Castiglie earns All-Rookie honors

A few weeks ago I wrote about Longwood graduate Ali Castiglie, who was in the midst of a terrific freshman year at Binghamton University in lacrosse. Well, it came out a few days ago that she was named to the 2008 America East All-Rookie Team. She made it along with teammate Lisa Illig.

Castiglie finished the season with a team-best 19 assists and was second in points with 37. The 27 points was the second-highest total for a Binghamton freshman since Becky Green in 2004.

The Bearcats finished the season with a program-best five wins.

Crushing hit by Mount Sinai's Connor Fitzgerald from the Wildcats' 6-3 win to open the season:

Rained out

No surprise here, but all the local sporting events for today have been postponed. It looks like the rain will continue all night and possibly into tomorrow. Let's hope all the games for tomorrow can at least be played.

The problem with a lot of rain like this is usually baseball and softball fields. Even after the rain stops, the fields often take another day or two to fully drain. Four out of five local baseball teams are scheduled to play tomorrow. 

The big match-up is Miller Place against Harborfields. The three-game set kicks off at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Miller Place with Game 2 switching to Harborfields at 4 p.m. Wednesday. The finale is set for 4:30 p.m. Thursday back at Miller Place. Both teams enter the series with 8-1 League VI records. The Panthers have just one loss so far this season in non-league and are 11-1 overall. Taking two of three would be huge boost down the stretch for the League VI title, which would almost guarantee a top-four seed to move into the double elimination part of the playoff bracket.

Rocky Point plays three with Amityville. The Warriors are 0-12 in league. If the Eagles can sweep the series they'd move to 10-2 coming down the stretch and would likely be tied for first with either Harborfields or Miller Place. The Eagles then end the season with three against Miller Place and Shoreham-Wading River. The Wildcats, now 6-3 in league, could use a sweep of East Hampton this week to stay in the race. The Bonackers, who beat Shoreham last year in the postseason, are 3-9 in league as of Monday.

Lyons earns second honor

Press Release:

AMHERST, Mass. - The Atlantic 10 Conference announced on Monday that freshman midfielder Jackie Lyons (Rocky Point, N.Y.) was named the women's lacrosse Rookie of the Week. This is the second time this season that Lyons has been named Rookie of the Week, her first was awarded in February.

In last Friday's victory against St. Bonaventure, the midfielder had a season-high two assists and two draw controls and aided the defense which only allowed 7 goals. In Sunday's heartbreaking loss to Dusquesne, Lyons scored the first goal of the second half to put Umass up 5-4. UMass eventually lost 11-10 on a goal scored in the final 13 seconds of the game.

This marks the fourth time this season that a UMass women's lacrosse rookie has received the Rookie of the Week award: Lyons (2/26, 4/21), Kelsey Schreiner (4/14) and Colleen Speth (3/24). With four rookie honors, UMass is tied with Richmond as the teams to receive the weekly award the most in the conference. Lyons also becomes the first rookie at UMass to earn the award twice in a season since Kathleen Typadis in 2005.

With the victory on Friday and the loss on Sunday, UMass secured the No. 4 seed in the Atlantic 10 conference. UMass will have a rematch with Richmond in the semifinal round on Friday at 1 PM at McGuirk Stadium.

MP grad Performer of the Week

Press Release:

Junior Kevin Mahoney (Miller Place, N.Y.) has been honored as the Ping! Performer of the Week at the Division I level for the week of April 14-20.

Mahoney hit .556 in the Golden Griffins’ five games last week and had 10 hits in his last 15 at-bats. The third baseman hit four home runs on the week, including three in the team’s 10-9 come-from-behind victory over Siena Sunday, to tie a school record. Mahoney also led the Griffs with seven runs scored, 11 RBIs and a 1.333 slugging percentage.

Mahoney, who was named the co-MAAC Player of the Week on Monday, leads the conference with his 10 home runs on the season and .721 slugging percentage. Mahoney is tied for fourth in batting average (.378), second in RBIs (36) and third in total bases (80).

Canisius, who set a school record with its 29th victory of the season on Sunday, plays a mid-week doubleheader at Cleveland State Tuesday.

SWR grad records win for Farmingdale State

Press Release:

Farmingdale, N.Y. - The Farmingdale State baseball team (19-13) overpowered non-conference opponent Baruch (3-23) on senior day this afternoon in Farmingdale, N.Y. The Rams were led by senior captain Keith King (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) who went 4 for 4 at the plate, scoring two runs and recording one run batted in. King was a homerun short of the cycle in his last home regular season game at Farmingdale.

