Sunday, November 21, 2004 9 Maureen Devine, coach of the brand new Lake- Lehman High School swim- ming team, instructs her eager recruits on the proper stroke. The team, which practices and holds home meets at College isericordia, will swim as a club this season. FOR THE POST/ CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Everbody in the pool! Lake-Lehman swimmers prepare for first season By CHRIS BELL became a state qualifier in the Post Correspondent backstroke and medley relay. “We built a pretty good program. Hopefully, we can have similar success here,” she said last week. Her immediate aspirations are more modest for the program at Lake-Lehman. “Our goal for this year is for As head coach of the brand new Lake-Lehman boys and girls swim- ming teams, Maureen Devine is hoping that history repeats itself. The Black Knights swimmers are in their first season of competi- tion and that is something Devine can relate to. team at Bishop O'Reilly High School, where she eventually As a high school athlete, Devine was a member of the first swim each individual to improve throughout the season and maxi- mize their abilities in the pool and in the classroom,” said Devine, See SWIMMING, pg 11 YOUTH BASKETBALL Dough Co. trims Philly Hair in OT Dough Co’s Jen Ratalis led the scor- ing with 14 points, as Dough Company edged Philadelphia Hair 32- 28 in overtime. OY B Megan Pietraccini -8 Girls and Dominique DeAngelo had 4 points each, including decisive buck- ets in overtime. Ellen Arnaud led Philadelphia Hair with 13 and Jessica Flaherty scored 9. Cierra Leonardo led defensivly. Integrated Power 40, Frank's Manufacturing 30 Kaley Dunbar led Integrated Power to victory with 29 points. Nicole Clemson had 4 points, Amanda O’Brien scored 3 points, and Jenna Woychick and Megan Hine had 2 points a piece. The team is coached by Harold Bolton Top scorer for Frank’s anufacturing was Taylor Dougherty with 12 points. Playing strong defense and scoring 10 points was Chelsea Pike. Jamie Ratowski and Francesca Pascucci each scored 4 points. John Pike coaches Frank's. Skammer, Besecker each hit 18 for Rotary Scott Skammer and Andy Besecker led the Rotary to a 4845 win over Pompey Dodge with 18 points each, Bryan Weaver followed with 8 points DYB for the winners. Tommy Youells 7-8 Boys ted Pompey with 19 points, followed by Mike Diaco with 13 points and Joe Murray with 7. Russell Jenkins chipped in 4 and Cody Plesnar added 2. Fieldhouse 57, Bishop Photo 52 Josh Backes led the Fieldhouse with 30 points, Hunter Englehart followed with 15 points. Eric Cannon and Alex Slocum scored 4 points each, while Andy Ondish and Matt Shaver added 2 points apiece. Jonathan Orlando led Bishop Photo with 17 points, followed by D.J. Berely and Lee Culver with 9 points apiece. Chris Dailey scored 8, while Ryan Williams, Ed Stredney, and Griffin Adams scored 3 points apiece. Pompey Dodge 43, Dr. Ellis 38 Tommy Youells led Pompey with 17 points, followed by Mike Diaco and Joe Murray with 8 each. Kevin Pierce scored 6 while Russell Jenkins and Cody Plesnar added 2 points apiece for the winners. Jackie Ellis led the Docs with 14 points, followed by Chris Ellis with 10 points and Kyle Piazza with 7. Aaron Bulter chipped in 3 while John Prater and Tyler Rice added 2 points apiece. @. Charlie Hayes 48, Januzzi's izza 47 Steve Meskers led the D.J. with 27 See BASKETBALL, pg 10 FOR THE POST/PETE G. WILCOX Wyoming Seminary's Abby Sordoni squeezed between Oley Valley's Kara Zweizig, left, and Morgan Gerhart for the ball in last Tuesday's field hockey semifinal in Allentown. BMT players lift Sem to state finals By STEVE SEMBRAT For The Post ALLENTOWN — Players from the Back Mountain led the way as the Wyoming Seminary field hockey team advanced to the PIAA Class 2A cham- pionship final. The Blue Knights defeated Oley Valley, 2-0, in a semifinal game played Nov. 16 at J. Birney Crum Stadium. Junior Laura Eckman and sopho- more Abby Sordoni scored goals in the second half as Seminary (19-4, District 2 runner-up) advanced to the state championship game for the third time in the program’s history. The Blue Knights won the state title in 2001 and finished as runner-up in 1987. “It’s an amazing feeling,” Eckman said. “Everyone worked so well as a team. This is just an amazing feeling. I'm so excited to keep going and make it to the final.” Seminary played Crestwood (25-0, District 2 champ) on Saturday at Wissahickon High School in Ambler, in a game that took place after this issue of The Post was printed. This was the second time that two Wyoming Valley Conference teams played for a state championship, the previous time being in 2001, when Seminary and Lake-Lehman met in the Class 2A final. “This is a great