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East Xtra: Everyone gets into the act for Greensburg CC soccer
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Junior standout Malea Fabean has scored 32 goals this season for Greensburg Central Catholic.
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There are many individual numbers that jump off the page when looking at the Greensburg Central Catholic girls soccer scorebook.
There are two juniors -- Frannie Crouse and Malea Fabean -- with more than 100 career goals. There are the 349 total career points for Crouse, 291 for Fabean and 106 for Italia Biondi, who is only a sophomore.
For coach Ashley Shasko, she is just as proud of freshman Kristen Denezza's one goal and one assist as she is of Crouse's 53 goals this season.
Shasko set many goals this season for the highly rated Centurions, one of them was for every player on the team to get a point and all 17 varsity players did just that.
"Every player on this team has a point," Shasko said. "Every single player, that is what sets us apart from other teams. You will be hard pressed to find that on any team, in any sport. They are all contributing."
Of course, the team goals were important too and Greensburg Central Catholic has accomplished many of those. It finished the regular season 15-1. It won the Section 4-A title -- Section 4 is widely regarded as the toughest in Class A -- with a perfect 12-0 record, including season sweeps of Springdale and Shady Side Academy.
Springdale reached the PIAA Class A final last season and Shady Side Academy won the WPIAL Class A title in 2010. The games between those three schools are among the most highly anticipated of the season.
In the playoffs, as is customary, Greensburg Central ran into its section rivals again. It blasted Springdale, 7-0, in the quarterfinals and edged Shady Side Academy, 3-1, in the semifinals. The Centurions won their second consecutive WPIAL title with a 2-0 victory against Sewickley Academy.
In the PIAA playoffs, Greensburg Central (22-1) had an easy time against Karns City and York Catholic, winning by a combined 13-2. That wasn't the story Tuesday night in the semifinals, however. It took going to an overtime shootout to defeat Shady Side, 4-3, advancing the Centurions to Friday's state title game against Conwell Egan (11-6-1).
Crouse (53 goals, 20 assists this season), Fabean (32 goals, 32 assists) and Biondi (21 goals, 13 assists) get a lot of attention for their offensive performance, but it is tough to imagine Greensburg Central Catholic being so dominant without a well-balanced attack and a stout defense.
"The whole team has been playing really well," Shasko said. "Everyone wants to know how many goals Frannie scores but she doesn't do that without the help of the whole team. It has been a team effort."
Sophomore Dominique Stauffer scored 14 goals and added 17 assists, sophomore Megan Shearson was second on the team with 22 assists, freshman Colby Crouse, Frannie's younger sister, had three goals and eight assists.
Sophomore goalie Olivia Binda had 12 shutouts and surrendered just 19 goals in 22 games. Her backup, sophomore Kate Pedder, allowed one goal this season.
"Our defense is real good, too," Fabean said. "They have kept us in games."
Both Pedder and Binda got to see action as field players this year and both scored goals.
"The number of shutouts the defense has shown it is working just as hard as the offense," sophomore defender Cassie Sauter said. "The offense has been really impressive. They really possess the ball and we can get into the attack and score goals and get some points for ourselves."
First Published November 15, 2012 12:00 am
