Fearless freshmen, senior leadership guides Strath Haven to state title

Tessa to Annie to Ana produced the lone goal in the second half in a 1-0 win for Strath Haven over Lower Dauphin in the PIAA Class 3A girls soccer state final and was a perfect summary of the recipe the Panthers used to win the school’s first state title since 2002.

The combination play from the Dignazio sisters – Tessa a freshman and Annie a senior – and the header from sophomore Ana Hurwitz showed the mix of youth and experience that head coach Gino Miraglia was able to bring together to cap the season with a state title.

“The freshmen grew up very fast this year,” Miraglia said, recalling their win over Class 4A finalists Conestoga the third game of the season. “I think going back to that Conestoga game, we started six freshmen that game, and sometimes they don’t know how big the moment is. But a lot of these girls have played on high level club teams, and so they have experience with the speed of play, how to escape, problem solve and all of that.”

The 1-0 shutout win over Lower Dauphin was their 15th clean sheet of the season with freshman goalkeeper Alice Rieger in net.

“I think we’re all very experienced and we’ve all been playing soccer for a long time and we understand the game and we’ve grown up watching the high school team so we knew what to expect,” Rieger said. “Everyone has a really good understanding of the game and that allows us to have a lot of good chemistry on and off the field.”

Rieger plays in ECNL with Pipeline while Maddie Fanning, Kenzie Fanning and Tessa Dignazio were on the 1776 United 2010 team that won the Eastern Pennsylvania State Cup last May.

The Fannings are one of two sets of twins on the team that includes juniors Clara Davis and Adelyn Davis, who were instrumental in shutting down Lower Dauphin’s vibrant attack led by senior forward Ashley Economopoulos.

Annie Dignazio is headed to Brown University to play lacrosse so ending her career on a high note as a state champion, sharing the field with her sister and combining on the lone goal was a storybook ending for her and her family.

“When the game ended, the first person I looked for was Tessa, and I saw both sets of twins go for each other,” Annie Dignazio said. “It’s just something special you can share with girls that you’ve been with your entire life. It’s just unreal that I got to share this cool experience with Tessa. I’ve waited four years for this with my little sister and we got to win a state championship together.”

The state championship was the third girls soccer state title for the school and the 8th state championship in soccer. The girls won the state title in 2002 and 1997 while the boys won titles in 1986, 1991, 1995, 1996 and 2001.

Strath Haven’ts victory came on the heels of the Radnor boys soccer title at Eagle View Middle School in Mechanicsburg. Prior to 2023 when Delaware County Christian won the Class A boys title, a team from Delaware County hadn’t won a soccer title since Radnor boys in 2004 and Strath Haven girls in 2002.

“When I first started coaching, Joe was on the girls side at Radnor so it was great seeing him win one,” Miraglia said. “And great for the Central League to have two state titles,”