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The 2026 scholastic soccer season has been one of the most exciting in many years, highlighted by a number of outstanding teams and games, but the District 6 4A girls final stands out as the single-most exciting game between two longtime rivals.
The Altoona Lady Lions had not had the type of season head coach Marc Frye had envisioned. They did play an incredibly rugged schedule with some of the state's top teams, but through some very unfortunate injuries of very key players, they endeavored to persevere through the season.
Coming into the 4A championship game, few would have placed their bets on Altoona to win its fourth consecutive district title over the State College Little Lions, who had beaten Altoona handily 4-1 earlier in the season. State College brought a strong, talented, confident team into the championship game, but the Lady Lions, like their coach, are full of competitive spirit.
The PIAA does not have teams play overtime during the regular season -- resulting in numerous ties after 80 minutes of play. This final, however, tested every player's conditioning. After playing to a 1-1 regulation tie, they battled through two 15-minute overtime periods.
Senior leader Ava Frye, who hits nearly all of Altoona's free kicks, buried a penalty kick as usual to for a 1-0 lead, but State College tied it in the first half. They then went on to battle over an hour on the field without being able to score.
Altoona defender Ajaycia Alexander stopped State College's best scoring efforts, Lion goalie Haylee Rodriguez, who had never stopped a PK, came up huge and did so in the second half. Finally, Altoona sophomore Leah Connolly chested the ball into the net from a great corner kick off Frye with only about 8 minutes left in double overtime.
Coach Frye may have summed it up best when he said this was a very physical, well-played game on both ends. It epitomized the best in scholastic soccer.
PSU Altoona update
The Penn State Altoona Lady Lions under coach Pam Snyder-Etters shut out Mount Aloysius College 4-0 in the opening round of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Tournament at Spring Run Stadium.
PSU Altoona scored three times in the opening half before adding another goal after halftime to secure the victory and advance to the AMCC semifinals.
Former Central standout Kira Trexler, Bridget Martin, Kaeylynn Taylor and Tyrone's Chloe LaRosa all contributed goals for Altoona. They registered 14 shots, nine on goal. Goalie Mya Torres got the shutout for the Lions.
PSU Altoona fell in the semifinals to Pitt-Greensburg, 2-0, Wednesday.
CONCACAF tourney
The Confederation of North Central America and Caribbean Association Football Women's Championship will again be used as the qualification tournament for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2027 held from June 24 to July 25, 2027.
All four semifinalists will qualify for the World Cup. The losing quarterfinalists will take part in playoff matches to determine which two teams will participate in the FIFA playoff tournament. The two finalists and the third-place finisher will secure a birth in the 2028 Women's Olympic Tournament in Los Angeles. USA gets an automatic berth as host nation.
The eight participating teams taking part in the CONCACAF Women's Championship from Nov. 27-Dec. 5 are Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, and the USA.
Locally
Mike Alianiello, Summit Indoor Soccer Director, is ready to begin his first session of play running from this Sunday to the weekend prior to Christmas. He has 61 total teams in the fall session ranging from u-8, u-9, u-10, u-11 boys and girls, u-12 boys and girls, u-13 boys, u-14 boys and adult age groups.
Last year he had 90 teams registered in the first session, but there were no local club FC 814 indoor inhouse teams registered this year and the club teams are playing at tournaments. Alianiello's Scholastic Tournament will be held Jan. 9-10 for girls high school and junior high school teams and men's open and Jan. 16-17 for boys junior high and high school teams.
Tom Schmitt writes a monthly soccer column for the Mirror.