Sports Archives — The Altamont Enterprise, January 17, 2008
Dutchmen sluggish, fight off tough Blue Bison
By Tim Matteson
GUILDERLAND — It wasn’t the prettiest basketball game of the year for the Guilderland Dutchmen, but they will take the result.
The Dutchmen pulled away late in Tuesday night’s contest to beat Shaker, 57-47, and remain unbeaten in the Suburban Council.
"At the end, we made some big baskets," said Guilderland Coach Ron Osinski. "They didn’t shoot the ball well later. I credit them. They had a good game plan and they played us tough. I tell the kids what to expect from the league. We have a target on our back...Everybody wants to be where we are at, at this point."
Guilderland led by five points, 40-35, at the end of three closely played, physical quarters.
Shaker was able to whittle the lead down to one point, 42-41, but Guilderland’s Dan Gejay hit a big jump shot that gave the Dutch some breathing room.
Then the Dutch were able to get their transition game going.
Chris Mannarino grabbed a rebound and passed the ball down the court to Jon Terry who scored on an easy lay-up.
Shaker missed its next shot and Brett Marfurt grabbed the rebound. He passed the ball to a streaking Andrew Smith, who converted on the fast break and the Dutch had built the lead up to seven points, 48-41.
Shaker’s Billy Yuzynko made a jump shot but Marfurt answered with a drive to the basket and was fouled. Marfurt converted the foul shot for the three-point play.
Gejay scored on a drive to the basket to put the Dutch up, 53-43, with 1:09 left in the game.
A lay-up by Terry and two free throws by Marfurt rounded out the scoring by the Dutch and sealed the 10-point win.
Out-hustled"
It was a nice finish for the Dutch who were not the dominating team they have showed they can be for most of the season.
"I thought they out-hustled us," Osinski said. "We chased guys [on defense] when we should have just backed off. We didn’t follow the game plan. But we got the key rebounds and hustled enough."
The Dutch led, 18-12, at the end of the first quarter, but only led by one point at halftime as they got sloppy with the ball and scored just six points in the frame.
"At the end of the first half, we rebounded the ball then we passed it right to the guy," Osinski said. "And then Kevin [Kost] shoots the ball when we should have held it. But we’re not in that spot much. We miss the shot, they get the rebound and hit a shot. Then they’re down one and it should’ve been 24-19."
Marfurt led the Dutchmen with 20 points. Terry scored 14 points and Smith added 13 points.
Ryan Sullivan led Shaker with 10 points.
Osinski said he noticed his team wasn’t playing with the usual juice it has for most games.
"It was how we came out tonight," the coach said. "I thought they would be charged up. We finally have a home game. But the crowd was quiet. The kids would like to see people come to the gym. It charges them up a bit. The students should be here. It’s not often they have a team like this."
"Still in the game"
The Dutchmen are now 9-0 in the Suburban Council with five more league games to go. Guilderland has an overall record of 11-2 this season.
The Dutch will play five more games, three of them on the road. They just played a long stretch of games on the road.
"We had a tough road trip," Osinski said. "We played five games, including the holiday tournament. We had two long Friday trips including Saratoga. We handled that, even though we were down at the half. And at Averill Park, we were down at halftime. We played well for three quarters. We were down 12-2 early.
"We battled back and cut it to four by halftime," Osinski added. "Teams are playing their best basketball and we’re still in the game."
The Dutch lost just one game on their road trip — to Christian Brothers Academy at Columbia’s holiday tournament. The Dutchmen bounced back to beat Queensbury, Saratoga, Bethlehem, and Averill Park.
The Dutch play at Ballston Spa on Friday then get a week off due to Regents exams. They play on Friday, Jan. 25, at home against Burnt Hills. Guilderland finishes the season with away games at Shenendehowa and Columbia and a home contest against Bethlehem.
"We control our own destiny," Osinski said. "If we let our guard down, someone will get us. Three of our last five games are on the road. The kids said they like playing on the road."
By Tim Matteson
GUILDERLAND— The effort was there. And maybe soon, the wins will follow.
A tough season for the Guilderland girls’ basketball team continued on Friday with a 38-27 loss to Averill Park at Guilderland High School.
"It was an outstanding effort," said Guilderland Coach Frank Cacckello. "The last two games, we’ve given everything we had. Even the other coach commended them on how hard the kids play."
Averill Park broke open a 16-16 halftime tie in the third quarter. The Warriors outscored the Lady Dutch, 12-4, in the third frame to take a 28-20 lead going into the final stanza.
Guilderland’s offense went into a funk in the final two quarters and could not catch up to the Warriors.
Most of the Dutch’s offense came from junior center Alicia Bowman. She made a shot at the end of the third quarter and then scored five points in the fourth quarter.
Bowman did not get any offensive support and the Lady Dutch defense finally appeared tired as they were outscored, 10-7, in the final stanza.
"A nice run"
The Dutch did cut the lead to two points in the early part of the frame. Bowman made two foul shots and scored an inside basket and Leanna Tice made a jump shot to cut into the lead.
