Lady Spartans Clinch Championship, Chargers Improve Record

The 'College Sports Notebook' is published each Friday. Please send items of interest—including local athletes competing at out-of-town colleges—to marcmaturo@aol.com.

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Everything, apparently, was in place.

The St. Thomas Aquinas College women's cross country team—which had never secured an East Coast Conference championship—fulfilled a season-long goal last Sunday at C.W. Post College in Brookville.

"From the beginning [of the season] we thought we could do it," head coach Nicole Ballou said. "We ran our race that day."

The Lady Spartans, sparked by an unlikely source, placed three runners in the top 10—including first-place finisher Sarah Callagy—to nail down the title with 62 points. Runner-up Molloy was second with 65.

Callagy, who becomes STAC's first female conference champion, was clocked in 19:14.15 to lead the pack. Freshman teammate Keeley Bateman, a freshman standout from Pearl River, was a strong third in 19:25.19.

(The last conference champion from STAC was men's winner Tim Morgan in 2005, notes then-coach Jamie Kempton of Nanuet.)

The Lady Spartans' third runner to place was junior Julia Karl. Fresh off the women's soccer season and competing in her first cross country ace, Karl stunned the field by finishing 10th with a time of 20:47.37.

Also earning points for STAC were junior Chelsea Klinger, 17th in 21:06.68, and Lisa Brevogel, a junior out of Clarkstown North High School, who was 31st in 22:39.28. Completing the lineup were junior Lauren Karpoich, 39th in 23:09.28, and freshman Caroline Bjorkman, 43rd in 23:56.80.

Callagy, a junior from Poughkeepsie, was named runner of the year by the ECC while Keeley, a four-time rookie of the week, was honored as the conference's rookie of the year. Both, of course, were selected to the all-conference team while Karl, on the strength of her startling performance, was named to the second team.

"That's exactly how it should have finished," Ballou said.

The STAC men's team finished fifth with 93 points. C.W. Post won with 37 points.

Voted to the men's all-conference first team was freshman sensation Mike Galonski, who clocked 26:10.34 to place fifth.

"He's a great runner—does his work … willing to be coached," lauded assistant coach Lou Maturo. "He's always focused, the kid's a winner. We expect big things from him; he's a key runner already. But I expect big things from everybody."

Grad student Einar Brissing was 18th with a time of 27:45. Clarkstown South graduate Vinny Modafferi clocked 28:04; freshman Mike Kraus knocked 30 seconds off his personal best with 28:05; and sophomore Garvenchy Nicolas finished 34th with 29:59. Tappan Zee High graduate Kyle Curran, a promising freshman, ran 30:08 followed by Jon Laszlo (30:37) and Matt Buell (30:46). Junior Matt Muniz, a Suffern High grad, finished in 34:38.

STAC returns to action on Nov. 21 at the NCAA East Regional Championships at Franklin Park in Boston, MA.

Three cheers for Dominican

The men's soccer team under veteran coach John Campbell heads into its NCAA Division II tournament opener on the heels of capturing the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference championship in quite a pulsating fashion.

The Chargers, 12-3-5 overall, posted its third conference title under Campbell (65-17-12) by winning three straight penalty-kick shootouts. Dominican, the No. 3 seed, upended top-seeded Bloomfield for the crown.

Following a 2-2 tie in regulation and two scoreless overtime periods, Bloomfield converted its first PK, but Alex Rodier answered for Dominican. The Deacons put their second kick in but again the Chargers answered, with Pedro Franklin De Araujo. Following a Bloomfield miss, Sony Narro put Dominican ahead 3-2. A second failure by Bloomfield put Jorge Zubillaga up for the potential clinching goal. The freshman delivered to secure the victory.

Junior goalie Brandon Heembrock of Ottawa, who was named Tournament MVP, made eight saves in regulation and two key, diving saves in the shootout—just two days after making four PK stops in the semifinals against Philadelphia University. The Chargers had blanked defending champion Nyack in the quarterfinals.

Dominican, which earned its fourth bid to the NCAA championship tournament, will be at Dowling today (Nov. 12) to meet Southern Connecticut. Dowling hosts the survivor on Sunday at 1 p.m.

The national semifinals and final are scheduled Dec. 2 and Dec. 4 in Louisville, KY at part of the NCAA Division II Fall Festival.

Mortarboard musings

• Sophomore Matthew Bonomolo of Pearl River, who was an all-state football choice at Nanuet High School, will be in action Saturday afternoon at center when Division III Mt. Ida College visits Hartwick. The Mustangs (6-3) are looking for a third straight victory.
• Dominican College honored senior volleyball players Kerianne Dudley of Nanuet, Catherine Giordano of Stony Point and Yashani Smith of West Haverstraw, before its final regular-season game, a 3-0 victory over Goldey-Beacom. The Chargers advanced to the CACC tournament quarterfinals, in which they were overtaken by Bloomfield after holding a 2-1 lead. Dominican ended its season with a 16-17 overall mark.
• Led by third-place finisher Julia Miller of Mount Vernon, the Dominican College women's cross country team placed second at the CACC championships at Belmont Plateau in Philadelphia. Suffern's Samantha Dugandzic finished 21st with a time of 22:02.75.
• Three standouts on the men's soccer team at St. Thomas Aquinas College received all-East Coast Conference honors. Dan Davren of Pearl River and Nanuet High and Ireland's David Cowpar were named to the first team. Goalie Andrew Tartara of Bardonia and Albertus Magnus was named to the second team. Tartara posted four shutouts this season, which ended with a 3-2 loss to Bridgeport in sudden-death overtime in the ECC playoffs. Davren led the Spartans in scoring with 25 points on nine goals and eight assists. Davren and Joseph Connolly of Nanuet had assists in the playoff loss.
• Freshman defender Chris Relihan of Pearl River and the Iona College men's soccer team meet No. 2 seed Siena in the semifinals of the MAAC tournament today (Nov. 12). The Gaels are the No. 3 seed.
• of New City, a freshman defender at Roanoke College, was named to the all-Old Dominion Athletic Conference second team. Kantor was a key part on a defensive unit that produced 11 shutouts, a school record. She also had one goal and six shots—including five on net—as the Maroons finished 13-4-3.