Will Penns Valley have enough girls to field a soccer team? AD ‘hoping to fix that’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Penns Valley faces critically low turnout for girls varsity soccer in 2025.
- Officials warn a co-ed team could reduce opportunities and strain both programs.
- Opportunities are still available to sign up and show interest in joining the team.
With player counts dwindling, Penns Valley needs help keeping its girls soccer program on track.
Current numbers for the Rams’ varsity girls soccer team are “critically low,” athletic and community relations director Paige Kubalak said in a note to district families last week. If the number of interested soccer players doesn’t grow over the next few weeks, Penns Valley may need to run a co-ed varsity soccer program this fall.
“Our goal is to not let that happen, mostly because it would reduce the opportunities for all athletes involved, both male and female,” Kubalak told the Centre Daily Times. “It can be intimidating for some girls, and it’s not the best way to go if we want to keep our girls soccer program strong. Our boys soccer program is really thriving and has a lot of numbers, and adding more numbers to that would make team management more difficult, too.”
Kubalak estimates Penns Valley has between nine and 11 student-athletes interested in joining the girls varsity soccer team this fall, according to rough counts from recent meeting attendance and voluntary workouts. She said it’s tough to get a committed count of players because some requirements for fall sports participation — including completing online forms and submitting Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association paperwork — are not due until early August.
Increasing the team’s numbers even more would help flesh out the roster’s reserves and protect against unexpected injuries or conflicts, Kubalak said. At a minimum, a program needs 11 players to field a team.
Kubalak said she’s observed decreased sports participation in other high schools in the area, too. She cited dwindling student enrollment as a significant factor behind recent struggles to field a full girls varsity soccer team for Penns Valley, whose district has observed an overall enrollment decline of nearly 11% since the 2010-11 academic year.
Some sports have seen decreases in participation following the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Kubalak, who said it’s difficult to attribute lower involvement to one specific cause.
“We just don’t have the numbers that we were seeing before [the pandemic],” Kubalak said. “They’ve just sort of dwindled down. We’re hoping to fix that and get some girls invested in our soccer program moving forward.”
Though Penns Valley hopes to avoid running a co-ed varsity soccer program this fall, the district has already overseen co-ed soccer programs at the junior high level for the past two seasons — another factor behind fewer girls soccer players participating at the high school. Kubalak said it’s too early to know if the Rams’ junior high soccer program would run in a co-ed capacity again this fall, but she’s started the scheduling process with the expectation of providing separate teams for boys and girls.
Avoiding co-ed programs in any sport is critical, Kubalak said. If the number of committed players doesn’t grow enough over the next few weeks, Penns Valley could even partner with another district to field a joint team and avoid requiring each to field co-ed soccer teams.
“Providing opportunities for our athletes is extremely important,” she said. “We want to give our athletes the ability and the chance to grow and enjoy the sport, and going co-ed could make that extremely difficult for both teams. We want to keep those programs separate and thriving.”
Joining the team
Penns Valley has several opportunities available for interested student-athletes hoping to learn more about its soccer programs.
At an upcoming “Meet the Lady Rams” night on Monday, July 28, students between the seventh and 12th grades can meet active players and coaches and learn more about the team, its practice and game schedules and season-long operations throughout the fall. The event will run from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Penns Valley’s high school stadium.
Those interested in joining Penns Valley’s girls soccer teams can also visit any of the Rams’ open field sessions every Thursday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Penns Valley Elementary School’s soccer field. Prospective players and their families can reach coach Sean Herrmann at sherrmann@pennsvalley.org.
No prior experience playing soccer is required to join Penns Valley’s teams, Kubalak said.
“Our soccer programs offer a great experience,” Kubalak said. “These athletes really learn valuable life skills, build friendships and have fun while representing our community.”
This story was originally published July 24, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
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