Ridgefield won the FCIAC title for the first time in school history last year.
But the Tigers, who start the season with a 5:30 p.m. game at Staples, lost four Division I players from that team, including University of Virginia freshman Matt White.
So some new faces will need to step up if Ridgefield is to repeat.
Among them, junior defenseman Griffin McCarty. McCarty, the quarterback of the Tigers, is short on lax experience but long on athleticism and size.
The Tigers will also be counting heavily on University of North Carolina-bound junior defender Matt Shannon, senior midfielders Ian Vazquez, Aaron Mathias and Kurt Mueller, who is bound for Towson, as well as attackmen Jack Philbin and Aidan Scott (the younger brother of University of Denver freshman Colin Scott).
We’ve documented the numerous head-coaching debuts that have occurred in the Hudson Valley/Long Island/Connecticut region the last two weeks, but perhaps the most talked about will be happening today.
If we had told you a year ago at this time that Nick and Vin Savastano would be coaching their first game as co-head coaches at John F. Kennedy Catholic, you undoubtedly would have been surprised to say the least.
For the last 10 years, Nick Savastano served as head coach at John Jay. He was joined by his brother as assistant coach the last five years. During that time, John Jay won four sectional titles, and in 2007, defeated the No. 1-ranked team in the nation, Huntington, to advance to the state final for the first time in school history.
In mid-December, the Savastanos were fired from their posts, along with JV head coach Erik Hoaglund, amid charges of verbal abuse of players. It didn’t take them long to find a new venue to coach. (Hoaglund has joined the Savastanos as an assistant.)
Unlike John Jay, Kennedy Catholic is a developing program that currently plays in the shadows of the public school located in the same town, Somers, as well as neighboring programs Yorktown, John Jay, Lakeland/Panas and Mahopac.
Can the Savastanos take what they have labeled a “hidden gem” and transform it into a contender?
It will be interesting to watch, starting with a 4:30 p.m. game at Croton-Harmon.
In other 4:30 p.m. Hudson Valley games today, Lakeland/Panas hosts Suffern, Greeley visits Mahopac, Brewster hosts Fox Lane, Nyack visits Pleasantville, Ossining plays at Wappingers, Edgemont visits Pearl River, Westlake hosts Harrison, Hen Hud visits North Rockland and Byram Hills is at Clarkstown South.
South Side visits Syosset for a 4:30 p.m. to highlight Long Island action.
As always, be sure to post your thoughts on these matchups as well as any info on the scores and game details.
MSGVarsity.com coverage
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* Lombardi on Lacrosse: Tri-State Report
* Hudson Valley/Connecticut Top 10 rankings
* Play of the Day: Over-the-shoulder, no-look goal by Pelham’s Doug Eich
* Lombardi: Uncertainty lingers after Week 1 in Section 1
* John Jay-Yorktown game video
* Jared Greenberg’s Beyond the Boxscore: Lax Lives up to the Hype
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Posted In: Scoreboard Central
I’m picking Greely to pull the upset at Pac…
Will be at the Kennedy-Croton game. For anyone else, the Croton field is Spencer field, not at the high school. Ossining-Wappingers could be interesting too, anyone going there?
New era at Kennedy. Sav’s defense will come around first. Wonder if they play zone at all. Croton has Pojman who can go for 5-6 if they don’t deny him the ball. Opening day for JFK. Croton 6-2.
Ossining over Wappingers. Wap got a boost fromthe schedule last two after starting 0-3, but six games in less than two weeks and they’ve got to be worn down against a very rested and fast Ossining team. Ossining’s offense usually disappoints, but D is pretty good and goalie edge definitely goes to O. Ossining 8-4.
Fox Lane must be dying to get on the field after the OT loss to Ossining that they feel they should have won. Sorry, they got beaten by a more physical, athletic team that has trouble scoring. Brewster is one of those teams you always think you can beat, but hate to play and for good reason. FL is just too angry to be denied. FL on the road 8-7.
