- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 412,580
- Reaction score
- 43
Longtime girls high school soccer coach Bill Pfeifer will begin his 30th year as a head coach when he returns to the sidelines for the 2025 season with Moon Area.
During his career, the Moon Area head coach has amassed over 500 career wins, guided teams to several WPIAL and PIAA titles, and won NFHS national girls’ soccer coach of the year honors.
Now, Pfeifer can add Hall of Fame inductee to that list of accolades.
On Saturday, Pfeifer along with eight other individuals, will be inducted into the PA Sports Hall of Fame Western Chapter. He will be the second person from the Beaver Valley to be inducted this year as he will be joined by world-renowned boxing trainer Tom Yankello, who is the western chapter's 2025 “Inductee of Distinction”.
More: Accessing local journalism is even easier with the Beaver County Times app
When he first got the news of being inducted into the Hall of Fame, Pfeifer was surprised but humbled that he was selected being only a handful of individuals from the sport of soccer to be inducted.
“I was told by the committee that I had good credentials and my stats were outstanding but I was surprised because the sport of soccer is only starting to find its way into the Hall of Fame now,” Pfeifer said. “I was hoping for the best, expecting the worst but I couldn't be disappointed with the outcome. When I found out that I was in, I was thrilled.”
Pfeifer’s Hall of Fame career has made many stops across the Beaver Valley and beyond but has always been rooted around the small town of Sewickley.
As he was beginning to become a head coach at the high school level, Pfeifer met Bill Piper who ran Sewickley Sports Arena formerly known as SporTrak until he died in 2019.
Along with meeting Piper, the coach also picked the brains of longtime Robert Morris men’s soccer head coach John Kowalski, Quaker Valley head coach Gene Klein and Fox Chapel head coach Jim Perry who mentored Pfeifer during his early years.
“I did camps with John up at Robert Morris, worked with Gene's high school team at the arena, I knew Jim from going to school with his son Mark [Perry] and his daughters so I learned a lot through working with all of them as well as Bill. From them first being my mentors to then becoming friends later in life, those are some of the people that I looked up to the most.”
After time at Center High School and Seneca Valley, Pfeifer began his first stint with Moon Area which stretched from 2001-17. During his 16-year tenure, he helped guide the team to three WPIAL and PIAA titles.
Required Reading: Moon Area coach Bill Pfeifer named NFHS National Girls’ Soccer Coach of the Year
But following the 2017 WPIAL and PIAA championship title runs, Pfeifer stepped away from the job at Moon Area not being able to commit enough time to the program as his wife was battling lung cancer and he underwent a total knee replacement.
He returned to the sidelines one year later in 2018 after he was contacted by his friend and former Hopewell athletic director Don Short who wanted Pfeifer and his assistant Arnie Thomas to take over a team that won a combined six games the two seasons prior.
Wanting to help out a friend, Pfeifer accepted the position and immediately did what he did during his tenure at Moon Area. He began to build up a culture within the Hopewell program making sure players dressed the same, obtained new gear from the athletic director and also created a locker room for the players in the officials locker room making the best out of what they had.
That changed the culture immediately and the trajectory of the program as Hopewell went on to win back-to-back section titles along with a berth in the WPIAL championship game.
“Me, Arnie and my other assistant coaches, we have put in a system that is organized, have a set way of doing things but are always open to change,” Pfeifer said. “The kids have seen that the system works so they are willing to give it a chance and buy into the process. When they buy in they aren't just successful on the field but also off the field because they knew they had to keep their grades up and stay out of trouble to play. With the kids holding themselves accountable that leads to a lot of change.”
After serving as Central Valley’s head coach in 2020, Pfeifer returned to Moon Area and went on to capture back-to-back WPIAL titles in 2021-22 and three straight PIAA titles from 2021-23.
While the head coach enjoys winning titles, receiving accolades and being inducted into the hall of fame, outside of everything, he loves seeing his players and what they do off the field even more.
“I am a teacher at South Fayette and a former player is a principal there. Some of them are superintendents, teachers, military officers, doctors and others I have coached against," Pfeifer said. I have watched Delaney Snyder play for Louisville on a nationally ranked-team. Brian Pensky who just had won a national title at Florida State called me after I coached the High School All-American game in 2023 and asked for my opinion on a player. Along with that, I will always cherish the memories that I have made with the team off the field.”
