BUTLER TWP — High school soccer is pretty strong at schools north of Pittsburgh.

Butler girls soccer coach Steve Perri wanted to give such programs a chance to flex their muscles.

So the Butler County Girls Soccer Kickoff Classic was born. The event features eight total games Saturday and Sunday at Butler's Art Bernardi Stadium.

“We traveled to an event like this in South Park for a few years,” Perri said. “The idea they had down there was to showcase girls soccer in the South Hills.

“My assistant coach and I got to thinking. We could do the same thing up here.”

Perri started asking other coaches in the area if they'd be interested and most of them were.

“We were playing a game at Seneca Valley and I asked Coach (Mark) Perry if he'd be interested in playing in it,” Perri said. “He was all for it.

“It didn't take long for other schools in the area to opt in as well.”

The nine-team field — Mars, Seneca Valley, North Catholic, Freeport, Burrell, Fox Chapel, Slippery Rock, Villa Maria and host Butler — does not have a team that posted a losing record last year. Freeport finished 6-6-2 after losing in the first round of the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs.

Mars and North Catholic won WPIAL titles last season. The Planets went on to claim the state championship while the Trojanettes lost in the state finals.

Butler reached the WPIAL 4A championship game a year ago. Slippery Rock was undefeated in District 10 region play. Villa Maria lost once in D-10 region competition.

“There is going to be plenty of talent and some very impressive teams in our stadium this weekend,” Perri said.

The combined 2020 won-loss records of the nine teams was 102 wins, 26 losses and five ties.

“This was all Steve's doing. He did all the work for this,” Mars coach Blair Gerlach said. “He asked me if we'd play and I said we'd come up for one game.”

Mars will be playing Seneca Valley as part of the Kickoff Classic.

“That was our opponent the last time we didn't win a game,” Gerlach said. “Our teams played to a 3-3 tie two years ago.

“We've got some young kids in our lineup this year and Seneca Valley didn't have one senior. All of their kids are back. This will be a big test for us. We'll see how our younger kids perform under the lights against a high-caliber opponent.”

Gerlach added that “this is what you want early in the season. Games like this help you get ready for league play and it showcases soccer in the area.”

Perri's ultimate goal is to get every girls soccer team in Butler County to participate in this event, which he plans to put together annually.

“Karns City couldn't work it out schedule-wise this year,” Perri said. “We were going to try to get Knoch when Fox Chapel opted in. That filled us up.

“We may expand this down the road. We'll see how it goes.”

Fox Chapel finished 11-3 last season. The Foxes will play Butler Saturday night.

BUTLER COUNTY GIRLS SOCCER KICKOFF CLASSIC

Art Bernardi Stadium

Saturday

1:30 p.m. — Burrell vs. Slippery Rock

3:30 p.m. — Seneca Valley vs. Villa Maria Academy

5:30 p.m. — North Catholic vs. Freeport

7:30 p.m. — Butler vs. Fox Chapel

Sunday

1:30 p.m. — North Catholic vs. Burrell

3:30 p.m. — Freeport vs. Slippery Rock

5:30 p.m. — Mars vs. Seneca Valley

7:30 p.m. — Butler vs. Villa Maria Academy