Field Hockey: Scavelli and Bozek Shine for Lakeland Gold in Victory Over Yorktown

Lakeland High School's Shannon Scavelli and Emma Bozek were named to the Hudson Valley field hockey squad, which will be competing in the Empire State Games in Buffalo July 21-25.

They showed why they are headed upstate as they each registered three goals and two assists in a 9-1 Lakeland Gold triumph against Yorktown on July 5. The game was the Hudson Valley Summer Field Hockey League opener for both teams held at Putnam Valley High School.

Scavelli tallied the first goal of the game early on at the 23:15 mark.

"It felt good to score first," Scavelli said. "If you get the first goal, it gives momentum for the team to keep going and gives us a little more confidence."

Bozek scored shortly thereafter at 22:40 to put Lakeland Gold in front 2-0.

Both Bozek and Scavelli will be juniors in September and if they continue to play with the same intensity, then the Hornets will have a great chance of repeating as state champs.

"It feels really great to play the way we did, hopefully the way we played tonight [July 5] is an indicator for the upcoming fall season," Bozek said. "If we work hard during the summer, hopefully it will pay off in the fall."

Bozek and Scavelli scored again to put Lakeland up 4-0. Then a hustling Lisa Littleton, with an assist from Kara Starkey, scored to put Yorktown on the board.

"It was pretty much a really big fast break," Littleton said. "We were just trying to get a goal because we were down by a lot. Lakeland is always really tough. We were just trying to get goal to stay in the game."

In fairness to Littleton and her teammates they were playing without a goalie and she explained why afterwards.

"Our coach was supposed to bring the goalie equipment but she's sick," Littleton said. "We do have a goalie [Katie Frederick] though and we are excited about it, she's brand new. She's also our lacrosse goalie so we are excited to see how she does in field hockey."

Trying to play against any team without a goalie is a tough chore and against Lakeland Gold it's near impossible. Gabby Celentano scored an unassisted goal to make it 5-1 before Scavelli and Bozek each scored, with one assisting on the other's goal, for a 7-1 halftime lead.

One reason why Scavelli feels it's important to play during the summer is to help out the younger players on the team.

"We just wanted to make sure they were comfortable when they first came up," Scavelli said. "We communicated with them, passed the ball to them and made sure that they felt comfortable."

Yorktown had chances to score in the second half, but with her left pad, goalie Amanda DiDomizio snuffed out Littleton's point-blank opportunity.

"Their goalie is really great," Littleton said. "She's one of the best we've seen. It was pretty frustrating but she was great. We were just trying our best to get a goal."

Bozek felt the key to her team's success was communication all over the field and the ability to hit the open player.

"Playing in this league definitely gives us a chance for improvement," Bozek said. "As we'll see, there will be a big difference between the first game and the last game of the summer."

Finishing the scoring were Megan Bradbury and Stephanie Scala, with the assists coming from Scavelli and Bozek.

Shannon Scavelli and Emma Bozek will be joined at Empire State Games by four of their high school teammates Amanda DiDomizio, Leanne Goldblatt, Chelsea Remling and Nikki Schultz.