Fall 2010 PTA summary
Girls Soccer
The Girls soccer team won their fifth Union County title in six years when they completed a three game sweep of Westfield with a 2-0 victory on October 31 at Kean University. Sophomore defender Christine Miklas and junior midfielder Julie Glover both scored and senior keeper Paige Della Badia recorded her 11th shutout of the season. The Raiders wound up the season with a 14-2-4 record, were unbeaten Watchung Conference winners and advanced to the semi final round of the State Sectionals. In veteran coach Kevin Ewing’s system there are no rebuilding seasons as a seemingly endless supply of talented girls fills in for the previous years’ graduates.
Della Badia was the backbone of the county’s toughest defense, with a 0.42 goals-against-average and 11 shutouts. Avika Shah led the team in scoring with 11 goals and five assists while senior midfielder Emily Nagourney contributed eight goals and two assists. Nagourney was second team all state and first team all county. She was joined on the county team by Shah and senior defender Claudia Falconeri.
Junior forward Sarah Van Buskirk was a continual scoring threat and scored nine goals. Senior Gabby Vacca was another solid scoring threat. Junior Erin Pierce was another valuable midfielder. Pierce, Van Buskirk, Miklas,Glover and Christine Monroy will form the nucleus of another strong team. Sophomore Taylor Sebalao has also shared time at goalie and should continue another Raider tradition of great goalkeeping.
Boys Soccer
An entirely rebuilt boys soccer team took its lumps early this season struggling to a 2-6-5 record and enduring a four game losing streak, the first in Coach Tom Breznitsky’s esteemed 35 year career. But the young Raiders caught fire and wound up 10-8-7. Scotch Plains took Westfield into overtime in the county finals before losing 2-1. The Raiders won three straight road games in the state tournament before falling to top five rated Chatham in the finals. Breznitsky wound up the season with 596 career wins and was named county coach of the year.
Sophomore Andrew Leischner, the third member of his family to play at SPF blossomed into a star and clutch player who scored the decisive shot in two penalty kick shootouts and was named all county.
Junior Travis Cortes, one of the few Raiders from last year’s senior dominated 19-3-2 squad, was the most consistent player distributing the ball from his center midfield position and scoring in a variety of ways. He was named second team all county. Seniors Rory Szeto and Sean Reilly lent stability to a team primarily comprised of underclassmen. Freshman forward Christian Zazzali is a future star and scored three times. Junior Alex Markovits, sophomore Morgan Ellman and junior Zach Lenoff have paced the defense. Other top juniors included Dan McMillan, Billy Babis and Mike Daly. Sophomore Colin Stripling is another player to watch.
Sophomore goalkeeper Vin Bianco caught fire late in the season and won two penalty kick shootouts and had seven shutouts. Sophomore Seth Schlisserman shared time in goal and had three shutouts.
Football
A young team has endured a perfect storm of misfortune and wound up 1-9, beating Millburn in its final game to avoid a winless season.
Running back Quentin Blackwell and junior quarterback Steve Alleman paced the improving offense in the second half of the season. On the receiving end of Alleman’s passes have been senior wide receivers Mousse Channaoui and Sean Coloney as well as Blackwell.
The young defense stepped up its effectiveness in the final weeks
Standouts have been junior tackle Dan Lynch, junior outside linebacker Andrew Miller, senior cornerback Connor Thompson, linebacker Brett Kovacs, senior end Matt Manns, senior linebacker Neville Hall, senior outside linebacker Kyle Berwick and senior safety Sean Coloney
Volleyball
Coach Adrienne Stack’s team has taken a step back this season but recently scored its top win of the year when they defeated highly touted Union. The Raiders finished 9-11 and lost in the quarterfinals of the counties.
Senior Rebecca Kreyer is one of the county’s top setters and is also a fine server. Many of her passes connect with senior outside hitter Aysia Peterson who uses her height and leaping ability to dominate. Senior middle hitter Erin Brown is also a force at the net and sophomore Tara Sweeney is a future star. Peterson was named second team all county.
Gymnastics
The Scotch Plains Fanwood Gymnastics team has rebuilt and is on the upswing as the season heads towards the homestretch. Sophomore Alexandra Peluso and freshman Kacie Bumiller give the team bright future.
Tennis
The team went through a difficult schedule and wound up with a creditable 8-11 record. After a slow start the team came on during the second half the season and showed continual improvement under fourth year coach Gary Wasserman. The team's lineup included senior Christina Reiman at first singles, senior Isabel Lopez at second singles and sophomore Alex Sullivan at third singles. Sophomore Alyssa Leyden and senior Betsey Appel played first doubles and sophomores Lindsay Wilkinson and Gabirelle Mendez have played second doubles. Reiman was named third team all Union County.
Boys Cross Country
Veteran coach Jeff Koegel’s team finished with a 5-2 dual meet record losing to state number 3 Westfield and Summit. Senior Alex Parker has been the team leader all season. Junior Jon Kerby and senior Kyle Mahoney have been solid 2-3 runners. Sophomore Jon Miksis has shown rapid improvement. The boys were sixth in the Union County meet with Parker finishing fourth. They also qualified for the state finals by finishing fifth in the sections.
Girls Cross Country
The senior dominated team also finished 5-2 and like the boys has also dropped meets to Summit and Westfield. Senior Kathleen Leeper as been one of the county’s top runners. Seniors Laura Bruce and Lauren Williams have usually been the next two Raiders and sophomore Carly Redfield has been crowding the lead pack.
Leeper was third in the counties and also placed in the top ten in sections and state finals, qualifying for the Meet of Champions.
