The Ward Melville field hockey team blanked Massapequa 5-0 to win the Long Island Class A title Sunday at Dowling College’s athletic complex.
Sophomore forward Kerri Thornton started off the scoring five minutes into the game, and junior forward Kassidy Rogers-Healion tacked on four second-half goals to propel the Patriots to the win.
Ward Melville will face Shenendehowa in a Class A state semifinal Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Maine-Endwell High in Endwell, a suburb of Binghamton.
By Miguel Bustamante
Northport school district is enacting stricter rules for handling student-athletes with concussions.
School board members were informed of new procedures for kids returning to athletics after those injuries during their meeting on Nov. 5, using guidance from New York State regulations.
Paul Klimuszko, Northport-East Northport’s director of physical education, athletics and health, and Cynthia Fitzgerald, director of student support services, made a presentation to the board outlining the new procedures to follow if a student has a concussion.
“A concussion is an injury that changes the ways the cells in our brain function,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s important to understand that a concussion is a brain injury, and can occur in any sport.”
According to Fitzgerald, there are between 70 and 90 concussions in the district every year, including at the middle and high school levels.
The two administrators laid out the “return to play” regulations, which are used across the country and require students to complete a five-stage observational test before full re-entry into school-sponsored physical activities.
The five stages include light to moderate aerobic exercises observed by the school nurse and/or an athletic trainer; a non-contact gym class participation period; and a full-contact gym class participation period. A school district physician must clear the concussed students before he or she can be fully reintegrated into school athletics.
The presentation followed a previous district discussion about student safety in school athletics. That subject has been a hot topic over the last few years, but particularly since Tom Cutinella, a high school football player from Shoreham-Wading River, died after taking a big hit in a game against John Glenn High School in Elwood last year. School districts across Long Island have been making changes to their concussion responses following Cutinella’s death, and there have been new directions from the state on the matter.
New York State’s Concussion Management and Awareness Act of 2011 requires local school boards to develop and promote concussion management policies. According to the act, children and adolescents are more susceptible to concussions and take longer than adults to fully recover.
“Therefore, it is imperative that any student suspected of having sustained a concussion be immediately removed from athletic activity … until evaluated and cleared to return to athletic activity by a physician,” the act said.
Northport school officials don’t take concussions lightly, Klimuszko said.
“The athletic office ensures that all coaches are educated in the nature and risk of concussions and concussion-related injuries.”
By Desirée Keegan
These Royals continue to rule.
The Port Jefferson girls’ soccer team earned the regional crown on Saturday, topping Cold Spring’s Haldane High School, 3-0, to lengthen their undefeated streak and send them to the state stage.
That pivotal match came after a perfect season for the Royals in League VII, their second in a row. With no Class C Suffolk County challengers, the girls were named county champs and were sent to the regional finals, where they played the defending state champ.
“These girls play hard right to the end,” Port Jefferson head coach Allyson Wolff said about the Haldane match. “To come out here tonight and beat the last Class C state champion is huge for us and gives us that confidence to go upstate. I think we can do it this year.”
The regional victory is the Royals’ second consecutive title, and sends them to the state playoffs, where they fell last year.
Junior forward Jillian Colucci got the ball rolling for the Royals with 12:45 remaining in the first half. The co-captain received a pass up the middle from senior midfielder and co-captain Olivia Love, and chipped the ball to the left from 10 yards out. It just passed the Haldane goalkeeper’s outstretched arms, bouncing into the left corner for the 1-0 lead.
“My teammate Olivia Love — we have a chemistry that I can’t really describe, but I just knew she was going to play the ball … and as the ball bounced I told myself just to get a touch on it, since I saw the goalie coming out of the box,” Colucci said. “I think our possession and our communication was really good today, and we’re going upstate because of it.”
Opening the second half, sophomore goalkeeper Brianna Scarda made a save to maintain her team’s lead, and junior midfielder Brittany Fazin repaid her with another goal. After leading a pack of defenders and squeezing between two to get ahead at the front of the net, she sent her shot into the left corner past a diving Haldane goalkeeper for the 2-0 advantage.
