Emma Bennethum looks back fondly on her days as a soccer player at Plum. And why not?
Her time with the Mustangs included three consecutive trips to the WPIAL Class 3A championship game. Though each of those matches ended with a loss to Mars, Bennethum and her Plum teammates were part of plenty of wins during their four years.
The victories haven’t followed Bennethum to college.
Entering her junior season at Pitt-Johnstown, she has experienced seven total wins. The Mountain Cats, in fact, haven’t had a winning season since 2012, when they were a member of the old West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Since they entered the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference in 2013, the Mountain Cats largely have struggled, never winning more than six conference games in a season (2019).
But as the 2024 season dawns, there is a fresh outlook around the long-suffering program. Aideen O’Donoghue, a former high school all-American at Canon-McMillan who played at Pitt and South Florida, took over as coach Aug. 1 and has brought a new enthusiasm to the Mountain Cats.
O’Donoghue, who previously served two years as an assistant at Point Park, is only three years removed from her own playing days but said she always envisioned what she would do in certain situations if she was a head coach. Now, she gets to put them into practice.
“I already had a ton of plans in mind, things I wanted to do,” she said. “Where the program is is exciting for me with it being my first head coaching job. They haven’t had much success the past couple of seasons, so I can come in, maybe change things around and implement more formations and get them fired up again.
“There’s tons of talent. … I don’t think these past couple of seasons … it hasn’t been for a lack of talent. Unlucky in certain instances and maybe people in positions that they just didn’t have as much success in.”
Bennethum was one of the players O’Donoghue took a liking to right away. Their shared WPIAL/Pittsburgh-area bond initiated plenty of conversations about Primanti Bros. and the like. More importantly, the new coach also likes what Bennethum can contribute on the pitch.
“She’s a very, very strong six (defensive midfielder) for us,” O’Donoghue said, “and having played for Beadling (Soccer Club), I know the kind of training she’s got and her skill level. Right now, I like her at the six, but there’s always time to move her around.”
Bennethum has been a regular in the UPJ lineup, appearing in 33 matches over her two seasons. Last season, she appeared in all 18 matches, including her first four collegiate starts, for a team that finished 3-10-5 (3-9-4 PSAC West).
She said that though the coaching change was a jolt — particularly so close to the start of fall practice — she is optimistic about the program’s fortunes changing.
“It definitely was a shock, but I feel like the motivation when the coaching staff did switch, it was like night and day,” Bennethum said. “We are all motivated now, and we all want to win.
“I feel like (O’Donoghue) understands us personally, not just as soccer players but as humans as well. It makes it way nicer.”
Bennethum said one of the big differences she can see is practices now are more focused. She said rather than having players constantly running, O’Donoghue is honing in on game strategy and situational soccer.
In UPJ’s scrimmage opener against La Roche, Bennethum said she could see the results, noting a marked improvement in the team’s energy level and commitment.
“Everything was on point,” she said. “Our compete level was up, and we all had a positive mindset going into the game, us being at a higher level. We didn’t go down to their level.”
Bennethum will be counted on to contribute in ways that don’t necessarily show up on the stat sheet. In two collegiate seasons, her statistics consisted of one assist.
O’Donoghue won’t be bothered if Bennethum isn’t stuffing the stat sheet. Keeping the other team from doing so will be her primary job.
“She’s very aware of the players around her,” O’Donoghue said, “… and she knows where the ball is supposed to go.”
In addition, Bennethum, as one of the more experienced players on the team, will be counted on to lead the younger players.
Bennethum said she doesn’t look at players in terms of their age, preferring to create a strong bond between all the classes rather than some hierarchy that could lead to tension.
“We all bond no matter what,” she said. “We’re all teammates. We’re all friends. We don’t get mad at each other. But we also want to prove ourselves personally and compete for certain positions.
“I feel like we are all working really hard during practices to show what we have, and that translates into us working really hard in games to win.”
Wins have been hard to come by. That was reflected in the preseason PSAC West coaches’ polls, which placed Pitt-Johnstown eighth among the eight teams.
O’Donoghue said the No. 8 has become a rallying cry of sorts for her team. Whether that can lift the Mountain Cats out of that spot come November remains to be seen, but Bennethum said she is more concerned with how the team sets itself up for long-term success.
That, she said, will happen as long as the players continue to play for each other. Maybe then she can get back to some of that winning she enjoyed so much at Plum.
“I would not use wins and losses (to define success this season) because we are all learning from the bottom up,” she said. “I would (use) wanting to still play for the team and having motivation to be on the team and supporting each other through the whole process.”
Chuck Curti is a TribLive copy editor and reporter who covers district colleges. A lifelong resident of the Pittsburgh area, he came to the Trib in 2012 after spending nearly 15 years at the Beaver County Times, where he earned two national honors from the Associated Press Sports Editors. He can be reached at ccurti@triblive.com.