Greeley at Mahopac is matchup of the day. Mahopac’s slow start was against good teams and they won’t stay down for long. Greeley has played 3 and won’t back down for sure, but they’ll have to cover Brando, Bernabo, Gyseck and Foley which is a stretch for them. Mahopac surprises themselves and breaks out. Mahopac 12-6.
P’ville at home over Nyack
L/P rolls over Suffern
Hen Hud tips N Rockland
Ctown South defends home turf vs Byram
Upset special of the day:
Edgemont over Pearl Riv!
Shocker you picked Mahopac to lose. I’ll take Pac 14-7, and then to beat Somers 9-8
Must win for Pac before meeting Somers Saturday.Like Pac by 5 goals as Greeley is always tough,.Can Bastien cover Brando and if so can the rest of the O step up .McGuigan due to break out with a big game.
I’ll take Byram over South 10-8. Also Pearl, Pville, LP, Hen Hud, Pac. Don’t want to predict Kennedy-Croton. Want an open mind when I watch. And I’ll go Wappingers over Ossining by 1.
Staples has a great opportunity to pull this game out vs. Ridgefield. Having seen a couple of the RF scrimmages it looks as though they are still not quite meshing. I think if Staples can jump out early it puts preassure on RF offense who to this point has not shown the ability to reel off scores like last year. I certainly think they will come around, but getting them early might be just the ticket for Staples.
Staples is nasty this year…
I like Ridgefield over Staples. I’m very skeptical of Staples this year although they do have a few very good payers (Orban & Ambrose come to mind). I think people don’t realize that Ridgefield ’09s shadowed two more very good classes in their ’10s & ’11s – not that this years Seniors and Juniors are as good as last year’s Seniors, but they are still a quality team. Aaron Mathias, Aidan Scott, and Matt Shannon will turn some heads this year with new roles. Colsey is also a far better coach than his counterpart at Staples.
franklyscarlett,
After what RF lost from last season and from what I saw from Staples(with some D1 kids) in the scrimmages , certainly would not be shocked if Staples won.
Everybody with Mahopac is already looking past Greeley and talking about Somers. Danger, Will Robinson, danger! Let’s hope the players are not doing the same!
I love that upset special for the Edgemont road warriors! WhooHoo!
Fox Lane falls to Brewster!
Ossining is going to pound Wappingers.
and the Chris Berman, Swami Says, double upset shocker…
Suffern…over Lakeland/Panas!!… In overtime!
Have a great day everyone!
Any word on Staples beating Ridgefield?
Brewster 9 Foxlane-2…..Brewster had the ball for at least 3/4 of the game.
Pac 13 Greeley 10
Chase Thompson 4-1
Brando, Carey each had 3-1
Okie 2-1
Now let’s show Somers WADDUPPPPPPPP
Hen Hud 6, North Rockland 0
Pleasantville 11, Nyack 3
Staples beats Ridgefield 11-10 in OT. WOAH…
Ossining 10 Wappingers 8
At half, Staples was up 4 to 1 on Ridgefield and dominating play. Ridgefield looked sloppy and had a tough time generating any offense.
Upset City!
greeley, just like the brewster game, found themselves down 8-4 at the half. They rallied back hard though, Danny Leventhal had three straight goals. with about 1:30 left and a score of 12-10, greeley tried to double team Brando and got the ball out but Pac picked it up and scored on the open net.
Greeley put up a great fight though. very entertaining game
RF/Staples score??
First off … best name for a poster ever … Staples That Was Easy … LOVE IT! Haha.
Here are some scores from today…
Syosset 11, South Side 8
Plainview JFK 9, Jericho 7
Comsewogue 13, Glenn Elwood 7
Bayport/Blue Point 13, Southampton 2
St Anthony’s 16, Monsignor Farrell 1
Bellmore JFK 10, Mineola 9
East Hampton 11, Bellport 7
Shoreham-Wading River 17, Babylon 3
East Meadow 11, Carey 3
Leventhal had 5 goals
http://insidelacrosse.com/rankingpoll/HS_Power ……. john jay number 7 in the country
LP 12, Suffern 4
Byram 9-1 Over Clarkstown South
Croton downed Kennedy Catholic 16-9 today in the first game for new Kennedy Catholic co-head coaches Nick and Vinny Savastano.