“I was really scared for that moment because I had a similar opportunity earlier and missed it, but I knew going to it that I could do it,” Fazin said. “So I threw myself on the ball and got the goal.”
With 19:32 on the clock, Scarda made another one of her eight saves on the evening to preserve the clean sheet. Several minutes later, Fazin helped set up the next goal when she crossed a pass from the 20-yard line over to the right sideline 10 yards out from the net to Grace Swords, a sophomore forward, who crossed her shot high above the goalkeeper’s head and into the far left corner for the final score of the game.
Despite allowing three goals, Haldane’s goalkeeper, Sara Labriola, put in a lot of work — she made 19 stops on the evening.
“Leading up to this week we all focused so hard and we practiced as hard as we’ve ever practiced in our lives, and we had the mindset that we could to this,” Fazin said. “I think our speed and our vision helped us a lot. I think we were very good out of the air, too. I’m new to the school and to the team and this feels great. I love these girls.”
Colucci was also proud of her team’s outcome.
“There was so much anticipation going into this game because we had three weeks from our last league game until here, so it feels amazing to have our hard work pay off,” she said. “I think our possession and our communication was really good today.”
Although the game was slow to start, the Royals thrive on forward motion.
“Once that one goal kicked in, it got their momentum going, their fire burning and their confidence boosted,” Wolff said. “I said from the very beginning that they could do it and they prove it when they step on the field. They’re a great group of girls and it’s just a pleasure and an honor coaching this group. They have that drive and desire to win and hopefully we can do it upstate.”
Port Jefferson will take on Caledonia-Mumford on Saturday in the state semifinals at Cortland High School Field 1 at 5 p.m. If the Royals win, they will move on to play in the finals on Sunday, at 9:30 a.m. at SUNY Cortland’s Red Field.
Elijah Riley scores three times, Denzel Williams scores twice in the Wolverines' 54-6 victory
By Bill Landon
Earning the No. 1 seed in Division II after finishing the regular season with a perfect 8-0 record, the Newfield football team hosted No. 8 Deer Park in the qualifying round of playoffs Friday, where the Wolverines ended the Falcons’ season with a 54-6 blowout to advance to the next round.
Newfield edged closer to a score when junior linebacker Isaiah Israel recovered a Deer Park fumble, putting the Wolverines deep into Falcons territory. On the next play from scrimmage, Newfield senior quarterback Ryan Klemm tossed the ball to classmate Elijah Riley, a wide receiver, who cut up the field and flew into the end zone. On a bad snap, the point-after attempt failed and the Wolverines settled for a 6-0 lead.
The Falcons struggled to move the chains and went for the down on fourth-and-15, but didn’t come close, as the Wolverines took over on downs. On the next play, Klemm dropped back and threw deep down the left sideline to senior wide receiver Jelani Greene, who caught the ball in stride and strolled into the end zone untouched. With a successful two-point conversion, Newfield extended its lead, 14-0.
Greene said his team prepared for the playoff game like any other.
“We came out and did what we usually do — what we had to do,” Greene said. ”In practice, just like all season, we have the same mindset that we come out and put points on the board, and at the same time prevent them from putting points on the board.”
Unable to mount much of an offensive effort, Deer Park handed the ball back to Newfield and the team got back to work. This time, Klemm took matters into his own hands as he followed his blockers up the middle of the field, broke free from the crowd and found the end zone for six more points. With the point after, the Wolverines surged ahead, 21-0, with a minute left in the first quarter.
“We went about [tonight’s game] like we did for the first eight games,” Klemm said. “It was the next game up so we did the same thing we do every other week.”
Deer Park threatened on the opening drive of the second quarter, choosing to go for it on fourth down, but Newfield’s swarming defense stood tall with a big stop and again the offensive unit got down to business. With just over six minutes left in the half, senior tailback Denzel Williams got the call on a pitchout from Klemm. Williams, a sprinter for the Middle Country track team, took off like it was the 100-yard dash and no defender came close. With the point after successful, the Wolverines jumped out in front 28-0.
Williams said he knew his team was up for the task heading into the game.
