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    • Mamaroneck, Putnam Valley, Lakeland champions
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    Mamaroneck, Putnam Valley, Lakeland champions

    Harry Posted on

    Notes: This story will be updated Saturday when each of the three Division 1 class field hockey championships concludes.

    SHRUB OAK — Nothing is certain, at least in sports.

    But Saturday night’s Mamaroneck-Ketcham matchup for the Section 1 Class A field hockey crown had to be considered close to that.

    After all, entering the game, top-seeded Mamaroneck had outscored its opponents 130-5 this season. And 11 of those goals came in a regular-season upset of the No. 2 seed Storm.

    “Just believe,” Ketcham coach John Sullivan told his team before the game, saying all the pressure was on defending state Class A champion Mamaroneck.

    “We wanted to shock Episode 1,” he said. However, it was clear from the first moment that this would not happen.

    The Tigers, who made 34 shots to Ketcham’s two, defeated Ketcham 6-0.

    Catherine D’Arcy had a goal and two assists, Lexi Suman and Lucy Kaplan had a goal and an assist, Ali Maresca, Gabby Sosa and Lily Brickman had solo points and Sadie Fennell and Ruby Pearson had an assist each.

    The score would have been much more lopsided had it not been for the play of Storm goalkeeper Gwenyth Browne.

    He made several emphatic diving breaks and followed one of them with another save from the ground.

    But while Mamaroneck didn’t score until 6:26 remained in the first quarter when D’Arcy tipped a beautiful Maresca in from the left post, the Tigers were up 4-0 at the half and it appeared anyone could have taken the lead with another score. The shock had already passed.

    Browne, who scored his third goal on the rebound after stopping two consecutive shots, made 10 saves for Ketcham, which finished the season 13-6.

    Penny Norgaard made two saves for the 19-0 Tigers, who will face the Section 9 Class A champions in the state regional final at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9, at Arlington High School.

    Maresca stated that his team does not take anything for granted. “We continue to focus on every obstacle in front of us,” he said.

    Praising Browne’s play, Suman said Mamaroneck “worked hard throughout the entire match” despite creating a healthy cushion. He said he thinks this year’s Tiger squad is comparable in skill to last year’s state champions, with players stepping up this season to replace players lost to graduation.

    “We still pride ourselves on fighting hard,” Browne said of Ketcham.

    Sullivan described Mamaroneck as a well-coached, well-oiled machine: “They’re the best girls. You can’t even get mad at them and use that,” he said of the Tiger players.

    Defenseman on to star: Mulqueen scores twice to lead Putnam Valley to Class C title over Pleasantville

    Ask Kate Mulqueen what position she plays.

    Until Saturday, the Putnam Valley sophomore was all about defense.

    But Mulqueen, who has had two perhaps too brief experiences playing on the offensive end of the court in already well-decided games this fall, not only joined the upper end of the field for Saturday’s Division I Class C field hockey final, she also became a star. After you do this the game.

    Filling in for her away teammate, Mulqueen tipped senior Izzy Walther’s shot on goal from a penalty corner late in the first half, then scored another unassisted goal in the third quarter as the Tigers beat No. 2 Pleasantville, 2-1. 0 for the championship in a game played at Lakeland High School.

    The match was marked by good defense on both sides.

    Putnam Valley, which defeated Pleasantville 4-0 in the regular season, had a 14-4 penalty corner advantage, but made use of it with only one goal.

    This was due in part to good defensive efforts from Panther junior Maya Fortier.

    Panther goalie Maggie Kearney and the rest of the Panther D brought their A game as well. Kearney finished with seven saves, including a couple of gems.

    Tiger goalkeeper Minisha Singh also stood out many times for her team. He was credited with 10 saves.

    takeaway

    With the win, Putnam Valley is now 15-3-1, with its only losses coming to schools in the larger class, including Lakeland, which won the Class B championship earlier in the day.

    The Tigers, who reached the section final but lost in both 2022 and 2023, will face Section 9’s Class C champion in the state regional final at noon Saturday at Arlington High School.

    Pleasantville, which missed a pass from right to left for a possible goal with 7:55 left in the game, finished the season 14-4-1.

    They said this

    “We really, really wanted it today. I think that’s what pushed us this far,” Fortier said, comparing the teams’ first meeting with the championship game.