Senior infielder Luis Feliciano (Bronx, N.Y./Park West) went 2 for 3 on the day with one RBI and three runs scored. Senior Frank Italiano (Sayville, N.Y./St. John the Baptist) was 2 for 5 at the plate, scoring three runs and recording two RBI’s in his last regular season game as a member of the Rams. Junior Mike Dietrich (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) contributed for Farmingdale with a 2 for 3 performance at the plate.

Starting pitcher Drew Dellanegra (Shoreham, N.Y./Shoreham-Wading River) recorded the win for the Rams. Dallanegra allowed two earned runs and six hits over five innings.

The Rams travel to Staten Island on Wednesday, April 23rd for a non-conference game at 6:00 pm.

Joe Spallina, remember him?

Press Release:

Garden City, N.Y. - Adelphi University Head Women's Lacrosse Coach, Joe Spallina, will participate in a live webcast on lacrossetalk.org this Monday, April 21, from 8:00 p.m-10:00 p.m.

Joining Spallina will be C.W. Post Head Coach, Meghan McNamara along with hosts Carol Rose and Tracy Wiener Provenz.

In just his first season with Adelphi, Spallina has led the #3 Panthers to a 11-0 record. McNamara, also in her first year with the #1 ranked Pioneers, is undefeated at 13-0. The two teams will face off on the field on Friday, May 2, at 3:00 p.m.

Lacrosse Talk currently airs on five major lacrosse markets, New York, Connecticut, Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore. It was created by Adelphi alumnus Michael Quinn '89, president of the New York Lacrosse Club, Inc.

Former MP pitcher excelling at Dowling

Press Release:

Brookville, NY- The Golden Lions dropped two games to conference foe CW Post this afternoon. In game one, the Pioneers held the Golden Lions scoreless to clench a 2-0 victory and in game two, Dowling fell 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth to drop 19-14 overall and 10-8 in the ECC.

GAME 1

Brent Lotito (Miller Place, NY) pitched 9 strong innings for his third consecutive complete game, allowing no earned run but it wasn't enough as Dowling bats went cold. Pioneers pitcher Bobby Kay matched Lotito's performance but CW Post managed to score two runs in the fifth for the 2-0 victory. Kay held Dowling to only hits, striking out 9 Golden Lions.

GAME 2

Another pitchers duel ensued, as Post once again jumped out to an early lead 2-0. After 14 straight scoreless innings the Dowling offense came alive in the top of the 6th as they tied the game at two scoring a run on a wild pitch and a Ralph Tufano (Staten Islan, NY) RBI single. Dowling would go ahead in the top of the 7th as Chris Caputo (West Islip, NY) lined a single down the left field line plating Eddie Squeri (Shirley, NY). Post would tie the game in the bottom half of the inning and getting to closer Joe Trainor (Massapequa, NY) and eventually win the game in the the 9th.

The Golden Lions return home as they close out the three-game stint against CW Post tomorrow on April 20th. First pitch set for 1:00 PM.

RP girls lax fall against Farmingdale

After undefeated runs through the regular season each of the past two seasons, the Rocky Point girls lacrosse team dropped a non-league contest against Farmingdale Saturday afternoon, 13-12.

The Eagles went 19-0 before losing in the Long Island championship in '06 and '07.

Saturday's loss was the first regular season loss for the Eagles since a 12-11 loss to Huntington on May 3, 2005.

Farmingdale is the defending Class A Long Island champion and advanced to the state final last year before losing to West Genesee, the top-ranked team in the country.

The Eagles beat Farmingdale last year, 9-7. 

The 13 goals given up were the most the Eagles have surrendered since the '06 Long Island championship when Garden City scored 16 in an overtime win. The Eagles hadn't given up more than five this season coming into the game.

Shoreham-Wading River is now the last undefeated team in Suffolk County Division II.

MS boys lax outlast Comewogue

A very impressive win for the Mount Sinai boys lacrosse team Friday night. The Mustangs, in triple OT, beat Comsewogue 5-4. Much of the talk about Mount Sinai coming into the season centered around its defense. This game showed exactly why. To hold a team like Comsewogue to four goals shows just how good this Mustang defense is. Andrew Zoly made 13 saves in the win as the Mustangs improved to 4-2.

The Mustangs have yet to give up more than six goals in a game. They're giving up an average of 3.8 goals per game. When you're giving up fewer than four goals per game, you don't need All-American attackers.

