USC Soccer Team Departs for States

And they're off!

The boys soccer team left for Hershey on Friday afternoon for the PIAA Class AAA championship game. The WPIAL champions (20-1-2) will play District 1 champion Conestoga (23-0-1) at 5 p.m. Saturday.

"It's awesome. It's definitely a great feeling to get a chance to play in the state championship game," said Mike Worthy, one of the team's captains. "We've won 18 games straight, so we're peaking at the right time."

The boys' season didn't begin so promising and the coach of 11 years admits he wasn't expecting to travel to the state championship this year.

"This year is a total surprise. We are a really young team and didn't have a lot of guys come out," coach Uwe Schneider said.

There are four freshmen and only five seniors on the team. Two other seniors got hurt in the beginning of the season.

"One hundred days ago we had our preseason workouts, and then countless practices. Coach made it a point to get better with every game, and I think we've done that," said Jesse Poljak, one of the team's captains.

"In order to be a good team, we had to work together," Schneider said. "I'm very proud, it's been a lot of fun."

As for Saturday's game plan, Schneider said the teams do not know a lot about each other.

"We are focusing on playing our game," he said.

The Upper St. Clair Marching Band gave the boys a send-off as they left the high school on Friday afternoon.

"We've gotten a lot of congrats and good lucks. It's cool to see support from our school and community," Worthy said.

"We've had more people at soccer games than ever before this year," Poljak said.

Share your congratulations with the boys team! Tell them in the comments.