New York captains for the Girls Gold matchup Sunday are (from left): Cloey Larabee (Cuba-Rushford), Natalie Reynolds( Portville) and Sarah Kruszka (Pine Valley).

Sunday afternoon and evening, the soccer field at Pitt-Bradford’s Kessel Athletic Complex will be a showcase of both male and female talent at the high school level. For a full experience, those attending can enjoy food from several food trucks, halftime entertainment and various games of chance. Each of the evening’s four games has a pre-game ceremony 30 minutes before gametime.

The games will take place at the following times:

• Noon: Boys Silver match
• 2:30 p.m.: Girls Silver match
• 5 p.m.: Boys Gold match
• 7:30 p.m. Girls Gold match

The Era reached out to the coaching staff for the Girls Gold match this week, to see how things are setting up for Sunday’s face-off.

Pennsylvania

The coaching staff is made up of PA Head Coach Mike Puhala of Brockway and Assistant Coaches Brittany Sprankle (Kane); Chris Kurtz (Curwensville); Rachel Smith (Ridgway) and Robert Rice (Brockway).

Captains are #17 Zoe Puhala (Senior, Brockway), #22 Ally Notarianni (Senior, Johnsonburg), and #18 Josie Orinko (Senior, Brockway).

The 2025 PA Girls Gold Team players this year include: Bradford: #00 Mady Stark (Junior), #12 Jaydon Hogue (Junior), #16 Alyssa Mangold (Sophomore), and #24 Kierstin Taylor (Junior); Warren: #1 Meea Irwin (Junior), #4 Lilly Stanley (Junior), #11 Lani Wenzel (Sophomore), and #23 Leyna Irwin (Junior); Brookville: #2 Kaida Yoder (Junior) and #3 Ally Wilson (Sophomore); Ridgway’s #5 Alexis Rohr (Senior); Port Allegany: #6 Kailey Bartlett (Junior) and #21 Journey Wilmoth (Junior); DuBois Central Catholic: #13 Gabriella Pisarcik (Junior); St. Marys: #14 Adriana Buck (Senior); Northern Potter: #15 Lillian Steele (Junior); Brockway: #19 Rheanna Spinda (Junior); and Elk County Catholic: #20 Gina Geci (Senior) and Corry: #27 Delayney Nickerson (Senior).

Puhala, who was on vacation this week and missed the team’s final practice, noted that scheduling has been the biggest conflict.

The biggest challenge was to get the girls all together to practice. We had to practice silver and gold together to get something out of it, since there was always someone missing between vacations and jobs,” Puhala said. “We have good quality girls all the way around. Our three captains are all in their fourth year in the corporate cup, and the players are all well-rounded with a lot of experience.”

Puhala noted that strategy and position assignments are still a work in progress. They will be finalized Sunday and shared with players before heading onto the field.

“We try to batch up kids that played together, from the same schools,” he explained. “Our big thing is keeping kids healthy, since a lot are going on to play college soccer and other sports. Hopefully we can get through the day without injuries, that’s always something you worry about as a coach.”

I’d like to thank Robert Rice, my assistant, who did a lot of things for me so I could see where the girls should be playing. We talked several times and will talk on the way up – hopefully we can put a good team on the field and come out with the win. We won last year so hopefully we can bring the trophy back this year. That’s what we are looking for.”

Puhala also expressed his gratitude to Dave Talbot and Kris Linderman for all the work they put into the Corporate Cup, noting “They put a pile of time in, they don’t get enough thank yous for the time they put into it.”

Pennsylvania Girls Silver Team captains are: (from left): Ariel Carney (DuBois), Kallie Milliard (Johnsonburg) and Kendra Meade (Port Allegany).

New York

This year, NY head coach Derek Houser of Southwestern is working with assistant ccoaches Mike Matz (Portville), John Fitzpatrick (Hinsdale), Erica Aftuck (Wellsville), Kersten Furlong (Salamanca) and Lauren Viglietta (Wellsville).

Captains are #2 Cloey Larabee (Senior, Cuba-Rushford), #6 Natalie Reynolds(Senior, Portville) and #8 Sarah Kruszka (Senior, Pine Valley).

The 2025 NY Girls Gold team players include: Randolph: #1 Gianna Bowles (Junior); Allegany-Limestone: #3 Caitlyn Kellogg (Senior), #9 Madison Honeck (Junior), #12 Kennedy Honeck (Freshman), #13 Addie Fisher (Senior), #17 Abby Peck (Senior), and #77 Chloe Baker (Senior); Southwestern: #4 Marlana Cresanti (Sophomore); Salamanca: #5 Summer Downey (Senior); Cuba-Rushford: #7 Molly Kunz (Sophomore); Maple Grove: #10 Kylie Kress (Sophomore); Frewsburg: #11 Audrey Eckwahl (Sophomore); Portville: #14 Emma Rhinehart (Junior), #18 Emily Collins (Senior), and #31 Grace Gariepy (Sophomore); Franklinville: #19 Taylor Chase (Sophomore); Wellsville: #20 Caelyn Stevens (Junior) and #22 Addyson Clark (Junior) and Falconer: #26 Julianna Roth (Sophomore).

On the NY side, the focus is split between talent and fun.

Coach Derek Houser explained, “We want to showcase everybody and let them shine for all the hard work they’ve put in. We want to be competitive to the ball and work hard. It’s about showcasing all the girls, having some fun and also trying to take advantage of the opportunity to play some high quality opponents from PA.

“It’s been a great experience. We’ve had practice for the last month. We’ve got a real good group of girls, a great group of players from all around. It’s been great to see them gel together,” He said. “It’s a young group but we’re excited for Sunday for sure.”

Houser was one of the assistant coaches last year and is putting some of that experience to use preparing for this year’s game.

“There were a lot of talented girls on the PA squad (last year), so we are trying to be ready for that. Last year, they got out to a much stronger start,” Houser said. “We are focused on trying to come out stronger. I think we got to where we wanted to be after the first 20 or so minutes, but it was a lot of feeling out and they were stronger out of the gate. We want to come out, match that intensity, and we hope to get the win back this year.”

The teams will be ready and soccer enthusiasts, prospective college coaches and family will pack the stands to see who, in fact, takes home the trophy. Houser hopes to see the players’ hard work pan out in front of their fans.

“This has been a great opportunity for me. I’m excited for Sunday; anyone who appreciates soccer should come and watch,” Houser said. “There are a lot of great players, great coaches, and it’s great to showcase this level of talent. The more people we have come to watch will make that environment even better.”

New York Girls Silver Team captains are (from left): Ella Zeigler (Portville), Rebekah Butcher (Cattaraugus-Little Valley) and Talia O’Connor (Wellsville).