Quaker Valley

This past week: Courneen had a hat trick of hat tricks. The forward scored three goals in games Oct. 5, Oct. 8 and Oct. 10, all wins for the Quakers. He scored two goals in a 4-0 win Tuesday against Beaver County Christian.

Check this out: Courneen, a two-sport star in soccer and basketball, is one of the top goal-scorers in the WPIAL. A senior, he has 31 goals through 15 games, leading the Quakers to a 12-3-0 record. Quaker Valley is in second behind Freedom in WPIAL Class A Section 5. • What is your proudest moment as an athlete? Probably when I was a sophomore. I hit a game-winning (basketball) shot against Center. It was pretty cool. There were a lot of people there.

• How did you get your start playing soccer? Seventh-grade year I played football and then eighth grade I was too small to play on the football team, or at least that's what my mom said. So I took up soccer.

• Who is your favorite professional soccer club? Chelsea. • What will it take for Team USA to win a World Cup? Get the ball to Landon Donovan because he's probably one of the best players in the world. No, I just like Landon Donovan a lot. He's like me, small. It's nice to see someone like that do well.

• In 10 years, where should people expect to find you? I don't know. I could see myself as a sports analyst, either broadcasting basketball games or soccer games.

• What's the biggest difference between basketball and soccer? For me, I'm a lot more comfortable on the basketball court. Soccer, I'm still trying to learn my way around. It's a lot more complicated than running up and down the field.

• People would be surprised to know that ... I'm a five-handicap golfer.

-- By Michael Sanserino

Springdale

This past week: Loveland scored two goals in Springdale's 4-0 win Monday against section rival Shady Side Academy. She has led the two-time defending WPIAL finalist Dynamos to a 13-1-1 record and the No. 2 ranking in Class AA.

Check this out: A senior forward, Loveland is among the WPIAL leaders with 30 goals. For her career, Loveland has netted 118. She also has made an impact in track, helping the Dynamos' 1600-meter relay team earn WPIAL gold medals each of the past two years. • Your team lost in the WPIAL championship to South Park the past two seasons. Does this team have what it takes to get over the hump? Definitely. Everybody has said enough is enough. We're going for it all. Hopefully, it's not a repeat of the last two years.

• You scored your 100th career goal last month. What did you do to celebrate? Nothing. I just studied.

• Do you have any superstitions? Yeah. My warmup has to be the same. In the game we lost to State College, I didn't warm up the same way as I normally do, and it freaked me out.

• What do you think when you hear someone say soccer is boring? I don't think they know what they're talking about. If they played it, they'd have a different opinion.

• How often are you on Facebook? I check it every 20 minutes. I'm addicted to it. I had to get Internet on my phone just to be able to check it. That's how bad it is.

• What song is getting the most play on your iPod right now? We Be Steady Mobbin' (Lil Wayne).

• What do think about Michael Vick? I'm sick and tired of hearing about him. He did his time.

-- By Brad Everett

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