“We gave it our all, but we know that any team can beat us, so we stay humble,” Williams said. “We just do what we do from here on out and our goal is the championship.”
Deer Park halted the Newfield scoring fest on the ensuing kickoff, where the team narrowly escaped a diving defender and stumbled into the end zone to break the ice.
“They’re an aggressive team and they come after you,” Newfield head coach Joe Piccininni said. “They’re tough kids, and they don’t stop.”
Deer Park lined up for the two-point conversion, but again the Wolverines’ defensive unit said “no,” and the Falcons trailed 28-6.
Klemm and Riley hooked up again for the next score, but this time, Riley cut to the outside on a pass play, where he went the distance for his second touchdown of the night.
“Everybody did a fantastic job,” Riley said. “The defensive line did a great job of getting [Deer Park’s] quarterback and our linebackers did an even better job filling [the holes]. We had good secondary pressure coming from the outside.”
The point-after attempt missed, and Newfield pressed ahead 34-6.
Deer Park was unable to find the scoreboard again, and before Newfield flushed its bench, Williams looked for a hole up the middle, and finding nothing, broke to the outside and again did what he does best, sprinting ahead to leave would-be tacklers in his dust as he made his way into the end zone for his second touchdown of the game. With the extra point good, the Wolverines took a 41-6 advantage into the halftime break.
On the first play from scrimmage, Riley helped put the game out of reach when he bolted down the left sideline, leaving Deer Park defenders behind as he broke into the end zone for his third touchdown of the contest. The Newfield avalanche was on, and after Piccininni swapped in his bench players, junior quarterback Joe Reyes took over under center, and pitched the ball to the junior running back Maximillion Mastroianni, who stayed half a step ahead of three would-be Deer Park defenders, and outran the pack to find the end zone to add salt to the Falcons’ wounds. Newfield lined up for what looked like a two-point conversion, but took a knee to arrest the scoring fest ahead 54-6.
With the win, Newfield advances to the next round where the team will host No. 4 North Babylon on Saturday at 1 p.m., in their quest for the Suffolk County championship.
Rhonda Klch stepping into the ring again to raise money for charity
Don’t let her 4-foot, 11-inch stature fool you — Rhonda Klch is a force to be reckoned with.
This Long Island native, who was born in Smithtown and lives in Miller Place, opened her first business, American Investors and Collectors, at the age of 19, and saved up enough money from that business to purchase three houses when she was only 23 years old. Now, nearly two decades later, this mother of five runs her own business in the mortgage industry, caters to her family and finds the time to give back to her community through the five charities she is involved in.
As part of giving back, Klch joined Long Island Fight for Charity, and is putting on some boxing gloves and plans to step into the ring, again — a notion that was out of Klch’s comfort zone.
“[I] knew it would grab the attention in the business community,” Klch said when asked why she joined the charity, which provides money to organizations like Long Island Community Foundation, a nonprofit that connects donors with charitable organizations within their community, and PinkTie.org., a network of real estate professionals that raise funds for breast cancer research. “[It] became a buzz, which allowed me to express and to advocate for what the charities were doing.”
Klch trained and fought for the organization last year, raising $3,800. Although she is currently nursing a minor injury, she is accepting donations while she hopes to compete in her next match for Long Island Fight for Charity scheduled for Nov. 23.
Klch is now the president and CEO of her company, Equity First, which assists business residents who are experiencing financial difficulties. She established her current business in October 2003, but her goal wasn’t simply to make money and grow her demanding business, it was also to give back to her community — starting with those experiencing financial hiccups.
“There’s a bunch of people who have amazing resources,” Klch said. “If you’re not utilizing your resources for good, it goes to waste.”
Around seven years ago, Klch became more involved in community service. She worked alongside Building Hope, a charity that renovates the homes of families facing a crisis — families who may need wheelchair ramps in their homes upon a devastating injury were accommodated. But renovating the homes wasn’t an issue for these families, sustaining the home was the issue. According to Klch, no one checked the financial status of these families — some families risked losing the home following the renovations. Now Klch’s company conducts financial reviews for these families to ensure they don’t lose the house.
