May 17, 2025 By Jonathan Guth 6 min read

PITTSBURGH — Tessa Dellarose has had quite a week.

The Brownsville Area High School graduate returned home to Grindstone on May 9 after finishing up her junior year at the University of North Carolina, and starting Monday, she began her tour promoting the Pittsburgh Riveters SC.

Dellarose was the first player to join the Riveters, and was also named the team captain. The 21-year-old midfielder, who won a national title with the Tar Heels on Dec. 9, led her team onto the field at Highmark Stadium Friday evening against the Cleveland Force in the inaugural match for the USL W franchise.

Pittsburgh fired four shots on target, and Piper Coffield’s goal was disallowed in the 47th minute, as the Force kept the home team off the scoreboard for a 0-0 draw before a sold out crowd of 6,077, which was the fourth largest in the history of Highmark Stadium.

“I thought we deserved to win the game,” Pittsburgh head coach Scott Gibson said. “I thought we played very well and created a lot of chances, but the hardest thing, whenever you have a new team gelling, is that final third, and putting the ball in the net. It’s the hardest thing to do, but I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Dellarose took all of her team’s corner kicks and had a free kick in the 79th minute that produced a header that went wide of the net. She also crept up from her spot at midfield to work for scoring opportunities in the second half.

“The tactics kind of changed when we were moving into the later minutes and it was still 0-0,” Dellarose said. “We were just trying to get up the field and make things happen, whether it was me or someone else. The crowd was amazing. They were definitely the 12th man and woman out there tonight. We were glad to get a clean sheet and earn a point, even though we have only been together since Monday. We’ll have some things to work on a little bit, but we will clean those up and be ready to go next time.”

Cleveland’s Griselda Revolorio (four saves) and the Riveters’ Pauline Nelles (two saves) earned clean sheets after 90 minutes of scoreless action.

Both teams earned one point in the first match of the season for the Great Forest Division rivals in the W League, which is the nation’s largest pre-professional women’s soccer league.

The Riveters’ Carola Fontan had her shot from the box hit the crossbar in the 24th minute.

Kennedy Neighbors had a shot go wide of the net early in the second half before Coffield’s non-goal that all started with a corner kick. Dellarose’s kick headed toward the front of the cage, and as Revolorio went up to corral the ball, some contact was made and the ball popped free from Revolorio before Coffield buried the shot. The goal was quickly waved off, much to the dismay of the Pittsburgh players, coaches and fans.

Coffield, who played in the WPIAL for Mars High School, had her jubilation turn to melancholy in a matter of seconds.

“I was ecstatic,” Coffield said. “You score, and you almost like black out. I can’t even tell you how excited I was at that moment. That would have been incredible, but whoever gets that first goal, it will be incredible regardless. I got chills as soon as I got out there on the field tonight. The atmosphere and crowd were amazing.”

Gibson didn’t want to play the blame game with the officials, as he pointed out that his team had more than one chance to score, but he wasn’t 100 percent in agreement with the call. The referee ruled that Revolorio was fouled, which caused the ball to come out of her hands before Coffield pounced on it.

“I would like to see that play again,” Gibson said. “We are not here to talk about referees because we had enough chances in the game, and it was such a shame because the ball hit the back of the net and the place erupted, but there is only one person who can spoil that emotion, and that’s the referee, but he’s OK. We had more chances to score than that.”

Canon-McMillan High School product Lilly Bane, who will play in college for Purdue, had a shot on target in the second half for Pittsburgh. Neighbors added a shot on goal at 58:33.

The Riveters’ Robin Reilly had a shot sit on top of the cage in the 68th minute after Dellarose set up the play with a corner kick.

Dellarose played all 90 minutes, and Gibson didn’t think about taking her out, despite having a week that included an appearance on the “Mark Madden Radio Show,” which is popular among the younger demographic.

“There has been a lot of extra stuff going on this week, and Tessa and myself have been the ones handling most of that,” Gibson said. “She is an unbelievable human being. When we put this team together, that was the first call we made to get her on the team.

“Tessa is tired, too, but she wasn’t coming on the field unless we scored some early goals and I could have rested her. She doesn’t want to come off the field, and if I did take her off the field, she would have given me that look that Tessa gives.

“She is a national champion for North Carolina, and she had to bounce back from falling short in the NCAA final before winning the title. She is a winner, and we want winners on this team.”

Dellarose relishes the attention she can give to not only the Brownsville community but Fayette County.

“Any time there is a high-level athlete that comes out of Brownsville, Western Pa., or any small, rural area just like ours is really cool to see,” Dellarose said. “We are not like a hotspot area or hotspot city, so to see someone excel on a bigger stage than what it would be in western Pennsylvania is really cool, and I do take a lot of pride in that, whether it’s me or someone else.”

Pittsburgh outshot Cleveland, 13-4. The Riveters’ Natalia DiSora was shown a yellow card in the 18th minute. Pittsburgh was called for 10 fouls, while the Force had seven.

The Riveters return to the pitch next Saturday at Flower City 1872 for a 6 p.m. match. Flower City 1872 plays in Rochester, N.Y.