The season is already underway, which means the Wildcats are well on their way in attempting to repeat the success of recent spring campaigns.
Boys’ Golf
On the heels of a fifth consecutive NYSAIS State title and Rye Country Day’s second FAA boys’ golf championship in school history, the Wildcats return in 2011 with their murderer’s row of Brian Starker, Colin McDade, James Kennedy, and Harrison Baker intact.
The Gryphons’ softball and track and field teams headline what appears to be a promising batch of spring programs.
Track and Field
Declan Foley, head coach of cross-country, indoor and outdoor track and field for five years, has his biggest team to date, with 33 athletes on the roster. They’ll be hard put to equal the 2010 season, when school records were broken in every individual event from 100 meters to 800 meters, as well as the shot put and numerous relays.
Dirt, concrete, water, turf, rubber, and grass. They’re all surfaces that Rye’s spring teams play on, and they should all be settings for even more Garnet greatness this season.
Baseball
Last year ended painfully as the ninth-seeded Garnets fell to No. 8 Harrison in the Class A Sectionals. The memory of that loss is seared in the minds of Rye’s 11 returning players.
Baseball captains Forrest Henderson and Kevin Turco
The 2011 edition will be a veteran team, comprised of 10 seniors and nine juniors, many of them up from the JV squad. The senior co-captains are Kevin Turco and Forrest Henderson. Head coach Michael Bruno said the team goals for this year are nothing less than a League and Section championship.
As the weather warms, five Panther programs work towards that season-ending moment in the sun.
Softball
The giant killers are back! Last year’s Class B Section finalists finished the season with a sterling 17-7 record. But this year they’ll be up against larger schools in every league contest they play.
“We need to work hard each game,” said head coach Joan Spedafino. “We lost our second baseman and right fielder to graduation. The good thing is, these girls are dedicated to softball both on and off the field and we look forward to a successful season.”
Jessica Calvini returns to the mound this spring.
The Panthers’ strength starts on the mound with returning All-State player Jessica Calvini. The first-sacker is Marissa Bella, All-Section Honorable Mention. The left side of the infield boasts vets Nicole Pineda at shortstop and Nickole Morgan at third.
Spring is a time for new beginnings, but the season began on a somber note for the Garnet family. Maureen O’Shea, the 56-year-old coach of the girls’ lacrosse team, passed away March 13 after a battle with cancer.
Girls’ Lacrosse Team Dedicates Season to Memory of Coach O’Shea
In only three years as head coach of the Garnets, Maureen O’Shea was able to leave a lasting legacy.
“The first person that comes to mind when you think of girls’ lacrosse is coach O’Shea,” said Rob Castagna, Rye’s Director of Athletics. “Maureen was here for a short time, but made a tremendous impact on the program. The kids right away felt her passion for lacrosse, which was strongly matched by her knowledge of the game. She was an ambassador and advocate for it everywhere she went.”
Rye huddles up in what was their last game under the guidance of O'Shea
Castagna continued, “She saw the kids for everything they brought to the table. If one of her student-athletes had a high GPA, she knew about it and would put her up for an academic award. It was good to see her go out of the way to get girls recognized for the accolades they deserved.”
O’Shea – a 1971 Rye graduate – coached her alma mater to two Section finals. Each time the Garnets had the crown within their grasp, but came up impossibly short. In 2007, they fell 13-12 to Nanuet in sudden-death double overtime.
The 2009-10 school year already has been a banner one at Rye Country Day. With three State titles in the bag, the Wildcats are hungry for more as the spring season rolls in.
Boys’ Lacrosse
Rye Country Day was an unrelenting, buzzsaw in 2009, cutting opposing teams to ribbons in their march to a 17-2 record and both the Fairchester Athletic Association and Western New England Division II championship.
The two-pronged engine of that prolific offense – Cody Levine and J.P. Garry – has graduated, but the Wildcats possess a group of four captains who will form the backbone of the 2010 model. Seniors Harry Razook, attack, and midfielder Chris Seter will be heavily relied upon as the only two returning offensive starters. Goaltender Chandler Grinell and defensemen Jack Mandy, seniors as well, are a pair who can spearhead what Rye Country Day hopes is a physical brand of defense.
Harry Razook
“We have a great group of seniors who have worked extremely hard throughout their time here and have meant a lot to this program,” said head coach Matt Rosolen. “Also, we return every defensive player from last year’s team and need their experience and talent to lead throughout the season, especially at the onset as we develop our more inexperienced players.”
Judging by the recent weather, one would assume spring sports are already underway. In fact, the season doesn’t begin until early April, when Holy Child rolls out a handful of programs with the potential to make school history.
Softball
The Gryphons seemed destined for the State championship in 2009, even with no seniors on the roster. When their season ended shockingly in the semifinals, the team adopted a take-no-prisoners mission for 2010.
“These girls have unfinished business to take care of,” said Jen Cirillo, Holy Child’s third head coach in three years. “We are all excited about this upcoming season. It’s ours if we work together.”
Chloe Giordano
Cirillo, who spent eight years as coach at New York City’s Nightingale Bamford, wants to pick up where the Gryphons left off. To reach the NYSAIS State final, she’ll look to senior captains Molly Schauber, GeriAnn Capasso and Alaina Cipollone. Cipollone is the team’s starting pitcher, and has been a devastating ace since her freshman year. She’ll be joined in the rotation by sophomore Kathleen Samuelson.
