1. sports
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22 / Monday, October 27, 2014
SPORTS
The Recorder, Amsterdam, N.Y.
OESJ playoff soccer game
ends in fight; police called
Saturday’s Section II Class C boys
soccer game between OppenheimEphratah-St. Johnsville and Maple
Hill was ended by officials in the
final moments after a fight broke
out that led to a Maple Hill player
being punched from behind by an
OESJ player, according to published reports.
According to the report, police
were called to the scene and the
Maple Hill player who was
punched, identified as senior
Nick Fettuccia, went to the hospital for stitches on his face.
According to reports, police
were called to the scene by
Cougars
Trevor Junquera/Recorder staff
Mayfield’s Sabrina Glode sets the ball during her team’s sectional match this past week against
Germantown in Mayfield. Also shown, from left, are teammates Alleya Garcia and Kaylee Bumpus.
Mayfield exceeding expectations
By MICHAEL KELLY
@ByMichaelKelly
MAYFIELD — Heading into
this season, Mayfield girls volleyball head coach Eileen Rovito
knew her squad faced an uncertain campaign.
Fresh off a trip to the 2013
Section II Class D championship
match, the Lady Panthers entered
the 2014 season with only two
major returning contributors in
juniors Kaylee Bumpus and Bri
Eagan. The rest of the squad’s roster was filled with first-year varsity players and reserves from a year
ago, all needing to use much of the
season’s first half to simply figure
out the speed of the varsity game.
The reasons why 2014 should
have been rebuilding year for
Mayfield were apparent — but
the Lady Panthers did not heed
them,
and
instead
enter
Tuesday’s postseason quarterfinal matchup with No. 4 Lake
George (10-3) with a 13-3 record.
“They’re beyond where I
expected them to be,” Rovito said
at Friday’s practice.
Mayfield earned the fifth seed in
the Class D bracket after a season in
which it finished in second place in
the Western Athletic Conference.
The squad’s only league losses
came to Galway — undefeated and
the No. 2 seed in the draw — and
the Lady Panthers earned a resounding first-round sectional win, topping Germantown in straight sets.
“We weren’t expecting that,”
said Mayfield senior Maryssa
Dufel. “Really, no.”
At times this season, the Lady
Panthers did not have the look of a
squad that could breeze to a sectional win. During the rough patches, junior Ashley Madeiros said the
squad’s athletes always made sure
they supported each other.
“No matter how a play goes, we
try to always come together and
hug it out at the end,” she said.
“A happy team is always better.”
While the Lady Panthers’
record was never lacking this
season, the squad had its growing
pains. In particular, Mayfield has
shown tremendous growth this
season with its ability to transition from defense to offense.
“Our serve-receives have gotten
Area playoff volleyball capsules
Besides the Mayfield Lady Panthers volleyball team’s trip
to Lake George, three other area teams will be in action in
Tuesday’s quarterfinal round of the Section II tournaments.
Also in Class D, Galway will play host to Argyle;
meanwhile, in Class C, Fonda-Fultonville will welcome
Voorheesville, and Mechanicville will travel to take on
Broadalbin-Perth.
Here is a quick breakdown of those three local matches for Tuesday:
CLASS C
No. 9 Mechanicville at No. 1 Broadalbin-Perth, 5 p.m.
Coming off winning the Foothills Council championship,
the Lady Patriots earned a first-round bye and will have
not played in a week when this match gets going. That
time off should not hurt B-P here, as the Lady Patriots
saw Mechanicville earlier this season in a scrimmage and
did not have much trouble. This one should mostly be a
tune-up for B-P; the semifinals for this classification are
Thursday in Ballston Spa. The winner of B-P vs.
Mechanicville likely gets to take on No. 5 Tamarac.
No. 11 Voorheesville at No. 3 Fonda-Fultonville, 5 p.m.
The Lady Braves were hoping to see a non-Colonial
Council squad for this matchup, but I don’t think F-F will
complain too loudly about seeing Voorheesville again. FF topped Voorheesville twice during the regular season,
including a relatively painless four-set win in Fonda. The
winner of this match likely plays No. 2 RavenaCoeymans-Selkirk — another Colonial Council squad.
CLASS D
No. 7 Argyle at No. 2 Galway, 5 p.m.
Like the Lady Patriots, Galway has had some serious
time off because of a first-round bye. With the exception
of a five-set thriller with Mayfield at the close of the regular
season, the Lady Eagles have not been challenged much
in their undefeated regular season. Galway will look to
keep its perfect record intact against a strong squad from
the Adirondack League; the winner of this one likely gets
No. 3 Fort Edward, also from the Adirondack League.
