Despite the rainy evening, Mount Sinai seniors’ spirits were still high at their graduation on Saturday night.
More than 200 graduates received their diplomas and were treated to speeches by Salutatorian Brendan Zoto, who will attend Stony Brook University in the fall, and Valedictorian Seth Brand, who heads off to Harvard University. Brand told his fellow grads and the audience to remember the importance of saying thank you and laughing, and received a standing ovation for his remarks.
They volunteered countless hours, participated in numerous activities and have taken more than 40 Advanced Placement courses combined, so it should come as no surprise that Seth Brand, Brendan Zotto and Tiffany Ong are at the top of Mount Sinai High School’s 2015 graduating class.
Seth Brand
With a GPA of 102.399, Seth Brand graduates as this year’s valedictorian and will head to Harvard University in the fall.
The varsity soccer and basketball player said he plans on studying biology, but is still undecided as he wants to explore and see what he is most interested in.
“I think I’m going to find what I really want to do upon going to Harvard,” he said.
Brand added that he knows whatever he ends up doing, it will involve making a difference in others’ lives.
Over the course of his four years at Mount Sinai, Brand took a total of 24 AP classes and exams — 13 of which he self-studied for — and passed every single one.
In addition to playing sports, Brand served as class president in 10th and 11th grades, and as president of the National Honor Society. He was also vice president of the school’s Environmental Out Reach club, coordinating beach cleanups and collecting recyclables.
Brand reflected fondly on his time as a Mustang and said he benefited from being in small school. He also gave a shutout to his teachers and the friends he has made.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better place to go.”
Brendan Zotto
In addition to being the Mustang’s senior class president, Brendan Zotto is also this year’s salutatorian, graduating with a 101.213 GPA. He heads off to Stony Brook University in the fall and will major in computer engineering.
Zotto said a programming class he took as a freshman spurred his interest in the subject. After taking the AP Physics C exam, which he self-studied for, Zotto said he realized he was interested in computer hardware as he learned about circuitry, and electricity and magnetism.
“I’m hoping college is an experience like that, where I learn one thing and it leads me to something else,” he said.
In his spare time, Zotto, a member of the cross country track team, said he enjoys running.
His favorite memory from high school, he said, was participating in the National Honor Society’s Video Game Tournament, where students played Super Smash Brothers Melee and raised money for the group.
Zotto, who is also vice president of the Computer Club and treasurer of the Science Club, said he hopes to one day make and improve on current computer hardware.
The salutatorian said college would offer him the “experience to learn more about myself and about what I’m studying.”
Tiffany Ong
Tiffany Ong rounds out the top trio and is this year’s senior class poet. Ong is graduating with a 101.146 GPA and will head to New York University in the fall, where she’ll major in nutrition and dietetics.
Ong said she picked the major because she has a passion for the sciences, health and food.
“I just love how we can take care of our bodies and be athletic and still have a healthy lifestyle,” she said.
The student government secretary said she stays active in a few different ways. She played varsity tennis until her junior year and currently spends much of her time dancing at Backstage Studio of Dance.
While Ong’s dream job would be to dance for a living, she said she understands how challenging that is and will explore creating a major at NYU that combines her passions for dance and nutrition.
“Hopefully, I can help dancers in the future, or any other athletes.”
The senior also has a love of art and music. She is an accomplished violin player, having served as concertmistress of the high school’s orchestra, ensemble leader of the chamber orchestra and a section leader in the Long Island String Festival Association.
Ong said she enjoyed attending Mount Sinai because it is a small school where you get to know everyone, but she is also excited for new experiences college will bring.
“I’m looking forward to seeing new people, being on my own, growing up really fast, especially being in the city.”
By Bill Landon
Mount Sinai scored three unanswered runs to lead 3-2 by the fifth inning, but a one-run lead wouldn’t be nearly enough as Clarke exploded in the final two innings under the Friday night lights at St. Joseph’s college, scoring nine more runs to claim the Long Island Championship Class A softball title, 11-4.
“This is the best softball team Mount Sinai has ever had,” Mount Sinai head coach Tom Tilton said. “They won the conference, they won the league and they won the county championship; something that has never been done before.”
The Clarke bats cracked first as the team scored two runs in the opening inning, but the Mustangs answered back in the bottom of the second after senior Emily Solomos drew a walk, and senior Julia Gallo hit a single up the middle to represent the tying run. With two outs, senior Jamie Parente’s bat spoke next with a long shot to left center field for a stand up double to bring home Solomos. With runners on second and third, Clarke miscued and on a wild pitch, Gallo crossed the plate to tie the game, 2-2.