Greeley played pretty good today and put up a good fight. 33 on greeley played really good game on brando and leventhal had a good game scoring 5 goals, but mahopac had too much offensive fire power and greeleys offense was sloppy.
Exciting game to watch.
Kennedy-Croton was a good game. Croton got an early lead but Kennedy came back to take a 6-5 lead late in the 2nd. At end of 3rd it was 13-9, then Croton added some late games. Game was more competitive then the score. Pojman for Croton had a great game again, think 5 goals and the offense lit it up. Kennedy #3 scored SEVEN goals and had an assist, and won faceoffs. When their center mid comes back the Kennedy offense looks like it has potential. The defense was somewhat disappointing, though. I thought that they’d be tougher to score on. Both teams need work, but it should be a good rematch game late season.
cardslax,
We called it with Staples over Ridgefield (they did win right?). Not saying RF won’t play stronger but up to now think they got some free “mo” in terms of reputation based upon last yr. Also Staples is a very good team.
For those that may not have looked at the rankings, at #7 Jay is now ranked higher then West Islip, Chaminade, West Genny, every Baltimore MIAA team except for Boy’s Latin.
Manhassat , Sachem North who beat WI not ranked.
Interesting.
These rankings are crazy. I guess they are good for interest in the game but they really are inaccurate. No offense to JJ but 7th in nation, then LP and Town should be top 25 too. WI is behind JJ. If you saw the scrimmage between the two you know that is wrong. Just strange is all. Lafayette at 4 is also strange. They are good but not 4th in the nation. They are no way better than WI, Chaminade, etc.
I agree- but you can’t lose and Jay hasn’t yet. Maybe tomorrow they will and then they will drop considerably. It is still early April and this does not mean much.
Bigeasy has a good point, especially if teams have played head-to-head.
But the other side of that is that they have a lot of numbers they work with and aren’t exactly doing this on a hunch either.
Add in the fact most teams have only played a handful of games and it’s clumsy at best.
But are coaches polls more accurate, or do they get too politically biased from coach to coach?
I guess if anybody could ever develop a truly great ranking system they would save BCS football, March Madness and even high school lax.
Taking ideas here…
Good to hear that Pac’s offense is getting rolling.. The defense if going to have to pick it up if they wanna contend with Somers on Saturday
If Jay beats Set tomorrow night they are a top 10 team. If they lose in a close game, top 25, Set is a top 25 team right now.
And we’ve got Ohio, Texas, Ca, and Co teams in top 25. Do these teams play anywhere near the same level of week in/week out elite competition as do the teams in LI, Baltimore, Westchester, Upper NY State, Phil!!!! Of course not! Do these teams play LI, Baltimore, Westchester, Upper NY State, Phil! teams head to head to compare. No!!
Its fun to look at and you want to be on it like Jay but IL’s national ranking has been and always will be a joke.
The only ranking that makes sense are regional ones made by the coaches that really know the teams and where the teams play each other enough to make comparisons.
Forget the rankings. Jay, just go out and beat Sett tomorrow.
rankings are bull
ballerstatus
While they are far from perfect, Comparisons/Rankings are fun. They give you something to think about and make rational/irrational comments about the comparison between teams. They have validity within the constraints, the methodology and margin of error of such method and systems used to make the predictions (mathematical to pure opinion!). In a sense without opinion and “ranking” why bother with this or any other blog. Just read the “papers” for the wins and losses, no opinion, analysis or comments needed or necessary!
Seen Somers scrimmage . And I have seen Mahopac who is now turning it on, after a slow start.Indians offense becoming the real deal. Somers a whole week off, and still with big name injuries:
Mahopac-12
Somers-10
SLacrosse
I’ll back you up on the rankings. The only ranking that matters is the one that comes out June 12,2010 (after the state finals)
Who on somers is out?
slacrosse, benlaxman from yesterday and Joe L. all bring good points about rankings.
