Yorktown Stumbles in 4th, Falls to Rye, 9-7; Somers Surging
By Ray Gallagher, Examiner Sports Editor @Directrays
YORKTOWN senior All-American A Harry Griff bagged a combined eight goals and dished five assists in the Huskers’ 14-4 win over Wappingers and their 14-10 win over Scarsdale, but reigning champion Rye countered wisely in Saturday’s 9-7 win over the Huskers in a super-hyped rematch of last year’s Class B title tilt, limiting Griff to a pair of assists.
Things began rather swimmingly for state-ranked (No.5) Yorktown against No.3 Rye when Griff found James Solazzo for a 1-0 lead at 9:10 of the first. Solazzo then scored man-up at 9:57 before finding Sava Makarenko for a 3-0 lead at 7:40 of the second. Things went downhill from there with the Garnets scoring four unanswered before the half to take a 4-3 lead.
Rye’s Tommy Greenhaw went back-to-back at 2:53 of the second to make it 3-2, Huskers. Owen Kovacs tied the score at 3-3 before long pole Carter Barford scored with :10 left in the half.
A #YardSale takeaway by Yorktown led to a 4-4 tie when Drew Weissman spun and won, unassisted at 5:34 of the third. The Huskers then took the lead when Solazzo, playing a career game, scored in the waning seconds of the third. Rye responded in kind at 11:25 of the fourth when Kovacs tickled twine and then Tanner Howson found the back of the net for a 6-5 Garnet lead they would not relinquish at 8:51.
Howson then came out from behind the X and spotted Rye a two-goal lead just seconds later, and more mystery ensued for Yorktown when Whaling picked a corner at 7:35 for a three-goal lead. Rye put the final nail in the coffin when Whaling beat a red-dog double-team and zipped it into an empty net with 2:40 to play. Solazzo tacked on a pair of late tallies to make it close. If nothing else, 40-time Section 1 champion Yorktown, which hasn’t won it all since 2017, proved it could hang with the Garnets.
In Yorktown’s win over Scarsdale, Ryan Vogel adde two goals and two assists while Jack Duncan and Makarenko netted two goals apiece.
Against Wappingers, Duncan added four goals and an assist for the Huskers and Solazzo finished with two goals and three assists in what was a breakout week for the senior…
Despite fielding a veritable M.A.S.H. Unit Coach Jim Lindsay’s LAKELAND/PANAS Rebels (2-5) were right there with visiting John Jay CR last Thursday when junior M Justin Stabile had a career quarter, scoring back-to-back-to-back goals to bring the Rebels within 6-4 midway through the third. However, the well ran dry on L/P, which was without its three top poles, in what would become a 13-5 beatdown at the hands of the Wolves (5-2).
Wolves Chris DiChiara (3G, 1A), Luca Duva (3G) and Nick Savastano (2G, 2A) feasted upon the undermanned L/P defense, courtesy of M Dom Savastano (15 faceoff wins, 8 GBs) owning the draw box.
With six players sidelined, the Rebels can only hope to heal up in a hurry and get ready for May. Joe Alleva and Nick Graap each scored once for the Rebels, who need more from Graap after he netted a hat trick in a 15-9 loss to state-ranked (No.3) Class A Mamaroneck earlier in the week, if they are going to achieve a Class B Final 4 spot.
The youth movement at SOMERS was on display Saturday in the Tuskers’ 13-9 triumph of Section 2 Guilderland. Freshman Miguel Iglesias, junior Luke Kennedy and sophomore Mac Sullivan combined for 15 points for the Tuskers (6-1) and did nothing to tarnish the notion that Somers has some up-and-coming, next-level D-I talents (IMO).
Sullivan (5G, 2A), Iglesias (2G, 2A), Kennedy (4G) Nick Newman (1G, 1A), T.J. Olifiers (2A), Ryan Brush (1G), Mike Keane (1A), Henry Ellison (1A) all found the stat sheet while Hunter Sullivan made 17 saves. Nine of 13 Tusker goals were assisted. Curious to see this Somers vs. Mahopac game today. Could/should go down to the wire.
In MAHOPAC’s 14-4 win over PUTNAM VALLEY, Mike Harney, Gavin Viglucci and Jake Degnan all buried a hat trick for the Indians (5-3). Pac’s Danny Koch and Mike Rettberg each scored twice, dropping the Tigers to 2-3.
CLASS D
Lakeland/Panas was also overwhelmed by nationally-ranked Class D powerhouse BRIARCLIFF in Saturday’s 15-5 loss to the visiting state-ranked (No.1) Bears, who lead an unheard of trio of Section 1 Class D teams ranked atop the NYSSWA polls, including No.1 (Briarcliff), No.2 (Bronxville) and No.3 (Pleasantville). I cannot recall a time when three teams from Section 1 were all atop the state polls at the same time. Surely, the survivor of this trio would be favored to win a state title and possibly become just the fifth Section 1 program to do so, joining Yorktown (7X), Mahopac (1996), Pleasantville (2018) and Bronxville (2014). If not for COVID and the shortened 2021 season, Briarcliff might be going for a second state chip later this spring.
Liam Gaugler had four goals and an assist in HALDANE’s 11-2 win over WESTLAKE, giving the Blue Devils (4-1) their fourth straight win. Evan Giachinta (6 points) notched two goals and had four dimes while Frankie DiGiglio (hat trick) and Rhys Robbins (3 points) added two goals and an assist. The Wildcats (1-4) bounced back in a 11-10 win over CROTON behind Isaiah Rivera (5G), who turned a 6-3 deficit into Westlake’s first win..
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.
Visit Ray’s author bio page for more details. Also read Ray’s archived work here and his Direct Rays column here.