Mount Sinai senior Jessica Parente led off in the bottom of the third with a single, and with a healthy lead off the bag, she drew a pick-off attempt from the mound. With an overthrow to first, she advanced to second base, and ran over to third on another passed ball at the plate, but the Mustangs’ first lead of the game would have to wait, as Parente was left stranded.
In the top of the fifth inning, with one out and runners at the corners, Clarke attempted a squeeze play, but the Mustangs didn’t fall for the stolen-base attempt, and cleanly picked off the runners on their way to second and home, to retire the side.
Mount Sinai senior pitcher Cassandra Wilson smacked a lead-off single to start the bottom of the fifth inning. She put herself into scoring position by stealing second, and with freshman Love Drumgole at the plate with one out, Drumgole ripped one deep down the right sideline to drive in Wilson and edge ahead, 3-2, for the team’s first lead of the game.
Sophomore Angela Bukofsky answered next when she smacked a double to right center field, but Clarke pitched its way out of the inning to stop the rally.
Mount Sinai’s lead was short-lived, and in the top of the sixth, Clarke ripped a two-run home run 220 feet over the center field fence, to retake the lead. After a double, Clarke loaded the bases and plated two more runners by the end of the inning, to jump out to a 6-3 advantage.
Mount Sinai went scoreless in the bottom of the sixth, and took to the field for the final inning. The Mustangs’ opponent put together a five-run rally to blow the game open, 11-3, and give Mount Sinai a deficit that was difficult to overcome.
The Mustangs managed one final run in their last at-bat, when Bukofsky drove in Drumgole to trail 11-4, but it was too little too late.
“The senior leadership has been fantastic all year long and I’m proud of them,” Tilton said of his team. “They didn’t have their best game tonight, but we were right there with them through five innings. They gave it their best shot and that’s all you can ask for.”
Mount Sinai’s senior co-captains Kasey Mitchell and Sydney Pirreca continued to lead the way for the Mustangs as they traveled upstate to Cortland last weekend and beat out both of their opponents to claim the school’s second state Class C lacrosse championship in three seasons.
On Friday morning, the girls’ lacrosse team breezed through its game against Skaneateles, scoring eight goals in the first half and five in the second for a 13-7 victory and a place in the finals.
Mitchell, a midfielder, scored five goals, and was named the MVP of the game. Freshman attack Meaghan Tyrrell tacked on two goals and two assists, and Pirreca, also a midfielder, added two goals.
On Saturday, the Mustangs took on Honeoye Falls-Lima in the finals, and got off to another strong start, scoring six goals in the first half en route to an 8-5 win.
Just two minutes into the game, Pirreca scored first with a shot into the top right corner and earned herself a hat trick by scoring the next two goals. She was named MVP of the game.
Mitchell followed by tallying the next three goals for her team, to end the scoring for the first half.
Mitchell tacked on another goal in the second half, and Tyrrell rounded out the scoring with a goal of her own. Sophomore Hannah Van Middelem made five stops in goal, and seniors Mary Ellen Carron, also a co-captain, and Morgan McGrath aided a poised defense that didn’t allow an opponent to reach double figures in scoring this season. Mitchell, Pirreca and Van Middelem were named to the All-Tournament team, and senior Ashley Seiter earned the sportsmanship award.
The Mustangs finished with a 20-1 overall record and Division II mark of 13-0.
This version corrects the dates of the state championship games.
The No.1-seeded Mount Sinai girls’ softball team topped No. 4 Islip, 5-2 Saturday, for the team’s first Suffolk County Class A title in school history.
Senior Cassandra Wilson pitched the first three innings and left with a 4-1 lead after freshman infielder Love Drumgole evened the score at 1-1 with a sacrifice fly in the first inning, followed by sophomore first baseman Angela Bukofsky’s RBI double in the bottom of the third and senior outfielder Emily Solomos two-run double right after.
Eighth-grade pitcher Julia Golino, who went four innings, entered the game with two Islip opponents on base and no outs in the fourth, and escaped the inning thanks to senior Julia Gallo’s leaping catch at second.
Mount Sinai, which is now 21-2, and finished the regular season at an almost perfect 17-1 to claim the League V title, moves on to Long Island championship game Friday at St. Joseph’s College at 3:30 p.m.
The pressure was on for the Mount Sinai girls’ lacrosse team on Saturday as they fought in sudden death for the Long Island Class C crown. Under the hot sun at Adelphi University, sophomore goalkeeper Hannah Van Middelem made her last of the game’s eight saves during the tense overtime period and passed to senior midfielder Sydney Pirreca, who tossed in the game-winning goal to edge out Cold Spring Harbor, 10-9, for the crown.