I agree that coaches polling is probably the best “system” out there and then only on a regional level, but there are too many politics and biases built in to that.
slacrosse mentioned that teams from Tx, Ca and such don’t play against the same level of competition that east coast guys do…agreed…and it’s a major glitch in the national ratings. On the other hand, teams often do come from other regions to play here and do well, but are they playing against the best in this region? Usually no.
benlaxman noted that systems have validity within their own parameters, but the problem is the parameters they use are flawed.
Who knows how IL arrives at their ratings, they’re based in lala land and I believe a lot of it has to do with them wanting to gain a national audience.
Laxpower, which is probably better relies heavily on goal differential, but how is that accurate. The object is to win the game by at least one. But if you are favored by 5 and win by 4 you get penalized, so you win a game and go down in the rankings. Absurd. But if you win a game by more than ten your upward score is capped so as not to encourage running up the score. So the best way to rise in laxpower is to win on the road, against higher ranked teams by nine goals. Ridiculous. Winning a road game is hard enough, so instead of giving one point for a road win and basing the rest on goal differential, why not give two or three points for the road win and rely less on goal differential?
In the end, the only thing that matters when comparing teams are head to head and common opponents and even then common opponents is flawed as well.
Delicious isn’t it?
whatta_you_do
Agreed. Yeah teams that come east dont play the TOP teams that much and so a 1 game win over an elite team means alot for THAT day but not for a national ranking.
Local rankings may have their prejudices but at least the “public” knows the teams and can have a meaningful debate about rankings,
IL is a political animal trying to spread its name and lacrosse nationally. That’s good! But I’m convinced that politics, “goodwill” has alot to do with sticking a few teams from hot, developing lacrosse states like CA, FL, Co, etc into the top 20-25.
Highland Park (TX) better IN A SEASON then WI, Chaminade, West Genny–I dont THINK so.
Somers is very undisciplined just like last yr and will take penalties that lead to man ups. I heard they took SEVEN penalties vs St. A’s. Pac wins 13-9.
I am curious, why is Deerfield even considered in these rankings? They have at least 5 players that GRADUATED from high school last year. Not kids that repeated grades or were held back for “developmental” reasons but who actually graduated! They should not even be in a poll with REAL public and private schools!
I agree with everything you guys say about rankings.
Here’s what whatta you do means about the flaw in common opponents. Let’s say John Jay starts the season 4-0 in the section and are ranked #1. The highest ranked opponent they’ve already beaten is currently #2.
Roosevelt is ranked #47 and beats John Jay on the road by one goal. At that point, on that day, Roosevelt is now compelled to be ranked higher than all the common opponents John Jay has already beaten, which means they are compelled to be ranked at least second. Now add in head to head and since they’ve beaten JJ, they MUST be ranked #1 until they, Roosevelt, have played their next game.
As far as laxower is concerned, Roosevelt could earn a win that would send shockwaves throughout section1, the state and national rankings, yet because they only won by one goal they get 1.00 credit for a road win, the goal differential (say 10 because JJ would be favored by 9) and a .25 correction factor for beating a higher ranked team. Then the whole score probably gets capped somewhere around 3.25, which means they realistically could rise from #47 on that day to perhaps mid-30’s
The question becomes, what is the poll trying to answer, ‘Who is the best team’ (meaning the most difficult to beat), or ‘who is the most consistent performer’ (laxpower style that rewards wins by up to 9 goals)?
Most difficult to beat is a reigning King of the Hill style and would see many changes through the season with teams having the ability to rise quickly and dramatically for at least a day. Laxpower and other scoring based systems are less interesting because it is just as hard to fall dramatically as it is to dramatically rise no matter how shocking a victory you earn or defeat you suffer.
And then slacrosse makes the good point about a team that has a 1 game win streak. His point is, if you really want a true measure of how teams stack up against each other you have to play at least three games. Right? I think he’s right because every team can have a bad day.
