Lady Wildcats Looking for Bounce-Back Year
BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP—Veteran Central Mountain girls’ soccer coach Ryan Veltri is enthused that a bevy of returning players will result in a solid season for the Lady Wildcats.
Central Mountain finished with an uncharacteristic 5-12-1 mark a year ago but Veltri said the team is bringing back some 11 players who were starters during the 2013 season, in all 13 or 14 who had at least one start, a prospect he calls “exciting.”
Veltri likes the numbers, 45 in senior high (plus another 34 at the junior high level). And he thinks the new Heartland Conference-oriented schedule will serve the program well:
“The schedule is great, the administration put together a competitive schedule that should prepare us and have us ready to play in the post-season. We will see old foe in State College and Altoona and new teams from the past such as Shikallemy and Milton. We have lofty aspirations. First, we want to enjoy our time together and understand that everyone on the team plays a role. But, we want to be competitive in the league and shake it up, let the new guy get in there and make a statement. We also want to qualify for the play-offs, our goal is to always find ourselves in the District Six finals, because if you get there, anything is possible!”
And Veltri said soccer in the Heartland is top quality: “We are looking at a league that has a rich tradition in the post-season. In the past ten years we have seen Shikallemy in the quarter-finals of the AAA State play-offs, teams like Warrior Run, Montoursville, Loyalsock, and South Williamsport all won titles at various levels (A, AA, AAA). Most recently Selinsgrove, Montoursville, and others have pushed themselves into the top ten rankings in the state.”
The new District 4-oriented schedule begins next Wednesday, a night game at Williamsport, followed by a Saturday, Sept. 6 game at Jersey Shore.
The home opener will be Monday, Sept. 8 with Danville, home games again played at Malinak Stadium, jayvees at 5:30 p.m., varsity to follow.
