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Last
updated
07/16/2009
The Team Hills Girls
U-15 won the Upper Atlantic Lacrosse Tournament held on the weekend
of July 10th,2009. The girls went 5-0 beating
select all-star teams from 4 different States. The championship game
was against a team from Southern Pa., which the girls won 10-8 after
trailing for most of the game. The team has competed in numerous
tournaments over the past 3 years, going undefeated in 4 of them,
finishing in the top 3 in 5 of them, but never reaching the ultimate
goal until this past weekend. The entire team played to a
championship level. A few girls that lead the way were Julia DiMaria
who is rapidly becoming one of the top players for Suffolk County,
and a constant standout during tournament play. As one parent put it
“Julia plays on another level”. A few other players who were key on
offense were Nichole Doran, tremendous on ground balls and who also
threw in a couple of big goals, and Sarah Matzelle who won over 75%
of the draws and added a few goals of her own. The defense was
stingy as usual, letting up an average of 7 goals per game. The “D”
was lead by Gina Dolisi, filling in for one of the team leaders and
played up to the challenge with open arms. Gina had some great help
from 2nd year player Shannen Gorman . Not to be out done
by the “D” was the solid goal play of Jillian “The Rock “ Rocco, who
thwarted off the constant offensive surge of the opponent from Pa.
The team is lead by 1st year Coaches Janine Bright and
Kerrin Fraser, both of whom are respected for their dedication and
hard work by the entire team and parents alike. Pictured above
kneeling are Nichole Doran, Jillian Cornetta, Cara Pascarella, Anna
Inserra, Julia DiMaria, Gina Dolisi, Alexis “Fooch” Maffucci, Sarah
Matzelle. Pictured above standing are Gabriella Difatta, Sarina
Manetta, Alexander Makover, Maria Dischley, Amanda Acampora, Coach
Bach and Coach Fraser, Emily Kelliher, Gulianna Rizzotti, Shannen
Gorman, Nicole Kleet, Amanda Tuturro, and Jillian “The Rock” Rocco.
Big win for a little program! Special thanks to Fooch for coming up
on Sunday and helping the team to Victory.
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Setting a precedent, the newly formed U-13 (ages 12 and 13 years
old) Team Hills Elite Lacrosse team ran the table and went
undefeated in the Tri-State National Summer Lacrosse Festival.
Teams from Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Upstate New York,
as well as Long Island were represented in their tournament
division. Team Hills dominated their division winning all 8 of the
games including the championship game against The Renegades, a
Connecticut/Upstate New York team, 3-2 in the summer heat of New
Jersey. Team Hills, just formed in the late spring, had its first
major tournament win.
The
U-13 Team Hills club is coached by Reggie Thearle, the junior
varsity lacrosse coach of Hills East. He is assisted by the
commissioner of the Hills Lacrosse Club, Eric Geringswald, as well
as Tony DeLosReyes. The team has been practicing together for about
five weeks and includes boys who are going into seventh and eighth
grades. However, due to previous commitments during the July 4th
holiday weekend, a number of boys were unable to attend this
tournament, so the roster was young, consisting of 13 seventh
graders and 3 eight graders.
Despite being 8 players short, including their other goalie, the
Team Hills boys took the other teams to task. Lead by goalie,
Anthony “A-Train” DeLosReyes, who played all 280 minutes of the
tournament, Team Hills allowed only 5 goals in 3 games during
playoff Sunday. “A-Train” steamed through the attack of opposing
teams, stopping almost all shots, leaving opponents slamming their
sticks in frustration. The defense was led by Brian Dunne, Chris
Makowski, Ben Noskin, Justin Manzi, and Patrick Forrester,
who checked their opponents into submission. Dunne, whose tall
height and large frame belie his 12 year old chronological age,
slammed attackers into the dust. Manzi and Forrester have quick
feet and fine stick skills, more reminiscent of a middie than a
defenseman. Makowski had an outstanding all-around tourney and
Noskin played ably when most needed.
At
middie Jesse Parker and Michael Marnell led the way
with their intensity, winning the majority of their face-offs and
leading the scoring at midfield. The middies had a punishing
rotation, since they only had 2 lines, and were often running more
on heart than anything else. Balancing out this tough group were
speedster Ryan Carter, overpowering Joe Sienna,
scrappy expatriate Joe Busuttil (on hiatus from Japan), and
all-around talent Tyler Balkan.
The
attack, an unrelenting group, includes stickhandler extrordinaire
Anthony Ramaizel, extreme passer and shooter David Rivoir,
master the top shelf Jack Forrester, and smoothly effective
Brandon Labarbera.
