Pittsburgh Tribune-Review athletes of the week: Sewickley Academy's Matthew Teitelbaum, Canon-McMillan's Aideen O&a...

Matthew Teitelbaum

Sport: Soccer

School: Sewickley Academy

Year: Senior

Claim to fame: Teitelbaum scored five goals in a win over OLSH on Sept. 23. The No. 1 team in Class A is off to a 7-2 start overall and a 6-0 record in Section 5-A after finishing as the WPIAL and PIAA runner-up last season.

You lost just one player from last season's team that advanced all the way to the state championship game. That has to be a pretty good feeling to have going into a season right?

Yes, the year before we lost nine starters and then we were able to make the run that we did so it's a huge confidence boost to come back in with 10 returning players, all a year more experienced than they were the year before. It gives us a lot of confidence going into the season and helps us play better, especially going into some of our bigger games.

How would you describe yourself as a player?

I try to be supportive of everybody. Especially as we get a year older, more experienced, it's more important that we stick together and keep close as a team so I always try to help everyone be supportive of each other and try to help out as best I can. But above all, make sure everyone else remains confident in what they can do and try to help them be the best they can be.

What are your plans for college?

I know I want to study international affairs, so I've been looking around at some of those schools. If I can find a really good school where I can also play, awesome. If not … I'd like to play club or recreationally though.

What's your favorite class?

French I. I decided to double up on languages this year, and so far it's proven to be a great decision.

Aideen O'Donoghue

Sport: Soccer

School: Canon-McMillan

Year: Junior

Claim to fame: Last week, the Rutgers recruit netted two goals vs. Moon, scored the game-tying goal against Peters Township and had a hat trick against Brashear in a trio of wins for Class AAAA's No. 2 ranked Big Macs, who were WPIAL and PIAA runners-up last season. O'Donoghue has 10 goals this season.

What will it take to win a championship?

We know how to get there just like we did last year. I think this year we do have a little bit more confidence. Last year we were neck-and-neck with a bunch of teams and now we're kind of putting teams away, we're winning games, we're coming back in games that we're losing.

What led you to pick Rutgers?

I had a lot of interest in them, they had a lot of interest in me my freshman year at tournaments. I did two visits. ... I fell in love with the coaching staff, the atmosphere, everything about it.

When you're not playing soccer what do you like to do?

Hanging out with my friends. I'm friends with a lot of girls that don't play soccer ... and family time.

What's the last movie you saw?

The last movie I saw, I think it was the newest “Fast and Furious.” I would say four stars. I don't really like action movies that much, but I really liked this one.

— Alex Oltmanns