By John Schiano
MaxPreps.com
The good news for Kelly Ahern is that her Victor Blue Devils girls’ soccer team found out this week that they are starting off the season with a nice honor: Victor is No. 1 in Class A in the New York State Sportswriters Association inaugural rankings.
The bad news for the second-year coach is that the organization’s first rankings of the season have correctly tabbed the eventual champion just eight of 25 times since the New York State Public School Athletic Association expanded to a five-class format in 2003.
The worse news is that half of those correct predictions came when the NYSSWA projected Rockville Centre South Side to finish No. 1, which hardly qualifies as rocket science, since that Long Island buzz saw has won 14 championships since 1987.
The excruciatingly worst news for Victor is that the team starting off at No. 2 is none other than Section VIII’s Island Trees, which was good enough to put an end to South Side’s 30-game winning streak last week. And South Side is hardly a weakling these days, opening the season at No. 3.
It all amounts to a most challenging remaining two months to the season for Victor, which has back five starters from an 18-1-2 squad in Ahern’s rookie season and possesses a 60-6-5 mark over the last three-plus years, including a 6-0-0 start to the 2008 campaign following Tuesday’s 6-0 triumph against East Irondequoit.
But this is a season of challenges for Victor. The school made a major jump over the summer, moving from the Finger Lakes League to the Monroe County League in all sports. Victor now plays in the same division as Pittsford Mendon, which made it to the state final against Rockville Center South Side last November, and will pick up crossover games against a pair of Class AA schools. On average, the Monroe County schools are larger and more skilled than many of the schools that used to dot Victor’s regular-season schedule.
“Every game has been a battle,” said Ahern, a former high school teammate of U.S. National Team star Abby Wambach and a star in her own right in soccer and basketball at Our Lady of Mercy. “We’ve had to adjust to the speed of the play. The girls have had to adjust to the competition.
“But this will prepare us for what’s ahead. Some of the Finger Lakes battles were very good last year, but now we’re finding that you have to prepare and play well every time.”
With just five senior on the roster, Victor would seemingly have concerns about depth and experience. But just about everyone on the roster plays throughout the year in club programs, and star material has emerged as Victor has outscored opponents by a19-2 margin.
Sophomore goalie Taylor Huson already has four shutouts for the season, and senior defender Allyssa Abel is a two-time all-league selection. On offense, Ellie Hamilton punched in a hat trick against East Irondequoit to give her eight goals for the season. Senior Brooke Hessney is coming off a 12-goal junior season.
More Girls Soccer: Major Clashes Already
While Victor was dominating its game on Tuesday, large-school powers Aquinas and Webster Thomas were playing to a 4-4 tie that could have been a tease for a November playoff matchup to determine a berth in the state Class AA quarterfinals. Lauren Hill and Brittany Houghton scored in the second half to rally Thomas from a 4-2 deficit.
Whichever Rochester-area school survives might find itself tangling with Massapequa of Section VIII on the final weekend of the season. On Monday, the Chiefs went up 1-0 on Island Trees on Lauren Biscoff’s goal late in the first half, but settled for a 1-1 tie as Christina Merrill knocked in a rebound midway through the second half.
In Section IV, senior Chelsea Haight became Davenport's career goals leader this week as her 13th goal in eight games this fall gave her 110 in five varsity seasons, and Megan Godbout set a Susquehanna Valley school record with her 12th assist of the season.
Boys Basketball: Triche Sticks with Syracuse
To the surprise of almost no one, Jamesville-DeWitt senior Brandon Triche finally made a verbal commitment Tuesday to play basketball next year for Jim Boeheim at nearby Syracuse University. The 6-foot-4 point guard was also high on Georgetown and Connecticut, and several other major programs had started to make a push recently, taking Triche’s undeclared status as a sign that perhaps he wasn’t in fact a lock to pick the Orange.
Triche suffered an ACL injury in December 2006 but bounced back to average 20.2 points and 6.0 rebounds a game as a junior and lead Jamesville-DeWitt to New York State Public High School Athletic Association and Federation championships. He was selected the player of the year in Class A by the NYSSWA.
In the Albany area, the battle for junior Taran Buie is heating up. Boeheim, Paul Hewitt (Georgia Tech) and Gary Williams (Maryland) all participated in a $100-a-head clinic hosted by Maginn on Saturday, and it’s a safe bet that they weren’t there to pick up ideas on defending inbound passes under the basket.
Football: Class A Clashes Highlight Week 3 Schedule
The Class A schedule is heavy on matchups between highly regarded teams this weekend.
Half Hollow Hills West is at Sayville in a contest of Section XI squads that opened with victories last weekend, and Vestal is at Corning West in a matchup of 2-0 Section IV teams. Vestal features multi-faceted threat Cody Scepaniak, who has thrown for 282 yards, rushed for 194 and accounted for seven touchdowns. Austin Rose averages eight yards a pop carrying the ball for West.
Also in Class A, Buffalo Riverside makes a trip to Rochester to take on Aquinas. The Little Irish have never lost to a Section VI public school in the state tournament, but Riverside presents a new challenge as it plays in the city’s Harvard Cup circuit and is not eligible for the state tournament.
In an intersectional showdown that could be a preview of the state Class B quarterfinals, Chenango Forks of Section IV is at Chittenango of Section III. Both are 2-0.
John Schiano, who has written about high school sports in western and central New York for more than 25 years, covers New York for MaxPreps. He may be reached at johnschianosports@gmail.com.
