WPSD’s Soccer Team Selected the FRAT’s National Team of the Year
By Val Wojton III, Soccer Coach
Sports Editor of DeafSportZine and Editor of DeafDigest Barry Strassler from the FRAT (National Fraternal Society of the Deaf) announced that the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf soccer team is the Soccer National Team of the Year! DeafNation and DeafSports followed suit.
We finished the season with a 11-4-1 record, going undefeated against schools for the deaf, 6-0. Early in the season, we won the First Annual Mid-American Classic, beating St. Rita School for the Deaf, 5-1, in the first round, and then shutting out Ohio School for the Deaf in the Championship game, 3-0. We won our Homecoming Weekend, beating American School for the Deaf, 6-1, and Eastern Pennsylvania Schools for the Deaf (two schools for the deaf combined together to make a soccer team, Scranton State School for the Deaf and Pennsylvania School for the Deaf), 8-2. We also captured the Upstate Soccer Tournament for the first time since we joined the tournament five years ago by beating St. Mary’s School for the Deaf in the opening round, 3-0, and then beating Rochester School for the Deaf in the championship game, 6-0.
This is the fourth time the WPSD soccer team has been selected by Barry Strasslerand the FRAT as the Soccer National Team of the Year. We also received this prestigious title in 1987, 1989, and 1999.
DeafSportZine also named four WPSD soccer players to the All-American Teams:
Leroy B.
Zane N.
Jimmy M.
Second Team All-American
Anthony P.