“Her commitment to giving back to her community is second to none,” Mark Legaspi said about Klch. “She really thinks of other people before she thinks of herself.”
Legaspi is the president of Legaspi Associates Inc, which aims to provide quality service regarding life insurance. Legaspi is also a board member, alongside Klch, for a veteran-minded charity called Easter Seals.
When Klch first decided to become involved with Long Island Fight for Charity, her family thought she was crazy.
“You don’t want to watch somebody get hurt,” said Klch’s husband Stephen. “But at the same time, because it was for charity … it’s not to bash somebody, but the concern was there because it’s a real fight.”
Klch and her husband got married 16 years ago. For several years, Klch was the main breadwinner, while her husband catered to the kids. According to Stephen Klch, he left his job and didn’t have to worry about hiring a babysitter to help look after their children. Now he works for his wife’s company, handling the budget and fixing up the homes.
While giving back to the community was important to Klch’s wife, helping others became a family affair as the children got older.
“We kind of live in a bubble,” Klch said. “We want them to have a reality check on what is in their neighborhood and what other families are struggling through.”
According to Stephen Klch, his children partake in events like Equity First’s project called Holiday Dreams. The company established the initiative last year and aims to provide holiday cheer to homeless children or those in transition. This year will be the second time the company is holding the event. Last year, they helped 200 children. This year, the company is committed to helping 250 children and 50 veterans, according to Rhonda Klch.
From her business to her family life and participation in several charities, Klch credits time management and delegation skills for her ability to balance her busy life. Her nonstop attitude when taking on and executing projects is one reason Maria Frey, president and founder of Executive Consultants of New York, clicked with Klch.
Frey said people like Klch show that there are still people who care about those around them.
“[Rhonda] solidifies to me that there are other people in the community who want to make a change and want to help, and she is definitely one of them,” Frey said. “I feel honored to know her.”
The Kings Park girls’ volleyball team continues to rule the volleyball scene.
Despite losing several key starters to graduation last year, like standout Amanda Gannon, and head coach Lizz Manly to maternity leave, the team has continued its winning ways. After dropping the first match of the season to Westhampton, 3-1, the girls have gone on a 15-match streak, only dropping the Kings Park Invitational to Wantagh, 2-1.
The No. 2-ranked Kingsmen hosted No. 7 Deer Park in the first round of the Class A playoffs on Tuesday, and shut down the competition, 3-0.
Stephanie Cornwell had 30 assists; Lauren Kloos had 10 kills, three aces, four digs and a block; and Lauren Kehoe had six blocks to lead Kings Park to victory.
With the shutout victory, the girls have now blanked 11 of the 16 teams they have faced.
Kings Park will host No. 3 Eastport-South Manor in the semifinals on Friday at 5 p.m.
This Kingsmen team will have the chance to continue Kings Park’s success streak that began four years ago, when the team won the Long Island Championship, which began a four-year streak of LIC wins. The team also made it to the state tournament as a result of those wins, but has yet to win that elusive title.
The Harborfields boy’s soccer team is moving on to the Suffolk County Class A finals after the No. 2-seeded Tornadoes defeated No. 3 Islip in the semifinals on Tuesday, 2-1.
Almost 20 minutes into the first half, midfielder Brian Root scored on a header off a direct free kick taken by midfielder Ben Barnes.
In the second half, Islip scored the equalizer with a goal from Connor Sharpe.
With three minutes left in regulation, midfielder Owen Lamerson scored with a cross into the top right corner, after receiving a cross pass at the 20-yard line.
Harborfields head coach Daniel Greening said this win was a total team effort.
“The boys played well and won the 50/50 balls, which really determined the course of the game,” Greening said in an email. “I think that was the difference between yesterday and when we played them last. This time, we challenged them and didn’t let them get as many chances to turn on us and go to goal. The boys adjusted really well and it was a pleasure to watch.”
Most of Harborfields’ student body came out to support the boys — packing the stands.
“I really think we beat Islip this time because of the pack of over 150 fans shouting and supporting us,” Lamerson said.