— Michael Kelly
way better,” said Dufel. “We play
much better as a team now.”
“We were kind of slow in the
beginning; we had to work on our
transitions because it’s way faster
(at the varsity level) than the JV
level,” said Madeiros. “But we all
worked together to keep each other
motivated.”
Bumpus and Eagan have led the
Lady Panthers, as expected, but
Mayfield has received strong
play from a roster that has grown
deeper throughout the season.
“My seniors (Dufel and Sabrina
Glode) have stepped up, Ashley
stepped up, and my first-year players are all working so hard,” said
Rovito. “They’re very determined.”
Mayfield played Tuesday’s
opponent, Lake George, earlier
this season in a tournament. The
squads split a pair of sets when
they first met, but Rovito said she
expects Lake George to be better
for Tuesday’s matchup — and she
knows that is true of her team.
With a win Tuesday, the Lady
Panthers will advance to
Thursday’s semifinals — but
Rovito said her team’s season
has already been a success,
regardless of its outcome against
Lake George.
“I’m really proud of what my
girls have done,” she said.
Maple Hill athletic director
David Austin, who said he did
not know the name of the player
who threw the punches.
It was reported Sunday that an
OESJ player was arrested by
Schodack police for throwing a
punch in the incident. The player’s
name was not released.
OESJ athletic director Dan Hart
did not respond to a request for
comment.
The contest was called with just
seconds remaining, with Maple Hill
picking up a 4-2 win to advance to
the Class C quarterfinals.
— Staff report
from page 24
“She’s been very strong for us up
top this year,” Canajoharie coach
Ellee Fichthorn said of Koelbl. “I
can see her playing some midfield
as we get to some tougher teams.
She’s been a great team player,
and we have to make sure we use
all of our passes, all of our players
— our entire arsenal, not just a
couple players. We’re pushing
everybody to play their best.”
Ariannah
Logan
scored
Canajoharie’s other goal, charging in at the back post to tap in a
Veeder cross to make it 3-0 midway through the second half.
“Teamwork is the biggest
thing,” Koelbl said. “I think that
our team, everyone on the team,
is gonna get us far this year.”
Andrea Dingman faced little
trouble in securing the ninth
shutout of the season for a
Canajoharie squad that has
outscored its opponents 88-13
this season. While Saturday’s
win came without much of a
challenge, getting it out of the
way was refreshing for the Lady
Cougars, many of whom were a
part of a highly-seeded 2012
team that was upset in the first
round of the Class C tournament.
Even after winning a sectional
title last year, Canajoharie wasn’t
taking the start of its 2014 tournament for granted.
“First-game jitters are always
the worst,” Koelbl said.
Saturday
was
also
Canajoharie’s first chance this
season to gauge itself outside the
Western Athletic Conference, as
the Lady Cougars played all 16
of their regular season games
against league foes thanks to
Saratoga Catholic’s new girls
soccer program adding two
games to their schedule.
“It was nice to see someone
outside of our league,” Fichthorn
said. “It’s a nice start. We’ve got
a long road ahead of us. We need
to keep plugging away.”
After dispatching Whitehall,
Canajoharie will return to action
Tuesday in the quarterfinals with
a 3 p.m. home game against
another Adirondack League foe
in Lake George, which beat
Maple Hill in its opening-round
game Saturday afternoon.
“No matter what, I know it’s
gonna be a fast-paced, physical
game,” Fichthorn said. “It’ll be a
good game for us.”
Photo submitted
From left to right, Fulton-Montgomery Community College assistant
women’s volleyball coach Nicole MacGregor, captains Kaylee Gillen
and Whitney Ostrander, assistant coach Tina Oyler and head coach
Rachael Salvione are pictured with the trophy after winning the
Mountain Valley Conference tournament Saturday in Queensbury.
F-MCC volleyball wins conference title
QUEENSBURY — The Fulton-Montgomery Community
College women’s volleyball team captured the Mountain Valley
Conference tournament championship Saturday, posting a 3-1
win over SUNY Adirondack in the final match by scores of 2624, 25-17, 19-25 and 25-21.
After finishing third in the tournament in 2013 during head
coach Rachael Salvione’s rookie year, the Lady Raiders (21-3)
stormed to the title in 2014.
“It fel so good for all the hard work the girls have done to
come together all at once,” Salvione said. “We stayed strong
mentally and we beat a very talented and well-coached
Adirondack team.”
The Lady Raiders reached the final with a 3-0 sweep of
SUNY Delhi. Senior Whitney Ostrander and freshman Kaylee
Gillen led the team with strong performances at the net.
Prior to the final, Ostrander and fellow senior Zara Hyde
were named to the All-Mountain Valley Conference team.
— Staff report