STAC Girls Clinch Title; Baseball Hits the Road

The 'College Sports Notebook' is published each Friday. Please send items of interest—including local athletes competing at out-of-town colleges—to marcmaturo@aol.com.

--

Powered by East Coast Conference honorees Briana Sloper, Bianca Kowgios and Riley Harrington, and guided by the steady, veteran influence of senior Theresa Dowling, the spirited women’s basketball at St. Thomas Aquinas College clinched the regular-season title with a 17-4 record.

Now it’s time for the ‘second’ season.

Coach Kim Lusk’s Lady Chargers (21-7 overall) meet C.W. Post College in the ECC semifinals at noon on Saturday in Bridgeport, CT. In the other semifinal to follow, No. 3 Bridgeport meets No. 2 Dowling. The survivors vie for the title on Sunday, also at noon.

“None of our players have been in the semifinals before, but I think we’ll be OK. There may be some pressure at first, but once we get going we’ll be fine,” said ECC coach-of-the-year Lusk, who is in her third season at the helm and third trip to the postseason.

The Lady Chargers have swept three encounters with Post this season. But the last victory, at home, was a nail-biter that went to the wire before Sloper—the ECC co-player of the year—hit the decisive lay-up.

“We were down by 12 at halftime,” Lusk recalls. “Then we went ahead, they made a late run, and we won at the buzzer.”

Attempting to beat the same team four times in the same season might seem an extremely tough and challenging task for any club, but Lusk goes against the conventional wisdom.

“There won’t be too many surprises, that’s for sure,” the coach said. “I think we’re going in full of confidence. Because of our record [against them], and our No. 1 seed I tell them we’re in the driver’s seat. If anyone has to make an adjustment, they have to make more than we do.”

STAC is at full strength, and the starting lineup remains intact.

“We’re playing really well, so we don’t mess with it too much,” Lusk said, noting that most players on the team, with the exception of senior Theresa Dowling of Congers, have limited playoff experience.

Sophomore guard Shpresa Liharevic of Staten Island could prove to be a key factor. In the last two games, the St. John Villa grad hit 10 of 16 shots from behind the arc.

“That was a big help,” said Lusk, adding that point guard Bianca Kowgios, a defensive stalwart, is also an asset offensively.

“She’s more of an attack-the-basket type of kid, quick, and has improved to become a leader as time went on,” Lusk observed

Sloper, a junior from Williston Park, leads STAC in scoring with 17.7 points per game and 7.7 rebounds per game. The versatile forward, who scored her 1,000 career point on Dec. 4 at NIT, was named first-team all-Conference. With 1,372 points, she already stands as STAC’s Division II all-time scoring leader.

Kowgios, a sophomore from Yonkers, is pacing the ECC in assists with 5.07 a game, and is among the top three in free-throw percentage at 81.8. The Sacred Heart grad, who was acclaimed as ECC defensive player of the year, has helped the Lady Spartans limit opponents to 60 points or fewer in 13 games.

Harrington, a freshman from Irvington, was named to the ECC all-Rookie team, and has gained valuable experience coming off the bench. She is shooting 80 percent from the foul line, and has assisted on 28 baskets.

Play ball

Scott Muscat, longtime baseball coach at St. Thomas Aquinas College, has been hit with a rash of pitching injuries as the Spartans prepare for a scheduled seven-game road trip to West Palm Beach, FL.

“I’ve never seen it this bad,” Muscat said. “Four guys are hurt; it’s definitely our biggest problem right now. No position players are hurt, only pitchers.”

The Spartans had no problems with pitching, however, in their season opener, defeating UMass-Lowell 2-1 on a combined 1-hitter by sophomore right-hander Bob Frank of Closter, NJ, and senior lefty Joe Klemowitz of Middletown.

In a 4-1 loss to UMass in a quick rematch, Joe Ferrara of Congers handled the starting assignment for STAC.

Ferrara, a right-hander who was graduated from Clarkstown North, ran into trouble in the fourth inning, and was relieved by Nanuet resident Tom Enright. The Nanuet High grad was faced with a bases-loaded, one-out situation following an error but kept the game scoreless.

