Lakeland Shines With Gold in Field Hockey

Those who want to know why Lakeland is the defending New York State Class B field hockey champion, look no further than this past weekend.

Six of Lakeland's players were on the Hudson Valley squad that won its fifth straight gold medal in the Empire State games on Sunday, July 25, with a 3-0 triumph against Long Island in Buffalo.

The next day, three of those gold-medal winning Hornets helped lead Lakeland Green (5-0) to a 5-2 triumph against Briarcliff (4-2) Monday evening, July 26, in the Hudson Valley Summer Field Hockey League at Putnam Valley High School.

Nikki Schultz, Leanne Goldblatt and Chelsea Remling were the members of Lakeland Green that played against Briarcliff that won a gold medal. Amanda DiDomzio also is a gold-medal winning member of Lakeland Green, but didn't play against Briarcliff so Mairead Hourihan could get playing time in goal.

Emma Bozek, who was recently named to the under-17 junior national team, and Shannon Scavelli, play on Lakeland Gold and were the other two Hornets that competed for Hudson Valley upstate.

"Staying focused was the key to winning the gold," Schultz said. "We prepared a lot throughout this summer. The whole month of July we were just practicing. So we knew when we got there what we came for, the gold medal, and we got it."

Sharon Sarsen, who's the coach for both Hudson Valley and Lakeland, explained how her girls were able to bring home the gold.

"They bought into the system and everybody played great," Sarsen said. "They did so many great things on the field."

Those great things included stellar defensive play.

"Defensively, the defenders only allowed two goals," Sarsen said. "Amanda wasn't scored on the whole tournament except for the shootout, one goal went in, but we won the shootout. Chelsea defensively was just poised and consistent. Nikki and Leanne in the midfield constantly were keeping the ball in the attacking end and Shannon was the high scorer of the tournament with five goals. And Emma's skill level, she was the best player in the tournament."

Even though Schultz was basking in the glow of a gold-medal victory and didn't get home until around 11:30 p.m. on Sunday, that didn't prevent her from being determined to play well against Briarcliff.

"I just love the sport," Schultz said. "Every day I am out there playing. Empire practices every day and summer league every other day, I was just non-stop playing. I came right back from Empires, winning the gold medal there to playing in summer league here."

Schultz led Lakeland Green with two goals and an assist, helping her squad get off to a 4-0 halftime lead against the Bears.

"I knew the two goals I had a lot of time so I just ripped it and they just went right to the corner," Schultz said. "We knew that we had to come out with intensity from the beginning so we came out really strong, with sharp passes and good receiving."

Kristen Conroy, Katie Brown and Allie Malzo also scored for Lakeland Green with Goldblatt and Colleen Murray recording assists.

Team USA

Sarsen said that Lakeland graduate Melissa Gonzalez started Monday, July 26, on the USA national team at right back.

"They are at Barcelona and doing a tournament there, then they are going to London," Sarsen said.