The top-ranked Hampton Talbots are starting to show they can score goals just as well as they prevent them.
After managing one goal in its first three games, Hampton is finding an offense to match its defensive prowess.
“The season is still early, and we’re still figuring some things out in the attack,” coach Matt McAwley said after a Sept. 5 practice. “But we’ve been progressively getting better. It’s a puzzle that we’re still putting together.”
Many of the pieces started to fit as the Talbots (3-1-1, 2-0-1) rolled to a 9-1 victory at Armstrong on Sept. 9 in Section 1-3A boys soccer action. It was a much-needed outburst for Hampton, which had expected more steady offense after returning its top three goal-scorers from last season.
“It’s a little bit of a shaky start, but we’re excited to get things going, especially offensively,” all-WPIAL senior striker Xavier Ware said before the Armstrong game. “It’ll come.”
The returning senior forwards — Ware, Matteo Sciulli and Mason Hall — combined for seven goals against Armstrong and have accounted for nine of Hampton’s 11 goals on the season.
The defense has stayed consistent. As of Sept. 10, Hampton had allowed a WPIAL Class 3A-low two goals thanks to a suffocating backline and all-section senior goalie Gavin Guinn.
The Talbots opened the season with a scoreless double-overtime tie at Mars on Aug. 26, the third consecutive 0-0 draw between the section rivals spanning 300 minutes of play.
McAwley, an 11th-year coach who will be inducted into the Hampton Athletic Hall of Fame next month, took many positives from the match.
“Obviously, you want to go out and win that game,” he said. “But the way the boys played — outside of finding the back of the net — I couldn’t have asked for a better effort.”
The tie extended Hampton’s stretch of recent success against its former nemesis. The Talbots were 0-13 against Mars from 2014-20, but have lost only once in their past eight meetings (4-1-3).
The rematch is set for Sept. 23 at Hampton’s Fridley Field.
“I think we should have absolutely won the first game,” Ware said. “I’ll be happy to take them on here with our fans.”
Despite some preseason injuries that forced a pair of freshmen to assume more prominent roles in the lineup, Hampton is on pace to reach the WPIAL playoffs for the 10th consecutive season.
“I think we have a really good chance this year with all of our returning talent from last year,” all-section senior midfielder Carson Colvin said. “We also have a couple of freshmen stepping up, filling those roles.”
The Talbots suffered their lone setback, 1-0, to visiting North Hills on Sept. 2 in a nonsection game that left a bad taste.
They rebounded two days later to blank Kiski Area, 2-0, behind a pair of goals from Hall.
The backline remains sturdy with senior Garrison Docherty and juniors Rocco Mangieri and Jake Bagaley, a first-year starter. Freshman Connor Hall is showing promise at left back.
Colvin anchors the midfield, along with junior Beckett Barton and another freshman, Nico Mangieri.
The current seniors were in eighth grade when the Talbots won the 2021 WPIAL and PIAA championships, and they were sophomores when they reached the 2023 WPIAL finals.
McAwley said their goals remain the same.
“Every year, we want to find ourselves in a playoff position where we are competing for that WPIAL title,” he said. “We want to be one of those teams that people don’t want to see they are playing against.”
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