Two girls soccer players have recently been involved in charitable efforts involving soccer. Jamie Kimak organized a fundraising effort—Goals for Change—through Tappan Zee soccer. You may remember it from a soccer notebook I did during the season. She had her teammates and the JV players get monetary pledges from friends and family for every goal [...]

Find it here

Find it here

Just got back from Miami where I was taking a short vacation. I can’t say enough about how warm it was down there. Every day was t-shirt weather. The beaches are soft and hedonism is rampant. But the Dolphins still stink.

While I was away, The Journal News issued its all-star (for Westchester/Putnam) and all-county (for Rockland) [...]

Katonah’s favorite daughter scored in the 72nd minute of FSU’s semifinal against Notre Dame to push the Seminoles into their first championship, 3-2. She also assisted on their first goal, which came a record 15 seconds into the game. Read all about the victory here.

You can’t say enough about what Amanda DaCosta has done in [...]

The girls all-state teams were announced and plenty of LoHudders made the grade. You can see them here.

A special congrats to Steph Reimer of Suffern, Amy Marron of Westlake, Amy Wagner of Briarcliff, and Cate Crenson of North Salem, who all made first team in their respective classes.

It’s been an insanely busy couple of weeks. You’d think the break between sport seasons would be down time at the paper, but it’s actually our busiest time of year. As soon as the fall season ends we start putting together our winter previews. There’s a massive one for basketball where we get player information [...]

Checked up on Somers product Amanda DaCosta today and found out her Florida State Seminoles are in the NCAA tournament Round of 16. She’s still starting, all 23 games in fact, which is pretty stellar for a freshman. She’s second on the team with eight assists and third with 18 points. How special would it [...]

How cool would it be if Greeley and Briarcliff scrimmaged each other? I honestly have no idea who would win that. My first instinct is to say the AA team HAS to be better than the B team, but in this case Briarcliff is so good I can’t say.

Greeley was probably the most physically [...]

Here’s Eric Lebowitz checking in with his take on Byram’s state championship.

“First off, I want to congratulate Byram Hills on a state championship. It’s a tremendous accomplishment.  

     Now, on the game…The combination of precipitation on Friday and Saturday, and the volume of play on the field made for a soccer game that looked a lot [...]

Ladies and gentlemen…Will Ogden!!

Byram’s superman struck again, scoring in the 18th minute to lead the Bobcats over Section 2’s Burnt Hills 1-0 in the battle of the Hills. Eric Lebowitz tells me it was also coach Matt Allen’s 100th win. State championship—not a bad place to get it.

Eric is driving back from Oneonta now but [...]

Earlier in these playoffs—I think it was right after they won the section—I said Briarcliff has state champs written all over them. Well the ink on their faces is dry now and sure enough it says “state champs.”

The Bears, some of whom entered high school two-and-a-half months ago, are on top of the soccer mountain. [...]

 Eric Lebowitz was at the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta for both boys semifinals. He’ll stay over tonight since Byram Hills won and watch their title game tomorrow.  Here’s what he had to say:

“I got up nice and early to go watch Byram Hills play Sayville for the right to play in the Class [...]

The Byram Hills boys advanced to the Class A final with a 2-1 win over Sayville. In the Class C semifinals, Blind Brook lost to Marathon 2-1 in overtime.

In the girls Class B final, Liana Cornacchio has scored her second goal of the game, with 3:42 left in ther first overtime, to give Briarcliff a [...]

If you haven’t heard already, Greeley lost 3-1 and Briarcliff won 1-0, meaning the Bears stick around for tomorrow’s 12:15 p.m. Class B championship. Needless to say for a team that’s only played in the fall a couple of years, this is the farthest Briarcliff girls soccer has ever gone. Last year they lost in [...]

Greece Arcadia leads Horace Greeley 1-0 at halftime. A girl bent a corner kick into the net, which I don’t think I’ve seen this year.

Be back later.

These were updated after last weekend’s semifinals, so the four teams left in each class are the top four in every ranking. Both boys teams are ranked second, as you can see here.

Both girls teams are ranked third, as you can see here.

Every boys game is at the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta. It’s a giant complex with four fields so there’s no overlap, meaning everything should start on time. Eric Lebowitz, who handled some of the earlier state games, will cover every boys game from here on out. There’s no press box, so he’ll [...]

This is the complete schedule for the weekend up at Cortland. As you can see, both Section 1 semifinalists play at SUNY Cortland on Friday. If they win, Greeley will return to SUNY the following morning. Briarcliff, however, would play at Tompkins-Cortland CC because SUNY is hosting a football game.

The weather is supposed to be [...]

Malcolm Brown asked me to remind everyone about Monday’s girls senior showcase. Any seniors who haven’t made a college decision yet and want to play soccer at the next level are encouraged to sign up. There will be a bunch of college coaches in the stands watching this game. You can sign up at ehysl.com [...]