The Spartans then took a 1-0 lead but also left the bases loaded, giving UMass an opening. The Riverhawks took the lead in the bottom of the fifth on a three-run homer, and added a solo shot in the sixth.

STAC is scheduled to visit Adelphi at noon on Saturday for a doubleheader in Garden City. Frank, the opening-day winner, is expected to start the first game, but Muscat has yet to tab his second-game starter.

The Spartans depart for Florida on Wednesday.

Dominican College: Rick Giannetti of New City, in his 22nd season as the highly successful baseball coach at the school, looks for the Chargers to bounce back from a doubleheader sweep to Franklin Pierce University at The Rock Sports Park in Chester. Dominican next visits C.W. Post at 3 p.m. on March 11. Giannetti has a lifetime overall record of 643-407, with the Chargers showing 15 CACC titles, one ECAC crown, and two NAIA World Series appearances. The associate head coach is New City’s Chad Duesler, a 2006 Dominican grad who played four years for the Chargers.

Nyack College: The Warriors, with Matt Cornacchione in his second season as head coach, dropped their season opener, 6-5 in extra innings at Bloomfield College. A rematch is in store on Thursday, March 10 in West Palm Beach, FL. Nyack hopes to be in action today (March 4) with a game in Garden City against Adelphi University. The Warriors’ assistant coach is Nyack High graduate Mike Nassisi, who was an all-section shortstop. An instructor at RBI Indoor Baseball Facility in Valley Cottage, and a summer league coach for the Clarkstown Stars 16U travel team, Nassisi helped Rockland Community College win back-to-back conference titles.

 Mortarboard musings

• The track team at St. Thomas Aquinas College, led by freshman standout Keeley Bateman of Pearl River and sophomore Mike Abelard of Spring Valley, faces a long hiatus before opening the spring season at West Point on March 25 in the Dick Shea Open. … Abelard, Frankie Colon of Pascack Valley HS, George Erazo of North Babylon and Vinny Modafferi of Clarkstown South were named to the all-Region team in Division II. Abelard was recognized in three events: the 60 meters, 200, and 4x400 relay.  Colon, Erazo and Modafferi were also recognized in the 4x400. 
• Michael Scrima of Pearl River is prepping for his first season on the men’s lacrosse team at Wentworth College in Boston, MA. The Pearl River graduate, a freshman midfielder, is completing practice this week as the Leopards get ready for their season and home opener on March 15 against Massachusetts Maritime at 7 p.m. While a Pirate, Scrima was a member of a relatively new lacrosse program; he played baseball as a freshman, basketball until his junior year, and soccer.
• The Dominican College men’s basketball team, which started the season 0-7, put together a solid year for veteran coach Joe Clinton. The Chargers finished at 16-12, losing to second-seeded Post University, 71-68, in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference semifinals. In that game, the last for senior center Almin Hodzic of Budd Lake, NJ, Dominican rallied from a 21-point deficit in the second half. All-CACC second-team pick Leon Porter of Laurel, MD, led all scorers with 19 points, and had a game-high eight assists.
• Freshman hockey defenseman Andrew Moscardelli of Pearl River and Wentworth College travel to Curry College in Milton, MA, for the ECAC Northeast Championship on Saturday.
• Mike Shea and Matt DeSimone, both of Congers, scored second-period goals for the men’s lacrosse team at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in Riverdale. The Dolphins, tied 7-7 at the break, were overtaken 13-8 by visiting Cobleskill in their season opener. Up next is a non-conference home game with Misericordia on March 13.
• The Northeastern University men’s hockey team opens a home-and-home series against Boston University tonight at 7 p.m. at Matthews Arena. The teams meet again on Saturday night at BU. Skating on different lines for the Huskies are former Suffern High twin standouts Justin and Drew Daniels.
• Dave Bailen of Airmont, a Suffern High graduate, won his opening-round match at 125 pounds at the Empire Collegiate Wrestling Conference championships at Ithaca. Bailen, who prevailed 8-2, was then upended by the eventual champion from SUNY Cortland, Mahopac grad Dave Colagiovanni.