The Girls soccer team won their fifth Union County title in six years when they completed a three game sweep of Westfield with a 2-0 victory on October 31 at Kean University. Sophomore defender Christine Miklas and junior midfielder Julie Glover both scored and senior keeper Paige Della Badia recorded her 11th shutout of the season. The Raiders wound up the season with a 14-2-4 record, were unbeaten Watchung Conference winners and advanced to the semi final round of the State Sectionals. In veteran coach Kevin Ewing’s system there are no rebuilding seasons as a seemingly endless supply of talented girls fills in for the previous years’ graduates.
Della Badia was the backbone of the county’s toughest defense, with a 0.42 goals-against-average and 11 shutouts. Avika Shah led the team in scoring with 11 goals and five assists while senior midfielder Emily Nagourney contributed eight goals and two assists. Nagourney was second team all state and first team all county. She was joined on the county team by Shah and senior defender Claudia Falconeri.
Junior forward Sarah Van Buskirk was a continual scoring threat and scored nine goals. Senior Gabby Vacca was another solid scoring threat. Junior Erin Pierce was another valuable midfielder. Pierce, Van Buskirk, Miklas,Glover and Christine Monroy will form the nucleus of another strong team. Sophomore Taylor Sebalao has also shared time at goalie and should continue another Raider tradition of great goalkeeping.
Boys Soccer
An entirely rebuilt boys soccer team took its lumps early this season struggling to a 2-6-5 record and enduring a four game losing streak, the first in Coach Tom Breznitsky’s esteemed 35 year career. But the young Raiders caught fire and wound up 10-8-7. Scotch Plains took Westfield into overtime in the county finals before losing 2-1. The Raiders won three straight road games in the state tournament before falling to top five rated Chatham in the finals. Breznitsky wound up the season with 596 career wins and was named county coach of the year.
Sophomore Andrew Leischner, the third member of his family to play at SPF blossomed into a star and clutch player who scored the decisive shot in two penalty kick shootouts and was named all county.
Junior Travis Cortes, one of the few Raiders from last year’s senior dominated 19-3-2 squad, was the most consistent player distributing the ball from his center midfield position and scoring in a variety of ways. He was named second team all county. Seniors Rory Szeto and Sean Reilly lent stability to a team primarily comprised of underclassmen. Freshman forward Christian Zazzali is a future star and scored three times. Junior Alex Markovits, sophomore Morgan Ellman and junior Zach Lenoff have paced the defense. Other top juniors included Dan McMillan, Billy Babis and Mike Daly. Sophomore Colin Stripling is another player to watch.
Sophomore goalkeeper Vin Bianco caught fire late in the season and won two penalty kick shootouts and had seven shutouts. Sophomore Seth Schlisserman shared time in goal and had three shutouts.
Football
A young team has endured a perfect storm of misfortune and wound up 1-9, beating Millburn in its final game to avoid a winless season.
Running back Quentin Blackwell and junior quarterback Steve Alleman paced the improving offense in the second half of the season. On the receiving end of Alleman’s passes have been senior wide receivers Mousse Channaoui and Sean Coloney as well as Blackwell.
The young defense stepped up its effectiveness in the final weeks
Standouts have been junior tackle Dan Lynch, junior outside linebacker Andrew Miller, senior cornerback Connor Thompson, linebacker Brett Kovacs, senior end Matt Manns, senior linebacker Neville Hall, senior outside linebacker Kyle Berwick and senior safety Sean Coloney
Volleyball
Coach Adrienne Stack’s team has taken a step back this season but recently scored its top win of the year when they defeated highly touted Union. The Raiders finished 9-11 and lost in the quarterfinals of the counties.
Senior Rebecca Kreyer is one of the county’s top setters and is also a fine server. Many of her passes connect with senior outside hitter Aysia Peterson who uses her height and leaping ability to dominate. Senior middle hitter Erin Brown is also a force at the net and sophomore Tara Sweeney is a future star. Peterson was named second team all county.
Gymnastics
The Scotch Plains Fanwood Gymnastics team has rebuilt and is on the upswing as the season heads towards the homestretch. Sophomore Alexandra Peluso and freshman Kacie Bumiller give the team bright future.
Tennis
The team went through a difficult schedule and wound up with a creditable 8-11 record. After a slow start the team came on during the second half the season and showed continual improvement under fourth year coach Gary Wasserman. The team's lineup included senior Christina Reiman at first singles, senior Isabel Lopez at second singles and sophomore Alex Sullivan at third singles. Sophomore Alyssa Leyden and senior Betsey Appel played first doubles and sophomores Lindsay Wilkinson and Gabirelle Mendez have played second doubles. Reiman was named third team all Union County.
Boys Cross Country
Veteran coach Jeff Koegel’s team finished with a 5-2 dual meet record losing to state number 3 Westfield and Summit. Senior Alex Parker has been the team leader all season. Junior Jon Kerby and senior Kyle Mahoney have been solid 2-3 runners. Sophomore Jon Miksis has shown rapid improvement. The boys were sixth in the Union County meet with Parker finishing fourth. They also qualified for the state finals by finishing fifth in the sections.
Girls Cross Country
The senior dominated team also finished 5-2 and like the boys has also dropped meets to Summit and Westfield. Senior Kathleen Leeper as been one of the county’s top runners. Seniors Laura Bruce and Lauren Williams have usually been the next two Raiders and sophomore Carly Redfield has been crowding the lead pack.
Leeper was third in the counties and also placed in the top ten in sections and state finals, qualifying for the Meet of Champions.
posted by David Lazarus at 12:27 PM
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