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Moon Area head coach Bill Pfeifer to be inducted in PA Sports Hall of Fame
Continue reading...
During his career, the Moon Area head coach has amassed over 500 career wins, guided teams to several WPIAL and PIAA titles, and won NFHS national girls’ soccer coach of the year honors.
Now, Pfeifer can add Hall of Fame inductee to that list of accolades.
On Saturday, Pfeifer along with eight other individuals, will be inducted into the PA Sports Hall of Fame Western Chapter. He will be the second person from the Beaver Valley to be inducted this year as he will be joined by world-renowned boxing trainer Tom Yankello, who is the western chapter's 2025 “Inductee of Distinction”.
More: Accessing local journalism is even easier with the Beaver County Times app
When he first got the news of being inducted into the Hall of Fame, Pfeifer was surprised but humbled that he was selected being only a handful of individuals from the sport of soccer to be inducted.
“I was told by the committee that I had good credentials and my stats were outstanding but I was surprised because the sport of soccer is only starting to find its way into the Hall of Fame now,” Pfeifer said. “I was hoping for the best, expecting the worst but I couldn't be disappointed with the outcome. When I found out that I was in, I was thrilled.”
Pfeifer’s Hall of Fame career has made many stops across the Beaver Valley and beyond but has always been rooted around the small town of Sewickley.
As he was beginning to become a head coach at the high school level, Pfeifer met Bill Piper who ran Sewickley Sports Arena formerly known as SporTrak until he died in 2019.
You must be registered for see images attach
Along with meeting Piper, the coach also picked the brains of longtime Robert Morris men’s soccer head coach John Kowalski, Quaker Valley head coach Gene Klein and Fox Chapel head coach Jim Perry who mentored Pfeifer during his early years.
“I did camps with John up at Robert Morris, worked with Gene's high school team at the arena, I knew Jim from going to school with his son Mark [Perry] and his daughters so I learned a lot through working with all of them as well as Bill. From them first being my mentors to then becoming friends later in life, those are some of the people that I looked up to the most.”
After time at Center High School and Seneca Valley, Pfeifer began his first stint with Moon Area which stretched from 2001-17. During his 16-year tenure, he helped guide the team to three WPIAL and PIAA titles.
You must be registered for see images attach
Required Reading: Moon Area coach Bill Pfeifer named NFHS National Girls’ Soccer Coach of the Year
But following the 2017 WPIAL and PIAA championship title runs, Pfeifer stepped away from the job at Moon Area not being able to commit enough time to the program as his wife was battling lung cancer and he underwent a total knee replacement.
He returned to the sidelines one year later in 2018 after he was contacted by his friend and former Hopewell athletic director Don Short who wanted Pfeifer and his assistant Arnie Thomas to take over a team that won a combined six games the two seasons prior.
Wanting to help out a friend, Pfeifer accepted the position and immediately did what he did during his tenure at Moon Area. He began to build up a culture within the Hopewell program making sure players dressed the same, obtained new gear from the athletic director and also created a locker room for the players in the officials locker room making the best out of what they had.
You must be registered for see images attach
That changed the culture immediately and the trajectory of the program as Hopewell went on to win back-to-back section titles along with a berth in the WPIAL championship game.
“Me, Arnie and my other assistant coaches, we have put in a system that is organized, have a set way of doing things but are always open to change,” Pfeifer said. “The kids have seen that the system works so they are willing to give it a chance and buy into the process. When they buy in they aren't just successful on the field but also off the field because they knew they had to keep their grades up and stay out of trouble to play. With the kids holding themselves accountable that leads to a lot of change.”
After serving as Central Valley’s head coach in 2020, Pfeifer returned to Moon Area and went on to capture back-to-back WPIAL titles in 2021-22 and three straight PIAA titles from 2021-23.
While the head coach enjoys winning titles, receiving accolades and being inducted into the hall of fame, outside of everything, he loves seeing his players and what they do off the field even more.
“I am a teacher at South Fayette and a former player is a principal there. Some of them are superintendents, teachers, military officers, doctors and others I have coached against," Pfeifer said. I have watched Delaney Snyder play for Louisville on a nationally ranked-team. Brian Pensky who just had won a national title at Florida State called me after I coached the High School All-American game in 2023 and asked for my opinion on a player. Along with that, I will always cherish the memories that I have made with the team off the field.”
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Moon Area head coach Bill Pfeifer to be inducted in PA Sports Hall of Fame
Continue reading...