The
championship game was a thriller played in 90 degree heat. As one
of the parents noted, the weather was hot, but Team Hills was
hotter. With A-Train stifling almost all The Renegades shots, the
game was tight. David Rivoir scored the first two goals by Hills,
but The Renegades played hard and tied up the game with 5 minutes
left. With about a minute left in the game, Jesse Parker, looking
like a running back going through heavy traffic, avoided three
Renegades and just missed a shot that was backed up by the alert
Jack Forrester. Forrester then fired the ball to Anthony Ramaizel
who burned a hole in the upper top of the cage. Team Hills jumped
and cheered in unison as the final seconds ran out.
The
ultimate goal of the newly formed Team Hills Elite summer program is
to provide a competitive outlet for the dedicated student athlete to
further develop his or her skills so that they are prepared to play
lacrosse at the next level. It is the belief that through a
partnership of forces with the Varsity Coaches of Half Hollow Hills
High Schools East and West, athletes will be in the best position to
raise their game to the next level. |
Congratulations to Coaches Neary and Rogener and all Team Hills U-11
players on an outstanding tournament. It was wonderful being able to
get back in time to catch the championship game and to see you go
4-0 for the gold medal. What is even better is the improvement that
each of you has made as >lacrosse players. Great Job!!!!
CONGRATULATIONS NY STATE EMPIRE FINALISTS
Team Hills is
proud to announce that two of our players, John Conneely
(Attack) and Daniel Dimaria (Defense), have been selected to
represent Long Island as part of the New York State Empire
Team. This is a tremendous honor for a lacrosse player and a
well deserved recognition for these two lacrosse stars from Half
Hollow Hills High School West. Congratulations to John, Dan and
their families. We are so happy for you.
Weekend
Report – June 17, 2007
The
Team Hills U-17 Team attended the 2007 NY ProLax College
Showcase at Cantiague Park. On Saturday June 16, 2007. Many
college coaches were in attendance who had the opportunity to
watch our athletes engage in three heated contests. Our U-17
Warriors lost games to a strong North Shore rage Team and Long
Island Express “Orange” Squad. The U-17 closed the day with a
victory over Locust Valley. The U-17 Team is now 4-2 in
tournament play.
The U-13 Girls
Team attended an exclusive select tournament this weekend - Lax
By The Sea. Their record for the tournament was 3-1-1. Their
one loss was suffered at the hands of a regional select team
from Northern New Jersey in the semi-finals of the tournament.
We are very proud of the accomplishments of the U-13 Girls
Team.
Four Team
Hills players made it to the last round of the New York State
Empire Tryouts: Joseph Fiorni and Derek Herzer of High School
East; Dan Dimaria and John Coneelly of High School West.
Congratulations on your accomplishments so far. On Saturday Dan
Dimaria and John Coneelly made it to the final round of the
selection process for the NYS Empire Team. They were part of
the top 25 players in Suffolk County playing against their
counterparts from Nassau County. The final selection of the
Long Island Empire Team will be made from this group of 50.
Team Hills Land on the Long
Island Lacrosse Map
Opening Day for Team
Hills Lacrosse was fantastic. Not only did we look great, but the
effort and sportsmanship demonstrated by each of our teams was
outstanding. Team Hills made its presence known in the Long Island
Lacrosse community at the Massapequa Tournament in each of the age
groups:
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U-17 went 3-0
convincingly beating the Long Island Express Blue Team, Babylon
Bullets and Garden City Checkmate.
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U-15 went 2-2
defeating one Long Island Express Team and Long Island Sting
Team. We also had one loss to teams from the Long Island
Express and Sting.
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U-13 went 2-1-1 for the weekend. They defeated a tough
Syosset team under the Friday Night lights in a 3-1
defensive battle. They then went on to a 1-1-1 record in
the Massapequa Tournament defeating the Massapequa Mud-Dogs
(6th Grade A team), coming back to tie a
physically bigger Wantagh team and losing to The Long Island
Outlaws in a well played exciting game.
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The U-11 Team went
1-2, losing to the Long Island Owls and Long Island Outlaws and
defeating a team from Commack.
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The U-9 Hills
Lacrosse Team – future Team Hills Stars – took home the gold
from the Lax Max Tournament in Maryland. They went 5-0 and won
first place in the tournament!
Our organization went a
staggering 13-5-1 against some very stiff competition in its first
tournament weekend. Congratulations to all players and coaches.
You did a fine job.
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