    Walther, who has verbally committed to play at Division II Mercy University next year, attributed the win in part to the Tiger coaches and the contribution of players who have graduated from the team over the past few years.

    He said the program has a “great environment to learn and grow” and said this year’s win was due to the maturation of last year’s returning players.

    Mulqueen wasn’t on that team last year. He was at the youth university.

    He smiled about the offensive drive and his resulting goals and simply said, “It worked.”

    Putnam Valley head coach Tracy Parchen was more enthusiastic.

    “She did a great job,” he said of Mulqueen. “It’s truly magnificent.”

    Class B: Lakeland beat Greeley in shootout after neither team scored in regulation or double overtime

    She said she had nothing to say after four scoreless quarters, two scoreless, 10-minute overtimes and a penalty kick decided by the last player to shoot (Lakeland freshman Aditi Parambath).

    But even if she had 1,000, she might not have been able to adequately explain how her team clinched its 16th consecutive Division 1 field hockey title, making two shots and making one against Horace Greeley in the shootout. As his coach Sukhi Sandhu told his upset team afterward, they were “very, very, very close” to winning.

    Both goalkeepers had outstanding games.

    Actually excellent games.

    Lakeland junior Jenna Yazzetti saved Lakeland’s season by diving into the air from left to right to stop a high shot in the closing seconds of regulation.

    It could have been the save of the year in Episode 1.

    “She’s an outstanding goalkeeper,” said Sharon Sarsen, who led Lakeland to all regional championships. “He is an actor. He loves the big moment.”

    Yazzetti made 11 saves, including four in the shootout.

    His counterpart, Quaker freshman Darby Robertson, was not tested as frequently but was tested repeatedly. He made five saves in regulation and three in the shootout.

    The shootout saw players go 1v0 on the goalkeeper and had 10 seconds to score as long as the ball did not go out of bounds.

    Lakeland’s fast and talented senior Gabby Santini, who had only one shot on goal before the penalty shootout, grabbed the rebound and hit a high score against Robertson to put Lakeland ahead 1-0.

    But Lilah Tainsky tied things up, forcing Yazzetti to the ground and then moving around her to score.

    In the end, it was Parambath who rebounded and beat Darby to give Lakeland the Class B crown.

    How field hockey got here: Division 1 and private school play-off standings keep you up to date

    takeaway

    Lakeland, which defeated Greeley 2-0 in the regular season, is now 18-2.

    They will face the Division 9 winner in the Class B state regional final on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 10 a.m. at Arlington High School.

    Greeley, whose defense was excellent throughout the match under the leadership of Eve Rutman, finished the season 16-4.

    They said this

    “Greeley played tough defense and took away our strengths,” Sarsen said.

    Greeley beat Lakeland on multiple loose possessions, especially in the first half when Sarsen said his team was “flat.” Having a freshman win the game for Lakeland wasn’t much of a surprise to Sarsen, who has multiple youngsters on the field.

    “At this level you have to win as a team. We battled. We had the ‘next man up’ mentality,” he said.

    “They came in really prepared and confident,” Santini said of Greeley. He called Robertson’s play “fantastic”.

    Yazzetti, who had made 99 team saves in his career coming into the game, noted that he spoke to Parambath before the penalty shootout and told him to play as usual and said, “Go, get it.”

    He stated that Parambath not only scored a goal on Saturday but also beat him in the penalty shoot-out in training.

    “I’m very grateful that he scored. I’m proud of him,” said Yazzetti, describing the win as No. 1 among the three regional championships he won with Lakeland.

    Parambath said some words while dribbling to the goal, stating that he remembered his father’s instruction to “keep calm”.

    Rutman, who was all over the field, accurately anticipating Lakeland’s multiple passes, collecting them and then creating offense in the other direction, said this was the best game his team had against Lakeland, which lost 1-0 last year. final.

    “This was the best thing we’ve ever done. We had the best mentality,” he said.

    And he stated that this mentality will carry over to next year.

    “The third time’s the charm,” he said, predicting Greeley will win the 2025 section title.

    Nancy Haggerty covers cross country, track and field, field hockey, skiing, basketball, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow him on Twitter: @HaggertyNancy.

    Harry
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