accomplishment by our team,” said Seminary head coach Karen Klassner, whose team has only three senior starters. “I don’t think anyone would have said Wyoming Seminary would be in the state cham- pionship game, but the kids believed they could do it. I'll be darned, they did it.” One of the Blue Knights’ senior starters is center midfielder Laura Suchoski, an All-American the previ- ous two years. Oley Valley (24-3, District 2 runner-up) started to over- play Suchoski as the game went on, and Seminary took full advantage of this. The winning goal was the direct result of the Lynx swarming to Suchoski. She took possession of the initial hit on a penalty corner, then maneuvered to her right. Two Oley defenders went toward her, leaving Eckman wide open about 10 yards out. Suchoski put a pass right on Eckman’s stick, and Eckman con- nected for her sixth goal of the sea- son 12 minutes, 52 seconds into the second half. Seminary held Oley without a shot on goal the rest of the game. The Blue Knights added an insur- ance goal when Eckman controlled a rebound of an initial shot by Tam Morris. Eckman sent a shot toward goal that was deflected in by Sordoni with 5:20 left in the contest. “Everyone had a perfect game,” Eckman said. “No one really made a mistake and we all worked well as a team. Everybody brought their ‘A’ game.” The victory gave the Blue Knights one more crack at Crestwood. Seminary lost to the Comets 3-1 dur- ing the regular season, and 5-1 in the District 2 championship game. In both losses, however, the Blue Knights played nowhere near as well as they did in their state semifinal victory. Wyoming Seminary's Tam Morris scraps with Oley Valley's Melanie Brill for control of the ball while Oley Valley goalie Bethann Foreman keeps close watch in Tuesday's field hockey semifinal in Allentown. Game Commission office open Saturday The Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Northeast Regional Office in Dallas will be open on Saturday, Nov. 27, for the sale of hunt- ing licenses. Office hours will be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Positive proof of residency is required to obtain a hunting or trap- ping license, and first-time hunters and trappers should bring their Hunter-Trapper Education certificate. Those wishing to purchase only a bear license must have their current 2004 hunting license backtag information with them. The office is at the intersection of Routes 118 and 415, Dallas. Normal business hours are 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Local players, coaches in UNICO All-Star Classic Fifteen local players are on the West roster for the annual UNICO All-Star Football Classic, which will be be played at 10:30 a.m. Thanksgiving Day at Wilkes-Barre Memorial Stadium. The West team will be coached by Lake-Lehman’s Greg Myers; Dallas’ Ted Jackson; and Wyoming Seminary’s Matt DiBernardo. Players selected for the team were: Jeff Bernosky, Matt Daube, Doug Harris, Matt Kelly, Buddy Kocher, Allen Pugh, Steve Wengen and John Yanik, Dallas; Ryan Arcangeli, Chris Boyle, Greg Pimm and Rich Schofield, Lake-Lehman; Ryan Alfieri, Andrew Farr and Eric Ransom, Tunkhannock. Wasser named all-conference Lake-Lehman graduate Lisa Wasser, a sophomore at the University of Louisville, was recently named first team all-Mid American Conference. She started every game for the Cardinals, who won the league’s post- season tournament. Walters leads Lions to NCAAs Former Lake-Lehman all-state per- former Dave Walters will play for Penn State in the upcoming NCAA tourna- ment. The Nittany Lions ended their regular season with a 10-3-7 record before. losing, 1-0, against Northwestern in the first round of the Big Ten playoffs. The NCAA rewarded Penn State for its tough schedule, however, and the Lions received a No. 10 seed in the NCAA tournament. Penn State will host either Tulsa or Michigan State at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Jeffrey Field. Walters, a junior midfielder, hasnt missed a game during three seasons with the Lions. He has played in all 64 contests, starting 62. This season, Walters has one goal and three assists. Walters, who is a co-captain, was recently named to the all-tournament team for the Ohio St. Classic. Flag football tournament for a good cause team. Dallas High School juniors Ben Thomas and Jeff Decker have organized a flag football tournament for Saturday, Nov. 27 that will benefit The Luzerne Foundation. Games will be played at the high school foot- ball field. Teams can be composed of eight players, boys or girls age 14 and over. The donation is $80 per For a registration form and rules, call Thomas at 417-4049 or Decker at 905-0126.
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