I say we make lax season year round and have all the teams play each other 3 times. All we need is about $30 million and kids with no lives except for lax. lol.
lax maven
Think you have a very valid point. Delete schools that have ‘PG’ playing.
Hope J wins but have to go 11-5 Sett.
Why would we delete private schools with post graduates but continue to allow schools with students who have repeated a year? Is there a difference between a postgraduate at a boarding school born in 1991, a sixth former at a private school born in 1991 and a senior in high school born in 1991?
The basic reason for this discussion is because the entities that do the rankings, including Laxlessons.com do not make any distinction between pre-college schools. You could carve up schools into different classifications all you want and not be satisfied. Why don’t we create a separate class for public high schools with no one born before Jan. 1, 1992? That’s only fair to those schools who don’t have repeats, isn’t it? Thus is the conundrum of these classifications, you can’t get it right to satisfy everybody.
By the way, the only poll that really matters is the one at the end of the year. Rankings in April are as temporary as it gets.
Lax Novice,
Absolutely agree about yr end rankings as the key. At least all teams would have a full season of games under their belts.
But I do feel its easy and fair to make just one clear distinction. No need to go any further with other diastinctions as you suggested.
Either you’ve graduated from high school or not. PG’s exist to improve their academics and/or athletics. As long as “athletics” may be a factor, teams with PG kids should not be compared to high schools.
Nah, I would agree with Lax Novice. A nineteen year old is a nineteen year old no matter if he’s graduated or not. The distinction to me is “5th” year of HS level experience and even that is doable for a public schooler in some states (i.e. make varsity as an 8th grader…). Not 100% sure but, I don’t believe CT allows 5 years of HS eligibility or playing beyond 19 years of age.
Techincally you can find ways to legitimately repeat a year of HS. There is a very prominent public school on LI that who graduated a player who is now playing college lax at a big time program and is under all-america consideration who whose father had a Dr. write a letter to the school when he was in eigth grade to have him held back because of an “endocrine disorder.” Believe me when I tell you there was nothing wrong with the kid who was one of the best athletes in his class and was of average size. I am not condoning it but, people find ways to expliot the system.
franklyscarlett
Yeah good point.
Jay Set
Should be traditionally close. Much hangs on Weil’s (or someone else’s for that matter) continued improvement as FOG. Daniello needs to avoid the second dodge. Shoot or dish after the first. He should not think he has to do it alone. The second one is a low percentage and usually coughs up the ball in the melee. The team should use all their weapons on O to counter any disparity at FO when they have the ball. Operating as a 6 man offense, they should be unstoppable. IMO, The D needs to play out further on Middie, slide and back up earlier and limit the 12 yard shots, either from the dodge or assisted. Schurr has a tough decision to pick the man in the goal. I have never believed in platooning goalies, as being as effective as having “Da Man.” We will see if he has made up his mind yet. Good luck Jay. Play hard and well. Go Sect 1
Jay got beat up by ‘Set. Final was 12-3. Manhasset was the better team alll around. Tough to go to the Island for a Friday night game in April – and Jay was not up for the challenge. This is supposed to be a down year for Manhasset but you couldn’t tell by their play.
One thing that appears apparent – Section 1 this year will not fair well against the top teams on the Island.
Predicition for Tuesday RYE 9 JJ 8 5 overtimes
You know it’s gonna be wide open this season.
JJ looked like deer in the head lights, heard foot steps. unable to clear, bad match ups lead to easy scores. JJ sticks were constantly being knocked out of players hands. Anybody know how much time the offense had the ball?
FO’s won? Shots taken 6? 8?
Manhasset is the 10th best team on the Island….we’ll get them next year
Should be a good game with a great atmosphere – White out as Joe noted – but honestly who expects one team to win all three games if they wind up playing that many as they should? So maybe the losing team actually has an edge later on if it’s a close game? Just throwing that out there. It’s a long season with a lot of ups and downs. This isn’t football.