It was an opportunity Warren Shaw just couldn’t pass up.
Shaw, the Bradford girls varsity head coach, was asked to be an assistant on the Pennsylvania coaching staff for the second installment of the Corporate Cup Soccer Showcase — the now annual all-star game pairing the best soccer players from the Keystone State against those from New York.
Making it a no-brainer for Shaw was that he’ll get to coach six of his players from Bradford High, including his daughter, Chloe.
“Kris Linderman (co-founder of the game) gave me a call to see if I’d be interested in coaching at the game. It took no convincing,” Shaw recalled. “This is something as a coach you’d definitely want to do and is a big honor.”
The head coach of the girls team is Ridgway’s Greg Maddalena. He is joined by assistants David Britten (Brockway), Jessica Leadbetter (Brockway) and DeAnna Kelley (Ridgway).
Last year’s Pennsy squad fell 4-1 to New York in the first-ever girls game (the boys game started a year prior). And although this game is nothing more than an exhibition, don’t expect the girls to lose any of their competitive fire when the game begins — especially with plenty of college soccer coaches in attendance.
“Once the whistle blows, everybody is going after it,” he said. “It’s going to be very competitive but it will be good soccer. The coaches are also very competitive.”
Other Bradford Lady Owls on Pennsy’s roster this year include Mikayla Bond, Mackenzie Lucas, Regan Johnson, Lauren Placer and Emily Prince.
Shaw says that those six players have meshed well with a roster-full of talented soccer players from 10 Pennsylvania high schools stretching from DuBois to Warren to St. Marys.
“Honestly, this is a really good group of girls,” Shaw said. “They are all getting along real well. Sometimes you get the feeling that they don’t fit well together, but that isn’t the case here. You can see it out on the field.”
Because of poor weather and spring sports commitments from most of the girls, the Pennsylvania squad has been able to hold just four practices at various high schools throughout the area. Still, with less than a week to go until the ball is dropped, Shaw and the coaching staff have a pretty good idea on how they will manage a team that has so much talent.
“In a game like this, you certainly want to try to get everyone on the field and getting playing time,” he said. “But once the game gets going, the girls that are playing well are going to be playing more.
“It’s neat to have a roster-full of girls who can all play. You can put them out there, instruct them a little bit and they will do what you ask of them.”
Specifically, Shaw is most excited to see a strong defensive corps compete against New York’s forwards.
“Our defense is going to be pretty tough,” he said. “We have some rock solid girls back there. New York has some girls who can score but we will see what happens.”
And Shaw, who wrapped up his first season on the sidelines of Bradford’s varsity program in the fall, is trying to learn as much as he can leading up to, and during, the game.
“It’s good for me to mesh with some of the other coaches. I think we might have been a little standoffish at first, just not knowing what to expect, but once you get going you really start to work well together,” Shaw said.
“I’m taking everything I can out of it.”
This year’s game is set for next Saturday at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford’s Kessel Athletic Complex. The girls game is first at 1 o’clock, and the boys will follow.
Last year’s games were attended by over 1,000 people with an additional 1,500 fans watching via Facebook Live.