The team had a two-week break between winning the League V title and its first playoff game, and Root said it made the team a bit nervous going in, “but we knew what we had to do,” he said.
Root added that a pregame speech given by goalkeeper Will Merhige hyped the team up.
The last time Harborfields played Islip, the Tornadoes came up very short, losing by four goals.
“We played the ball to feet and we were calm and smart on the ball,” midfielder Gerard Espinoza, said.
Espinoza also said his team played to its opponent’s weaknesses.
“We knew they were quick, so we passed with two to three touches max, and capitalized on their weaknesses, which were free kicks and corner kicks,” he said.
Root echoed the sentiment that the Tornadoes played much quicker this time around.
“We benefited from our fans,” Root said. “The fact that it was the last home game for the seniors made the game a lot more emotional. This game really demonstrated that we have what it takes to move further.”
Lamerson said he feels confident going forward.
“This team will accept nothing but a state title,” he said.
The Tornadoes will host No. 5 Amityville today at Dowling College at 4 p.m.
Although the Port Jefferson field hockey team fell to Pierson-Bridgehampton in the Suffolk County Class C championship, 6-0, the Royals can boast recording their first postseason appearance since 2009.
“It was a great feat the girls achieved,” Port Jefferson head coach Debbie Brown said. “They worked really hard to get into the position they were in, so I’m very proud of them.”
Ranked last out of the 13 teams to make the playoffs, the Royals did not expect to top the Whalers, but the team was proud of holding its opponent to a 1-0 lead by the halftime break.
“Pierson is an extraordinary team and they have a lot of girls that do travel all year round,” Brown said. “So to be 1-0 at halftime, I was extremely happy and extremely proud of them, and the score didn’t reflect how well the girls played.”
After Pierson-Bridgehampton scored a couple of goals in the second half, Brown, seeing a loss on the horizon, substituted in some of her younger players to give them playoff experience.
“They worked hard all season and they deserved it, so [Pierson-Bridgehampton] scored a few more quick goals,” Brown said.
According to the coach, the Royals had the added challenge of only fielding 14, compared to the average 25-player roster.
“So even though the score said 6-0, it was a great first-half game and, if anything, we dominated the first five minutes of the game and had the first couple of corners.”
Brown’s daughter, Jackie, who has been on the team for four years, scored 10 of the team’s 17 goals this season, despite being injured toward the beginning.
The junior forward said she couldn’t take all the credit because the goals wouldn’t have been possible without the help of her teammates. The younger Brown added that it was exciting to finally be a part of a playoff game, after previously watching from the sidelines while serving as a ball girl.
“To actually be on the field, on a team, with my teammates, playing, it was a nice experience,” she said. “In the beginning of the season we didn’t communicate well on the field, but in the end we were passing to each other nonstop, we believed in each other on the field; so I saw a big improvement.”
Port Jefferson senior defender Michelle Bourguignon said her team did not play Pierson-Bridgehampton during the regular season, but took them on last year. Leading up to the big game, her team practiced on turf to get used to the playing conditions, since the Royals’ home field is grass.
“To make it that far was a huge accomplishment,” she said. “We know they’re a very tough team, so that was pretty big for us to only be down 1-0 at halftime. Our team has always been very close and it’s going to be hard not being on the team anymore.”
The team’s camaraderie is what Debbie Brown said has been its biggest asset.
“I’ve had some extraordinarily talented teams, but this group worked hard every day,” she said. “A couple of seniors — Andreya Harvey and Michelle Bourguignon on defense, and Stacey Warm, one of our wings, junior Chiara Rabeno and freshmen Taylor Corallo and Phalina Sciara — really stepped up this year. It’s emotional because even though Jackie is my daughter, I consider them all one of my own.”
Corallo was one of the team’s key scorers until she broke her arm in a Sept. 19 game against Comsewogue.
Bourguignon earned All-Division honors for her work this season, Rabeno received an All-Conference nod, Harvey was named to the All-Tournament team and Brown earned All-County honors.