The Mustangs led their opponents, who scored 35 goals in their previous two playoff games, 4-2 at the end of the first half.
With three minutes left in the second, a Seahawks goal put that team out in front, 7-6, before Mount Sinai senior midfielder and co-captain Kasey Mitchell passed to freshman attack Camryn Harloff on a free position shot to retie the game, 7-7.
Mustangs senior midfielder and co-captain Mary Ellen Carron and Pirreca, also a co-captain, helped the girls build a two-goal lead in overtime but Cold Spring Harbor scored two goals, the second with 4.8 seconds left on the clock, to send the game into sudden death.
In the final moments of the game, Van Middelem snatched a point-blank shot by the Seahawks out of the air, then dished the ball to Pirreca. The senior, who is known for her speed, sprinted the length of the field and took the ball all the way to the cage, stretching the net for the game-winning goal.
Mitchell and Pirreca led the team with four points apiece. Mitchell scored two goals and added two assists, while Pirreca tallied four goals. Freshman attack Meaghan Tyrrell netted two goals and an assist, Harloff scored a point in each column and senior defender Jessica DeMeo rounded out the scoring with an assist.
Mount Sinai will play the winner of the Salmon River-Skaneateles in the state semifinals at 9 a.m. on Friday in Cortland.
By Bill Landon
With 28 seconds left, Nassau County champion Manhasset scored the go-ahead goal to edge out the Suffolk County title-winning Mount Sinai boys’ lacrosse team, 7-6, in the Long Island Class B championship game Saturday night at Stony Brook University’s Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium.
“It’s just frustrating,” Mount Sinai head coach Harold Drumm said. “When you play your heart out and you give it everything you have and you don’t come out as the winner, it’s hard to accept.”
As the two teams collided, Mount Sinai found itself lighting up the scoreboard first with three unanswered goals.
Senior midfielder Tony DiMonti drove home an unassisted shot, followed by senior midfielder Zack Rudolf, and then junior midfielder Griffin McGrath dished one up to senior attack Dan Keenan, who split the pipes for the 3-0 lead.
Manhasset broke the ice with a goal to end the first quarter, and added another to open the second, but Mount Sinai senior attack Dan Bullis got the call next, finding the back of the cage unassisted at the 7:32 mark to edge ahead, 4-2.
Demonstrating that any position on the field could score, Mount Sinai sophomore defenseman Lucas Capobianco-Hogan went the distance, as the longstick buried his shot, as his team took a 5-2 advantage into the half.
Both teams traded goals in the third quarter, with Manhasset scoring first, and Keenan following off a feed from Bullis, to help the Mustangs stay out in front, 6-3, to start the final stanza.
Manhasset owned the final 12 minutes of play, and scored three unanswered goals to tie the game at 6-6 with 4:02 left in regulation.
The game looked as though it was heading into overtime, but with 28 seconds left on the clock, a spin move in front of the cage led to the Indians scoring the go-ahead goal. Mount Sinai won the ensuing faceoff, but could not respond as the clock expired, ending the Mustangs’ season.
Drumm said he was proud of his team for playing hard and giving it all they had.
“I told the kids it’s been a great season for Mount Sinai, and this has been a special season for us,” Drumm said. “They’ve got to look at themselves in the mirror and decide what’s important in life.”
They waited nearly 365 days for this moment, and the redemption was sweet.
The Mount Sinai girls’ lacrosse team rattled off four unanswered goals in the first half en route to a 7-4 win over Bayport-Blue Point Tuesday to claim the Suffolk County Class C title.
After going undefeated at 14-0 in Division II last season, the girls made it to the same spot on the same Dowling College field and lost, 11-9, to the same Phantoms team.
This year, after that loss, and especially after falling to St. Anthony’s just weeks before the big game by one point, for their second loss in the last three seasons, the girls had a different mind-set.
“Since we never lost, a lot of our girls didn’t think it was possible for us to lose — losing opened a lot of the eyes of the younger girls,” senior attack and midfielder Kasey Mitchell said. “Our most important thing was to come back this year more confident than cocky.”
Still, Mitchell was not going to let her team fall to the Phantoms again.
“We couldn’t lose,” she said, laughing through her smile as she thought about the redemption win. “I was not leaving here if we lost; it wasn’t happening.”
Sophomore goalkeeper Hannah Van Middelem opened the first with a big stop before freshman attack Meaghan Tyrrell scored off an assist from Mitchell, for the team’s first goal with the game less than five minutes old.
Van Middelem came through with another save, and on the next scoring play, Tyrrell passed the ball from behind the net to senior midfielder and co-captain Sydney Pirreca, who charged her way up centerfield for the score and a 2-0 advantage.
