The Pittsburgh Passion women’s football team enjoyed an undefeated 2024 regular season and was victorious in its Women’s Football Alliance first-round playoff game against Tampa Bay.

The victory over the Inferno propelled the Passion to the National Conference Championship game against the Boston Renegades.

Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, it wasn’t able to solve Boston in the rematch of their close five-point win over the Renegades from the regular season.

It was a sudden and heartbreaking end to a strong season for the Passion players, including veteran lineman Lauren Ferragonio.

The Plum graduate said the loss provided a large part of the motivation to come back for a 10th season with the team.

“With the way the season ended, having all that momentum and energy but losing to Boston by such a large margin, it’s hard to end the season that way when it wasn’t what you expected,” Ferragonio said.

“It wasn’t the product we should have and could have put out there. I knew I wanted to come back. We have a really strong team this year with a lot of the experienced players and some newcomers who have provided a fresh perspective.”

Tryouts and several team activities in the fall transitioned to the start of preseason workouts and practice at the beginning of the new year. Ferragonio said it was nice to reconnect with her teammates, young and old, and formulate the game plan for the season which started April 26 with a 42-13 win at Tampa Bay.

Ferragonio is in her third season back with the team after the covid pandemic wiped out the 2020 season and her hiatus from the team for the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

“Right before covid was when I lost my dad, and he was such a big supporter of me playing and a big supporter of the entire team,” she said.

“It was really hard to picture football without my dad there. But in the healing from that and when I started coaching (girls) flag football, it helped me want to get back out there.

“My (Sto-Rox) players are the inspiration for a lot of the things I do. The kids I coach are very resilient. It’s kind of been a full-circle moment for me. I started playing for the Passion when I was 18, and all the great things the Passion has done for me with boosting my confidence and self-worth and giving me that sisterhood and family, I have been able to turn that around and help teach that and instill that in my players. It is something I’m grateful to be able to do. They inspire me in a lot of the things that I do.”

The Passion practice at Sto-Rox High School.

“A lot of the girls, after the flag practice, will stick around and hang out and watch the Passion practice,” Ferragonio said. “They also come to my games and support me. They have fallen in love with football, and it’s cool for them to interact with many of the Passion players.”

The high school girls flag football league in the Pittsburgh area has grown to 50 teams, and the PIAA has established it as a sanctioned sport for the 2026 spring season.

“I think a lot of us on the Passion would’ve killed for the chance to participate in (flag football) when we were in high school,” Ferragonio said.

“There are a couple of us who coach flag teams, and we have conducted a few flag clinics, too. It is just really cool to see that growth not only at the high school level but with more and more colleges starting to sponsor flag programs. Whether it is flag or tackle, football is just a special sport. So many girls who really haven’t played a sport before but are super athletic have come out and tried it and have fallen in love with it. It has become their niche.”

Passion rookies can be found all over the field this spring, and Ferragonio is energized to work with them and help them grow.

“It is awesome to see the new talent come in every year,” she said.

“We have a lot of strong linemen, and the entire class is just so athletic. They have contributed so much on and off the field.”

Ferragonio said the Passion’s opener with Tampa Bay was a nice opportunity to hit someone with a different color jersey after so much preseason preparation.

“Coming down to the first game, we started to get a little stir crazy,” she said.

“We wanted to give each other a good look in practice, but we also didn’t want to get overly aggressive to where we risked getting someone injured. The first game was getting all that pent up energy released. We did that against Tampa.”

Ferragonio, a long-term substitute teacher at Sto-Rox who is set to complete her master’s degree in special education from Slippery Rock, said she wasn’t surprised to see the Passion roll the way they did against Tampa Bay.

“Our team is very talented, and with the experience, we knew what we could do,” she said. “I was very confident in our team’s abilities on both sides of the ball.”

Tampa Bay, under the ownership of former Passion player Jen Moody, will travel to Slippery Rock on May 31 as the Passion seek a season sweep of the Inferno.

The Passion had a bye last Saturday (May 3) but will return to action this Saturday (May 10) at the Philadelphia Phantoms for a 6 p.m. kickoff.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)