A-K Valley athletes of the week: Highlands’ Jackson Babinsack, Riverview’s Mary Quinlan

Mary Quinlan School: Riverview Class: Senior Sport: Soccer Claim to fame: Quinlan put together quite the stat sheet to open her senior season. She scored four goals and had three assists in both contests against South Side on Monday and Serra Catholic on Wednesday, powering the Raiders to a 2-0 overall record. How and when did you get started with soccer? I started when I was 5 playing for the local rec team here in Oakmont called Twin Boro. You had gotten off to a hot start to begin last year as well with five goals in the team’s first two games. Eight goals in the first two this year, to what do you attribute your fast starts? I’m a person that wants to win, wants to succeed and I also want my team to be successful. That’s my mindset. I want to play well. Are you concerned that teams will begin to shadow you in hopes of slowing you down? No, not really. I’m more focused on myself and how our team can be successful. Out of the eight goals you scored, which in your mind were the two best? Both of these goals happened in our game against Serra Catholic. The one, my teammate Hannah Hudack crossed the ball over, and I hit it back corner off her cross. The other I was dribbling down the sideline and made a move, and sent the ball to the upper left corner off my left foot. Not just a scorer, dishing out six assists, which of those were you most proud of? Just like one of my goals, I played Hannah a ball from the corner flag. I crossed it over and she hit it in. The other one was a give and go between me and Hannah and she was able to score off that. You and Hannah seem to have some real on-field chemistry. How did that chemistry come about? We’ve been playing together since Twin Boro, were always on the same side of the field, so we know how each other plays and how we work with each other. Strong year last year, but a disappointing playoff loss by penalty kicks. How tough was that loss and how anxious are the veterans on the team to make a deeper run this year? Everybody on the team was very upset because we had the lead for the first 60 minutes or so. It was a bad goal, bad communication on our part that allowed the goal to happen. Me and the rest of the seniors are ready to get back at it and do what we did freshman year, which was when we made it to the Class A championship game. We want to make this our best season. The year before last you missed time due to injury and only had between 10 and 15 goals. Being healthy all year last year, how many goals did you finish with? Between 26 and 30. What are your individual goals for this season? I want to win, but I also want to succeed in areas where I haven’t done as well, like I want to beat my own records and just be better overall. What goals have the team set? We want to win, work together as a team. We’ve done a lot of team bonding this year, have gone out to eat a lot after practices. Our team is all really close, which is a good thing and impacts how we play. There are no hard feelings. If something happens, we talk it over. No one gets mad. We all have really good chemistry together. Did you watch any of the Word Cup this summer? No, I was pretty busy working for my mom and doing a lot of soccer — playing soccer, training and coaching the younger kids how to play. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? From my dad, even if there are things holding you back, you just have to keep going. Favorite subject in school? Math. What are your future plans? I want to go to school to be a physician’s assistant or I want to do physical therapy. Because of the injuries I went through and how those people helped me, I want to help athletes the same way. Jackson Babinsack School: Highlands Class: Senior Sports: Soccer/football Claim to fame: In Week 1, Babinsack was busy as Highlands’ place kicker. He nailed three field goals (36, 37, 42) and made five extra points in the Rams’ 52-21 road win against Greensburg Salem. Then, on Monday, he scored the lone goal for the soccer team, lifting the Rams (2-1, 1-0 in Section 1-2A) to a 1-0 win over Ligonier Valley and added a goal and an assist in a 5-0 shutout victory over Valley on Tuesday. On Friday night, he drilled a 43-yard field goal and six point-after attempts as Highlands (2-0) earned a 45-22 win over Kiski Area. Down 21-7 early against Greensburg Salem, what was it like as the team came back, scoring as many points as you did? Being down early and rallying while also keeping them to 21 points the rest of the game felt nice and refreshing. You made three field goals, what’s the most you’ve ever made in a game? That was it, three. One of those field goals was from 42 yards. What’s the farthest you can make it from? In a game, I would say probably anything from 50 yards and in, I can make. I feel strong enough to make a 55-yard field goal. I’m sure coach Matt Bonislawski is aware of your range, but when the offense gets close are you in his ear asking for a shot? I definitely did that a couple of times that game. Last year I would do it every game. Your team finished second in the conference last year. What’s your outlook for this football season? I think we can be first in the conference. It’s a new conference with Imani Christian and East Allegheny moving out and North Catholic and Knoch coming in. How do you balance football and soccer at the same time? It almost aligns perfectly to where I don’t have to miss any games. Tuesdays and Thursdays are soccer games and Fridays are football. Mondays and Wednesdays are the practices for both teams and I try and practice without overdoing it. I don’t want to do too much and hurt myself or become too exhausted. If I need to sit a practice, I will. How do you train to keep your leg fresh throughout the week? For football, I don’t kick every day. I try and do more of a technique day where I focus on contacting the ball and my approach to kickoffs, punts and field goals. Monday, I’ll kick a decent amount and then Tuesday and Wednesday I’ll get a couple of kicks up in practice and rest the rest of the day. For soccer, nothing too crazy. All the running in soccer never really hurt my football abilities. Can you describe the goal you scored against Ligonier Valley? We were tied at zero in the second half and we realized we needed one. We got a ball from our goalkeeper to our left midfielder, Karter Bundy, who flicked it over the defender and I had to run between two defenders to track it down. I got the ball in the box and made a cut move back and shot it. The ball went through two defenders, hit off the back post and went in. What about the goal you scored against Valley? It was kind of like your average goal. I shot it from inside the box and it went left past the keeper. Wasn’t much to it. How did you get started with soccer? I’ve played soccer since I could walk. All my brothers played in youth. Me and my middle brother were the only ones to stick with it. We played on some club teams, middle school and high school. And when did you decide to play football? It was the end of my seventh-grade year. My middle brother Burton was kicking for the high school and he kind of got me into it. I’ve been kicking ever since. Did you watch the World Cup this summer? I watched a little bit of it. Any particular team you were rooting for? Obviously, USA and I liked Argentina. I didn’t mind that Spain won. What are your thoughts on a couple of eras ending as Lionel Messi retired from international play and Cristiano Ronaldo is thinking of doing the same? Those were the players I grew up watching, so it’s kind of sad. But I guess it’s time for the younger players to take over. Favorite subject in school? I enjoy history and government. What are your future plans? I hope to play football in college. I am looking to study management.