“We used that motivation from losing last year — that hurt, that pain — and we used it for this game today, for sure,” Pirreca said. “From the start, I was saying that we had to come out fast, we had to come out strong … That scares any team, and that keeps our confidence up.”
Freshman attack Camryn Harloff was next to score for the Mustangs, and Mitchell followed with a free position shot past the keeper for a 4-0 lead.
Minutes later, Van Middelem made another save.
“I felt confident in net, and everyone else played great, so it helps with the confidence,” said the goalkeeper, who made five of her six saves in the first half. “Our defense played great today.”
With 1:42 left to play in the half, Bayport-Blue Point scored its first goal of the game, and with 9.7 seconds left, Van Middelem made another stop to keep the score 4-1 heading into the halftime break.
“We went 365 days and 360 degrees,” Mount Sinai head coach Al Bertolone said. “I left my heart out on this field last year and it’s been a long year. You have to get back here and you have to redeem yourself a little, and I thought they did a great job.”
The Mustangs opened the second by adding onto their advantage, when Pirreca passed the ball to junior midfielder Rebecca Lynch for the good goal.
The game then went scoreless for over 10 minutes, until senior co-captain Mary Ellen Carron broke the ice for the Mustangs when, after getting double-teamed behind the cage, the midfielder raced around the net and fired her shot straight into an empty net.
Mitchell followed with another free position goal into a still empty net, as the Phantoms pulled the goaltender out to midfield.
“Everything we’ve done the last 365 days was to get back here,” Mitchell said. “We had so many underclassmen step up and we changed a lot as a team. We’re not the same team as last year and that’s why the outcome was different.”
Despite a small letdown where the Phantoms tallied three unanswered goals to end the scoring for the game, the Mustangs had already built up a 7-1 advantage to seal the win.
Mount Sinai will travel to Adelphi University on Saturday to take on Cold Spring Harbor in the Long Island Championship game, at 2:30 p.m.
“This is definitely a confidence booster,” Pirreca said. “We have a lot of respect for the Nassau teams, but if we come out and play our game, we’re going to come out strong; just as we always do.”
The bond between seniors Danny Bullis and Dan Keenan spans nearly eight years, and the connection between the attackmen was evident on the field Monday as the two connected for half of the No. 3-ranked Mount Sinai boys’ lacrosse team’s goals in a 6-4 victory over No. 6 Islip in the first round of the Division I Class A playoffs Monday.
“We practice together all of the time … and there’s a good connection there,” Bullis said. “I always know where he is on the field so I tend to feed the ball to him.”
With the game tied 1-1 to the start of the second quarter, the team’s leading scorers connected for their first goal of the evening.
Less than two minutes in, sophomore Nick Cesario scooped up a turnover in the Mustangs’ zone and carried it all the way down the field before passing it to Bullis. Milliseconds after receiving the pass, Bullis dished the ball outside to the left of the goal to Keenan, who whipped it in past the goalkeeper to break the tie.
Senior Tony DiMonti scored next from 30 yards out off an assist from senior Jason Vengilio, and senior goalkeeper Charlie Faughnan made two big stops — one while the team was a man down — to preserve the 3-1 advantage heading into the halftime break.
“Playoffs are playoffs and every game is going to be a battle,” Mount Sinai head coach Harold Drumm said. “Islip is an excellent team, and we’re just really proud of the kids. They worked really hard.”
Bullis tallied the first goal of the third stanza off an assist by junior Griffin McGrath, and after Islip scored the next goal of the game to cut the lead in half, Keenan found the back of the net off another pass from Bullis to give Mount Sinai a 5-2 lead.
Islip refused to go down quietly and kept pushing for a goal. The team got an open look at the net, but couldn’t capitalize and made one final attempt with nine seconds left in the quarter, but Faughnan came through with another save.
“Charlie’s been playing outstanding,” Drumm said of his goalkeeper, who finished the game with seven saves. “Charlie saves us and bails us out a lot. Our defense does a great job, but Charlie is the backbone of that and he makes some saves that I just have to thank him after the game for.”
Islip squeezed a goal past Faughnan with 8:55 left to play, and just over a minute later, Bullis and Keenan connected for a final time, for Kennan’s hat trick goal.
“Dan Keenan, when he shoots overhand, he has one of the best shots in the league, without question, and Danny Bullis is an excellent lacrosse player,” Drumm said. “[Bullis] can feed, shoot, dodge, he does a great job. He looks for anybody that’s open. They work in practice together all the time and they work well together, so it’s a nice matchup.”