But Averill Park went on a 10-1 run in the final four minutes of the quarter with the big shots from leading scorer Katie Duma.
Duma, who was harrassed all night by Guilderland’s Danielle Burns, hit a three-point shot from the top of the key to give the Warriors a seven-point lead, 33-26, with 2:42 left in the contest.
"We made a nice run at them," Cacckello said. "We cut it to two and then we got a stop. We had three or four three-point shots that were right on the rim and didn’t fall. And, when you shoot a three, you give up the long rebound and they got a couple of breakout situations and they got points."
The Dutch could not get any more points.
Bowman led the Dutch with seven points in the contest. Junior guard Jen Madsen added six points. Three players — Burns, Tice, and MacKenzie Michele — each scored four points.
Duma led the Warriors with nine points, but had just one field goal, the three-pointer in the fourth quarter. Kate Hawes added seven points and Brittany O’Shea scored six points for the Warriors.
"I told the kids that we do not have the kid that steps ups and demands the ball in their hands," Cacckello said. "We didn’t get that tonight."
Cacckello is looking for some scoring to go along with his team’s defensive tenacity. The Dutch held a good scorer to under double digits in the contest.
"Duma is one of best in Section II," Cacckello said. "We made a different defense to focus on her. Danielle did a good job on her and the other kids did a good job of taking away the dribble lanes.
"We were caught in a high screen," Cacckello said of the lone shot Duma made. "The help didn’t get there. It was slow coming from the inside out. We did a good job on her the whole game. We had just one breakdown."
"Getting better"
The Dutch players are young. Burns is the only senior who starts and two sophomore newcomers are also in the line-up. The Dutch are still learning how to win games.
Cacckello loves the effort his team puts out in each and every game. But he also feels bad that his players have only gotten to taste victory four times this year.
Guilderland has an 4-8 record and just a 3-6 mark in the Suburban Council. The Dutch played at Shaker on Tuesday and then play at Ballston Spa on Friday and at Burnt Hills the following Friday.
"We are getting better," Cacckello said. "You just can’t win a lot of games scoring just 27 points. The defense is there. We have to put a lot of time into offensive sets. We run good sets, we just haven’t shown it yet. We just have to keep working. We have another month left."
Cacckello, for the benefit of his players, hopes that they win some more games in the final month of the season.
"The disappointing thing for the kids is the amount of effort they put in and they are not receiving the end result yet," Cacckello said. "They practice hard. But it’s important to be rewarded for the effort they are making. Moral victories will only take you so far."
By Tim Matteson
GUILDERLAND — Two bad plays is all that kept the Guilderland ice hockey team from being unbeaten in league play.
The Skating Dutchmen lost their first Capital District High School Hockey League game on Saturday to LaSalle Institute, 3-0, on the Dutch’s home ice at Messa Rink at Union College.
Guilderland is now 6-1 in Division I of the CDHSHL and has a 6-7-1 overall record.
"It’s not a loss to be ashamed of," said Guilderland Coach John DeRubertis. "We had a couple of breakdowns and mistakes. Our team is not as deep as LaSalle’s. I have no problem with our effort. The four seniors on defense did an awesome job. In the end, I have to give [LaSalle] credit."
"A tough nut to crack"
LaSalle scored two goals early in the second period off a pair of Guilderland defensive miscues and tacked on the third goal on a power-play opportunity in the third period.
After the teams played to a 0-0 tie in the first period, LaSalle scored just 19 seconds into the second 15-minute period.
Zach Crowley tallied after Guilderland could not clear the puck out of its defensive zone and turned the puck over.
Mike Walsh got to a loose puck and fired a shot on goal. The shot was knocked away by Dutchmen goalie Brendan Glennon. But the rebound went right to Crowley who tipped the puck into the net for the goal to give the Cadets a 1-0 lead.
The Cadets scored again just three minutes later. After Guilderland got careless with the puck, LaSalle’s Justin Luzinas lifted it over the shoulder of Glennon for an unassisted goal.
"That was it," DeRubertis said. "After the two goals, we moved Collin Burg with Dan Dickenson and Greg Warnken. I put them together to give us a scoring line. We’ve split them up for balance, but, when we went down by two, it generated more opportunities for us...
"It made it into an up-and-down game," DeRubertis said of the fast-paced contest. "It was a little late. The tough thing about that team is that their goaltender is pretty good. He’s a tough nut to crack. He was focused and it is hard to finish against a goalie like that."
The Dutchmen were able to put pressure on LaSalle goalie Brendan Wagner. But Wagner, who made 27 saves, stopped all challengers and preserved the shutout.
Warnken had a pair of quality shots on goal in the second period but Wagner stopped both shots. Jeremy Tobin, Joe Romano, and Jon Fogel fired good shots on goal in the frame.
Glennon also did a very good job in goal. He held LaSalle at bay until the Cadets tallied their third goal with 3:18 left in the contest.
Pete Bonelli scored on a power-play chance after firing a shot from the point. Crowley assisted on the goal for the Cadets.