“Since the girls got a taste of playoffs this year, they’re going to want to get back there next year, so hopefully we’ll make it there again,” Jackie Brown said. “This season as a whole was pretty successful, considering that we hadn’t made playoffs since 2009, so the fact that we got that far, hopefully that carries into next season.”
By Bill Landon
Despite a scoreless battle after 30 minutes of field hockey action, it was Ward Melville sophomore midfielder Kate Mulham’s goal scored with 8:31 left in regulation that was the game-winner for the No. 1-seeded Patriots over No. 2 Newfield, for the Suffolk County Class A title Monday evening at Dowling College’s Athletic Complex.
The first goal of the game came nine minutes into the second half, when Ward Melville sophomore Kerri Thornton crossed the ball to freshman Lexi Reinhardt, who smacked it in for the 1-0 lead.
“Kerri [Thornton] brought it up field” Reinhardt said. “I was just there to hit it in.”
Neither team faced each other during the regular season, so Patriots (13-1) were seeing the Wolverines (12-2) for the first time.
Although the time of possession favored Ward Melville, Newfield pressed for all 60 minutes, forcing the Patriots to earn every move.
Ward Melville junior Kiera Alventosa said she knew her team would have their hands full with their opponent.
“We couldn’t let up at all against them — they came at us hard,” she said. “On offense, we passed well, we were looking at our lanes. We were strong defensively; they weren’t getting through us.”
With 17:40 left to play, Newfield made it a new game when senior forward Maggie Finley rocked the box with an assist from her younger sister, Abby, a freshman midfielder.
Ward Melville head coach Shannon Watson said the journey to the championship round wasn’t easy.
“It’s been quite an emotional road — we were down 4-1 in our last game but our kids battled back and it shows how determined they are,” Watson said. “To be here is wonderful, but it just wasn’t enough for them. They wanted to make sure that they had a solid win tonight.”
That solid win came when Mulham received the ball from Thornton, and drove her shot to the back of the cage for the 2-1 lead.
“I expected them to be good — they’re the No. 2 seed,” Thornton said. “So we had to come out with great intensity to keep our momentum.”
Ward Melville will face Massapequa for the Long Island Class A title on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Dowling College.
“I’ll let them take a day to let it soak in and enjoy the win,” said the coach. “Then it’s back to practice and we’ll continue to do what we’ve done all season, working on our spacing and our ball control and sharpening our defense.”
Huntington had several strategies to score a goal, but none of them paid off on Monday. The Blue Devils had difficulty getting shots early and often enough, and the No. 4-seeded boys’ soccer team fell to No. 1 Brentwood, 1-0, in the quarterfinals of the Class AA playoffs.
“They played hard,” Huntington head coach John Pagano said of his team. “They played with the No. 2 team in the state and the difference was one shot.”
Blue Devils sophomore goalkeeper Nat Amato made most of his seven saves in the first half to keep the teams in a stalemate heading into halftime, but Brentwood only needed to make two stops on their end to record the Indians’ 14th shutout of the season.
With 16 minutes remaining in the game, Brentwood scored off a through ball. With the Indians forward in the corner, Amato came to the right side of the box and a Huntington defender dove but missed redirecting the ball. The Brentwood player then crossed it between Amato and another Huntington defender, who was guarding the opposite corner of the net, to break the draw.
In the last 10 minutes, the Blue Devils continued to pressure and push into the Indians’ zone, leaving it all out on the field, but they couldn’t get a good attempt at a goal.
With 5:20 remaining, senior midfielder and co-captain Wilber Parada rushed the ball from the corner to the box, but no one could knock it in — it floated across the front of the net.
“There was no quit,” Pagano said. “They played until the last whistle. We had several scoring chances at the end and the game could’ve easily gone either way. I’m very proud of them.”
Huntington ended the season with a 15-2-2 overall record and a 10-2-2 mark in League III. The Blue Devils will graduate 18 seniors from the roster at the end of this school year, including co-captains Carlos Rivera, a forward, and Olvin Palma, a midfielder.
“It’s been gratifying,” Pagano said of coaching his departing leaders. “It was a pleasure coaching these boys, but it’s going to be sad to see them leave.”
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