Islip scored once more two minutes later and threatened late in the game, but Mount Sinai’s defense shut down any Islip opportunities and the offense continued to pass the ball around the outside to eat some time off the clock and preserve the win.
“It was a good team win,” Bullis said. “Our defense was really solid, and goalkeeping, and offensively we moved the ball well. [In the second quarter] we just started making better choices on offense like possessing the ball; moving the ball, and it just started to click.”
Mount Sinai extended an 11-game win streak into the postseason, and will have another home game Thursday, where the team will host No. 7 Eastport-South Manor at 4 p.m.
“We had an excellent regular-season for us and we’re real proud of the guys, but none of that really matters at this point,” Drumm said. “What matter is now and we won the game today and moving into [today] we play Eastport-South Manor … and we’re prepared. We’ll go into that game knowing it’s going to be a game liked this — a battle — and just try to win every play and hopefully come out with a ‘W.’”
This version corrects the spelling of Tony DiMonti’s name.
By Bill Landon
The Mount Sinai girls’ lacrosse team finished an undefeated, perfect season in Division II with a 10-5 win over Rocky Point Saturday, while also squashing the Eagles’ hopes of a postseason appearance.
Rocky Point led by two early on, but the Mount Sinai Mustangs rallied and continued to answer back until the team took control of the game to earn a first-round bye with a 15-1 overall mark and 14-0 conference showing.
“We lost a nonleague game to St Anthony’s earlier [in the season], and with a playoff loss last season, we’ve only lost two games in the last three years,” Mount Sinai head coach Al Bertolone said. “Right now, there’s a culture that’s developed. They really believe in themselves, they believe in the plan and I’ve got winners in each grade level, so every year, the next group has taken over.”
The Mustangs struck first when senior co-captain Kasey Mitchell found the back of the cage 30 seconds in to get her team on the scoreboard.
Rocky Point freshman Madison Sanchez answered back three minutes later to tie the game at 1-1, and Rocky Point eighth-grader Brianna Carrasquillo scored the next two goals. First, she snagged a rebound off the pipe from a penalty attempt and buried her shot to retake the lead, and fired again five minutes later for the score with an assist from sophomore attack Christina Ferrara, to put her team out in front, 3-1.
“We really should have focused on the ground balls and the draws,” Carrasquillo said. “Our offense was good early on, but we needed to continue that in the second half.”
Mount Sinai’s Pirreca rocketed a shot between the pipes, and freshman attack Meaghan Tyrrell found the back of the cage next to retie the game, 3-3.
Mount Sinai continued to score, and this time, it was senior Jessica Demeo’s turn when she scored off an assist from Mitchell, but the lead didn’t last for long, as Rocky Point’s Brianna Lamereux sent her shot home with 7:57 left in the first to bring the score to 4-4.
Mount Sinai freshman Camryn Harloff answered the call to put her team out front 5-4, and give the team an advantage that would last for the rest of the game.
With 25 seconds left in the half, Mitchell fired a shot from the right side that hit the back of the net and game her team a 6-4 lead heading into the halftime break.
“We knew they were going to play a full 50 minutes — they’re a complete team and it’s no accident that they’re number one in the league,” Rocky Point head coach Dan Spallina said. “They’ve got great leadership; just look at the talent they have up and down their roster.”
Seven minutes into the second half Demeo scored again for her second goal of the game.
According to Rocky Point’s Sanchez, in order to have a chance against a powerhouse like Mount Sinai, her team would had to contain two of the team’s top players.
“We knew about Sydney Pirreca and Kasey Mitchell, and in order to win, we had to stop them,” she said. “But we couldn’t.”
Pirreca hit the scoreboard next off an assist from Tyrrell to surge ahead 8-4 with 12 minutes left to play, and Demeo split the pipes for her hat trick goal, to put her team out front 9-4 with just under 11 minutes left.
“It’s all about team chemistry,” Demeo said. “As good as the players are that we have [individually], the only thing that matters is the team. We do so much together off the lacrosse field and that really makes us better.”
Rocky Point wouldn’t go quietly, and freshman Christina Bellissimo found the net to trim the deficit to 9-5.
Pirreca shot the ball to the back of the cage a final time for a hat trick of her own, and put the game away 10-5.
From there, Mount Sinai burned time off the clock until the game was over. As the No. 1 seed, the Mustangs will open the postseason at home on Wednesday May 20.
Pirreca said her team will continue to do what it’s done all season, which she credits as the reason why her team went undefeated.
“[We] work hard and we work as a team,” she said. “We have a very strong bond between us, our coaches are great and we take it day by day. We only focus on one game at a time, and we never look ahead.”
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