"We’re more disciplined," DeRubertis said. "We were only shorthanded a couple of times. Their third goal came on a power-play. It was a nice shot. It was a seeing-eye goal. There was a lot of traffic in front of the goal."
Glennon finished the game with 32 saves for the Skating Dutchmen. He was helped by senior defensemen Jeff Geisendorfer, Nick Koss, Max Goodknight, and Fogel.
"Working to get better"
DeRubertis said he thinks the team will bounce back because they have been playing hard all season.
"We’ve got Saratoga this week," the coach said. "We have to go up there with this effort again. We need that type of work ethic we brought into this game."
The Dutchmen already beat Saratoga this season, but DeRubertis and his players know that the schedule will only get tougher.
"We were not fooled by our 6-0 record," DeRubertis said. "We are all aware that we haven’t played a team the quality of LaSalle. It would have been a nice league win against a tough opponent. But I think the guys saw that they can skate with them and if we play our best game, we can beat them."
Guilderland played Saratoga on Wednesday. The Dutchmen will then play South Glens Falls on Friday at the Glens Falls Civic Center and then play Burnt Hills at Union College on Tuesday, before facing LaSalle again on Saturday at Hudson Valley Community College.
DeRubertis only sees a couple of spots where the Dutchmen need to get better during the second half of the season.
"We need to keep working to get better," the coach said. "In key situations, I would like to be deeper on the bench. That comes from kids working and showing that they want to achieve a level of success. I want the opportunity in big games to not be as thin on the bench."
By Tim Matteson
The outlook at the beginning of the season looked bleak for the Guilderville swim team.
The combined team from the Guilderland and Voorheesville high schools had eight swimmers from last year’s team graduate.
The swim team had gotten off to a tough start, facing strong competition in the Suburban Council. But a core of younger swimmers led by a small group of talented seniors look to finish strong at the end.
"We’re 1-6 right now," said senior Vadim Yafayev. "The last four meets we plan on winning. They are all closer competition to us. We started off the season facing the big schools and we can’t compete with them."
The Guilderville team has only 15 swimmers. It lacks the depth to compete against big teams like Shenendehowa.
"They have more depth," Yafayev said. "And with that depth they swim all year round. We might have four guys that swim year round. At places like Shen, all of them swim year round. It makes it harder to compete."
"Continuously encouraged"
Guilderville does have a good young core of swimmers such as Michael Schaffer, Jonathan Wheeler, Dan Lee, Dan Zemanek, and Duncan Gentner.
"The younger swimmers together with our stand-out senior Vadim Yafayev," said Guilderville Coach Vaclav Sotola, "and the ‘veteran’ diver — 10th-grader Sean Molloy — made sure that the newcomers felt welcome and knew what to expect."
The newcomers include two seventh-graders, Reid Zyniecki and Andrew Wheeler; ninth-graders Kyungduk Rho, Alex Relyea, and Tim Willox, and 11th-grader Mike Pezze.
"All of these swimmers are continuously encouraged to do their best by senior co-captains Yafayev, Michael Zemanek, and Matt Goodness," Sotola said.
Yafayev, Zemanek, and Goodness are the only seniors on the team. There are also only two juniors on the Guilderville squad.
"A lot of them were on the team last year," Yafayev said. "Only the seventh-graders weren’t on the team. A lot of them are contributing this year."
"We all work pretty good together," Zemanek said.
Tough schedule
At the beginning of the season, Guilderville faced Section II powerhouses such as Shenendehowa, Shaker, and Bethlehem.
"The second half of the season looks more promising," Sotola said. "The team is in position to win four out of six of its final meets, which would bring them to a much better overall record. Not bad for a team that lost eight seniors last year."
"If we finish with four wins, it will be the most wins I’ve had," Yafayev said. "We can have five or six wins as a team. The most I had was four wins in the ninth grade. Five wins, they’ve not had that in a while. We’re gunning for it."
Each swimmer continues to get better. As the season has gone on and dropped their times in their events.
"Unfortunately, swimming is a team sport in which score does not always show the strong individual effort of the swimmers," Sotola said. "Individually, the swimmers improve their times almost every meet. Eleven out of 15 swimmers — and one diver — qualified for sectionals already.
"And Yafayev qualified for the state championships in the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke. He is also ranked sixth in the 200 individual medley and 14th in the 100 breaststroke in the entire state of New York."
"I am getting ready for states," Yafayev said. "I’m the only one going to states. I’m going to try and win states. It’ll be tough, but a good end to the season. I finished fifth last year and all but one kid graduated."
Yafayev is looking to swim in college. His top choices are St. Bonaventure, The College of Saint Rose, and Niagara University.
"Most of us have qualified for states," Zemanek said. "It’s the most people that have qualified in a few years."
It’s not just his swimmers’ improvements in the pool that Sotola likes with this team.
"As a coach, I could not ask for a better group of swimmers," Sotola said. "They are well behaved, supportive of one another, and respectful of their competitors and other coaches. With time, we should be able to build the program back to its glory."