Mackenzie Powell’s game-winner launches Mars to 9th WPIAL girls soccer championship over Shaler
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Mars Miley Gratton (29) wrecks into Shaler’s goalie Livia Ryan in the WPIAL Class 3A Girls Soccer Championship game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at F.N.B. Stadium. Justin Guido/Special to the Eagle
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Mars girls soccer team celebrates a 2-1 win over Shaler in the WPIAL Class 3A Girls Soccer Championship game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at F.N.B. Stadium. Justin Guido/Special to the Eagle
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Mars Miley Gratton (29) wrecks into Shaler’s goalie Livia Ryan in the WPIAL Class 3A Girls Soccer Championship game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at F.N.B. Stadium. Justin Guido/Special to the Eagle
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Mars girls soccer team celebrates a 2-1 win over Shaler in the WPIAL Class 3A Girls Soccer Championship game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at F.N.B. Stadium. Justin Guido/Special to the Eagle
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Mars Ciara Spaun makes a save on Shaler in the WPIAL Class 3A Girls Soccer Championship game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at F.N.B. Stadium. Justin Guido/Special to the Eagle
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Mars Katie Blake (20) fights for a headwall with Shaler’s Lillian Trgovic (37) in the WPIAL Class 3A Girls Soccer Championship game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at F.N.B. Stadium. Justin Guido/Special to the Eagle
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Mars girls soccer team celebrates a 2-1 win over Shaler in the WPIAL Class 3A Girls Soccer Championship game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at F.N.B. Stadium. Justin Guido/Special to the Eagle
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Mars girls soccer team celebrates a 2-1 win over Shaler in the WPIAL Class 3A Girls Soccer Championship game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at F.N.B. Stadium. Justin Guido/Special to the Eagle
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Mars girls soccer team celebrates a 2-1 win over Shaler in the WPIAL Class 3A Girls Soccer Championship game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at F.N.B. Stadium. Justin Guido/Special to the Eagle
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Mars Carly McKenna takes the ball from Shaler’s Lillian Trgovic (37) in the WPIAL Class 3A Girls Soccer Championship game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at F.N.B. Stadium. Justin Guido/Special to the Eagle
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Mars Julia Siket (3) fight for a loose ball with Shaler’s Lillian Trgovic (37) in the WPIAL Class 3A Girls Soccer Championship game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, at F.N.B. Stadium. Justin Guido/Special to the Eagle
PITTSBURGH — The Mars girls soccer program saw its shadow over the top of Western Pennsylvania narrow a bit over the past four years.
While the Planets’ reputation was still sterling, they found seasons tended to end earlier than they hoped.
Before fourth-seeded Mars took on section rival and No. 2-seed Shaler in the WPIAL Class 3A final Saturday at F.N.B. Stadium, Planets head coach Blair Gerlach was interested to see how this group would react when things went wrong.
Fate gifted him his answer.
The Titans struck first, but Mars rallied to grab a 2-1 win on a goal by Mackenzie Powell in the 64th minute to earn the program’s ninth championship and first since 2021.
“There’s a lot of people talking about the possibility of maybe next year when the majority of starters are juniors or seniors,” Gerlach said. “But probably not when there are five sophomores starting. They are a resilient bunch. When they went down today, I wondered if they were battle tested enough.”
The Planets total would have equaled a WPIAL record for most overall championships if Mt. Lebanon hadn’t snapped an 18-year drought to win its 10th by beating North Allegheny 1-0 (5-4 PKs) in the game preceding Mars’ win.
Mars (17-1-1) was playing in its first WPIAL championship game since it lost to Moon in 2022. It was the eighth time since the championship games were moved to F.N.B. Stadium -- formerly Highmark Stadium -- in 2013 the Planets reached the final.
Mars evened its record at 4-4 in title games at the venue.
“This was our goal the whole season,” Mars junior midfielder Jade Breese said. “Mars’ program has a good history, so that added to our goal more. Every time we practiced and stepped on the field, we worked hard to reach that goal.”
Etta Warner put pressure on the Planets in the 18th minute for Shaler (15-4). She found a way to track down Deliah Arrigo’s corner kick and guide it into the back of the net after a chaotic scramble.
Powell said the team refocused by thinking about their commitment to each other.
“It was more of this playing for the people next to us,” Powell said. “Our seniors and juniors have never experienced this. After the first goal, we had to calm down and remember we can do this.”
The Planets didn’t wait long to go on the attack. Breese got on the end of a header in the box that was saved by Liv Ryan a few minutes later.
Mars, which split a pair of section meetings with the Titans, evened the match in the 35th minute. Miley Gratton drew a foul in the box.
Breese stepped to the line and buried the penalty kick. Shaler head coach Carlo Prati didn’t believe it was worthy of a foul.
“That PK, I am still kind of ticked off about it,” Prati said. “There were a lot of soft calls throughout the play. They made them count when they needed to score. They are a good team.”
Powell gave the Planets the lift they needed to seal a winner. She won the ball on Shaler’s side of the field and stepped on the gas. Powell controlled the ball until she was about 6 yards out before sliding the winning shot past Ryan with 15:47 remaining.
“It was a lot of pressure, obviously,” Powell said. “I was getting really nervous that I had to look up at the goalie, see she was going to the other side and put it in. It was more of a placement than a shot.”
Gerlach is excited to see what this team can do as it moves into the state playoffs.
“This group is fun,” Gerlach said. “They are so naive that they just show up and play hard. They don’t know the gravity of what they are doing.”