State lacrosse rankings

GIRLS

Rank Class B Record Prev
===== ==================== ===== =====
1. Garden City- 8 6-0
2. Yorktown- 1 4-0
3. Rocky Point- 11 5-0
4. Brighton- 5 5-0
5. Canandaigua- 5 4-0
6. Wantagh- 8 3-1-1
7. Irondequoit- 5 3-1
8. Webster Thomas- 5 2-1
9. Eastport- 11 4-2
10. Sayville- 11 4-2
11. Lynbrook- 8 2-2-1
12. Watertown- 3 4-0
13. Carthage- 3 1-2
14. West Seneca West-6 2-0
15. Fulton- 3 3-0
16. Comsewogue- 11 5-1
17. Niskayuna- 2 4-2
18. Lake Shore- 6 4-0
19. Averill Park- 2 4-1
20. Islip- 11 3-1


Rank Class C Record Prev
===== ==================== ===== =====
1. Shoreham-Wading River- 11 5-0
2. Skaneateles- 3 2-1
3. Manhasset- 8 4-1
4. Syracuse CBA- 3 2-0
5. East Rochester- 5 3-0
6. North Shore- 8 7-0
7. Westhill- 3 4-2
8. Cazenovia- 3 4-1
9. Marcellus- 3 4-1
10. Carle Place- 8 4-1-1
11. Jamesville-DeWitt- 3 5-1
12. Cold Spring Harbor- 8 3-5
13. Cortland- 3 1-0
14. Chittenango- 5-1
15. Bishop Ludden- 3 2-1
16. Corning East- 4 4-2
17. Bayport- 11 4-2
18. Emma Willard- 2 3-1
19. Ossining- 1 5-1
20. Waterloo- 5 4-2

BOYS
Class B
===== ==================== ===== =====
1. Carthage- 3 6-0 3.
2. Shoreham-Wading River- 11 4-1 2.
3. Garden City- 8 4-2 1.
4. Comsewogue- 11 6-0 4.
5. Lynbrook- 8 5-1 6.
6. Rocky Point- 11 6-1 7.
7. John Jay Cross River- 1 2-2 5.
8. Hewlett- 8 5-0 9.
9. Jericho- 8 5-1 NR
10. Jamesville-DeWitt- 3 3-2 12.
11. Sayville- 11 4-1 BR
12. Aquinas- 5 5-1 8.
13. Chenango Forks- 4 5-1 14.
14. Amherst- 6 4-2 11.
15. East Syracuse-Minoa- 3 3-1 NR



Class C
===== ====================
1. Manhasset- 8 5-0 1.
2. LaFayette- 3 5-0 2.
3. Corning East- 4 5-0 3.
4. Cold Spring Harbor- 8 5-1 4.
5. Homer- 3 6-0 5.
6. Mount Sinai- 11 3-2 NR
7. Penn Yan- 5 4-1 6.
8. John Glenn- 11 5-1 NR
9. Rye- 1 2-2 7.
10. Salmon River- 10 3-0 NR

Keith wins National Championship

From USA Wrestling:

By Gary Abbott
04/13/2008

AKRON, OHIO – The FILA Cadet National Championships of Wrestling has become one of the most competitive and unpredictable age-group events during the annual USA Wrestling season. The 2008 edition proved to be no exception.

A new star was discovered, as Steven Keith of New York captured the 50 kg/110 lbs. weight class and was named Outstanding Wrestler in the freestyle division.

In his pool competition, Keith defeated returning FILA Cadet National champion and 2007 Cadet National champion Hunter Stieber of Ohio, 4-1, 2-2, 4-2.

In the championship finals, Keith handily defeated another Ohio state high school champion, Ty Mitch, by a 6-0, 6-0 technical fall.

Keith had competed at the Cadet Nationals the last two years, but was unable to earn All-American honors. He attends Shoreham-Wading River High School on Long Island, N.Y., the same school that developed NCAA champion Jesse Jantzen and his talented brother Corey Jantzen.

“I wrestled well on the mat and on my feet today,” said Keith. “In tough tournaments like this, it is the little things that make the difference, like step outs and counters to shots.”

RP wrestling receives boost

Brandon Escobar may be graduating, but the the Rocky Point wrestling team is set to pick up an equally talented wrestler. Newsday is reporting that Stephen Dutton, an All-Long Island wrestler from Hauppauge, moved out of the district, now lives in Rocky Point and is set to begin classes as early as today.

Dutton placed third in the state in March, with his only loss coming against Ryan Blauvelt of Oswego in the first round of the state tournament.

Dutton will be a junior next year with two years of eligibility left. The Eagles return a talented core of wrestlers and with the addition of Dutton, could be considered one of the top three teams in the county heading into the season.