to put the ball in the back of the net, help control possession and facilitate his teammates on the attack from his midfield position. But the Gators senior also was...
Local basketball coach Mark Marino set to lead U.S. team in Greece
Mark Marino is no stranger to coaching basketball teams from the United States in overseas competition. Marino, who coached the Plum varsity boys basketball team the past three seasons, will make his fourth trip to Europe this week as he helps coach a team of Division I, II and III...
Mid-Season Championships take center stage Friday at Lernerville Speedway
There will be a lot on the line at Lernerville Speedway on Friday evening as the Fab4 Revved Up with Marburger Farm Dairy lineup — featuring the Peoples Natural Gas Sprints, Precise Racing Products Late Models, Diehl Automotive Big Block Modifieds, and the Millerstown Pic-A-Part Pro Stocks — will have...
Apollo-Ridge brings back familiar face to coach girls soccer
Sarah Bonelli Christopher graduated from Apollo-Ridge in 2013 and went on the play four years as a midfielder at Lock Haven. She just missed the opportunity to play for her high school alma mater, as the Vikings girls soccer program was formed a couple of years later. “I was sad...
Riverhounds president Vic Gregovits stepping down
The Pittsburgh Riverhounds announced Wednesday that club president Vic Gregovits will step down from his front office position this week. Gregovits joined the Riverhounds in April 2021 and helped the team return to full operations after the covid pandemic-affected 2020 season. He helped fans return to Highmark Stadium with several...
WPIAL athletes across all sports honored for positive impact on community
Kiski Area athletic director John Peterman knows his school’s student-athletes are energetic competitors on the field and make a difference off the field, both in the classroom and the community. He wasn’t surprised when 21 athletes were nominated in several sports for this year’s Western Pennsylvania Positive Athlete Awards. The...
