Yorktown Soph Scialdone Headlines Under Armour A-A Lax List
It is going to take a lot more than a COVID-19 pandemic or dire family illness to stop Yorktown High sophomore Alexandra Scialdone from achieving her goal of playing Division I lacrosse for a major university.
The 5-foot-5, 130-pound attacker was named an Under Armour All-American Saturday, and the road to that status was jammed-packed with travel between Yorktown and Long Island, where Scialdone competes for the nationally-renown Long Island Yellow Jackets, winners of the 2019 14U national championship.
If we ever have a high school lacrosse season at fabled Yorktown High in 2021, Scialdone will be prepared for it, providing a determined effort reminiscent of the Sarah and Lindsay Scotts, the Alexis Venechanos’, the Noelle Mitchells and the Katrina Dowds before her. The kid has been traveling 165 miles round trip three times per week for the past five years to her travel team and trainer on Long Island. She never missed a single event, even when her mother was stricken with cancer. (She has since, thankfully, been on the long road to recovery.)
“At this point I am so grateful for my parents and the support of my entire family, as this All-American honor is as much theirs as it is mine,” said Scialdone, a 3rd Degree Adult Brown Belt in Okinawan Goju-ryu. “It’s all so exciting. I dreamed about being an Under Armour All-American since I was little and seeing all the other girls play in those games just inspired me.”
The girls’ lax game was spoon-fed to Scialdone since her dad, John, simultaneously put a stick in her hand as she started walking, and she’ll stop at nothing to represent Section 1 in the mold of former greats like Sammy Jo Tracey (Fox Lane), Casey Bocklet (John Jay), Livy and Gabby Rosenzweig (Somers) and the scores of former stately Cornhuskers.
“Even though this is a tremendous honor I think I have a long way to go,” Scialdone said. “This is just one step towards my ultimate goal of playing Division I lacrosse. I’ve been fortunate enough to start at such a young age and since that time I have been playing in Long Island. The talent out on Long Island is insane, and I’m so happy and fortunate enough to have played there. and it has definitely changed and improved my game greatly. Section 1 is incredibly talented, and I feel that we can definitely compete with the teams out east on the island.”
Scialdone will compete in the Nike 120 and the Under Armour All-American tournaments in August, and she looks forward to the day when she can pull that illustrious Yorktown jersey on after her freshman year was canceled due to the coronavirus.
“I can’t wait to see what the future holds for me and all the other girls playing this sport,” she said.
Hats off to Yorktown G Vito DeBellis, Byram Hills’ Sean Siegel, Mahopac’s Michael Harney and Lakeland’s Conor Hufnagel on being named Under Armour All-Americans, too. We may have missed out on the Section 1 2020 spring lax season, but it appears we have some talent on the horizon.
RANDOMNESS: Players from the WNBA New York Liberty and Seattle Storm walked off the court during the national anthem last week and, at the very same time, a tree fell in the woods. Like I told y’all time and time again, I can deal with athletes taking a knee before the national anthem in a moment of silence for social justice, racial inequality and any other form of protest you can throw out there, because there’s a lot of work to do on these fronts, but you lose a lot folks when you diss the flag of the United States and our national anthem.
I’m not saying I won’t watch pro sports again, including the WNBA, or that I don’t agree with the need for introspective change in American society. I’m just saying the message gets lost in any affront against Old Glory. There could come a time when school administrators and stadium owners decide to ban the playing of our national anthem prior to the start of games, and that would be a travesty in and of itself when #CancelCulture goes awry.
I can proudly state I’ve never been to Portland, Ore. and never will. The Washington Football Team should change their name to the All-Skins; this way everybody can and will take offense, accordingly.
Ray has 33 years experience covering and photographing local sports in Westchester and Putnam counties, including everything from Little League/Travel Baseball to varsity high school prep sports and collegiate coverage. He has been a sports editor at Examiner Media since its inception in 2007.
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