Fall 2010 Sports Round-Up

 

 

This fall's squad outnumbered last year's with 26 runners—over half of them new to the sport. Despite the high percentage of beginners, the team performed at a high level throughout the season. Highlights included:

 

• Fifth place of 19 at the Lake Forest Invitational.

 

• Third place of 14 at the Mercersburg Invitational; JV was 2nd of 12.

 

• Varsity was first of 12 at the Large Schools Division of the Salesianum Invitational; junior varsity was first of 25.

 

• Sixth of 25 in the Varsity B Division of the Glory Days Grill Invitational, one of the area’s most prestigious meets.

 

• Fourth of 40 in the unseeded division of the Georgetown Prep Classic.

 

• Third in the ISL Championships in varsity and in the varsity B.

 

• Seventh in the MD/DC Private Schools Championship.

 

The team's triumph at Salesianum was the first time NCS had captured both Varsity and JV divisions at that meet. Senior captains Kimora Brock, Maggie Gaffney, and Adrienne Larson led the team throughout the season. Other consistent varsity performers included sophomore Ellie Forman, at times the team's second place finisher, juniors Cara Murphy and Carolyn Gigot, and freshman Annie Graham. Sararose Gaines, also a freshman, and sophomore Meredith Hilton were top finishers in JV races throughout the season.

 

 

The 2010 NCS Field Hockey team was all about heart. Not just the heart and determination displayed by the team in finishing with an 11-4-1 record and the championship in the St. John’s Fragile X tournament, but the heart-stopping way in which they did it, with multiple overtime wins along with way.

 

Co-captains Katie Williams ‘11 and Maureen “Mo” Smolskis ’11 got the team off to a great start in the Fragile X tournament, with Katie quarterbacking the high scoring offense in 7 v 7 turf play, and Mo delivering key saves on multiple strokes. Giving an early hint of the team’s toughness and will to win, NCS had to fight its way out of the consolation bracket on its way to a win in the championship game against Elizabeth Seton. The two teams met again in the regular season, with senior Cristina Munteanu ’11 scoring a dramatic penalty stroke to deliver the OT win to NCS.

 

NCS finished with a third place showing in the 11-team ISL, and received particularly strong offensive contributions from Caroline Hansen ’13, who scored game-winning goals in OT against Holton-Arms and St. Mary’s Ryken; leading scorer, co-MVP and all-ISL forward Caroline Ferguson ’13; co-MVP and Academic-All American Katie Williams ’11; versatile forward/midfielder Audrey Hughes; and veteran midfielder Julia Myer ’11. On the defensive side of the equation, Smolskis, team tackle leader Camille English, and two-time all-ISL defender Emma Grauberger helped the Eagles notch six shut-outs during the season, aided by key contributions from Sayer Delk ’13, Lauren Harkins ’12, and Most Improved Players Nicole Frydman and Charlotte Sullivan.

 

 

The varsity soccer team finished the 2010 campaign with another impressive record of 12-3-1. Ending the ISL season in third place in the chase for the banner, the team progressed to the ISL tournament final, only to lose narrowly to Potomac in a very hard-fought season finale.

 

 

 

The team's only losses in an otherwise impressive season came during very closely-fought away contests to rivals Potomac (twice) and Sidwell, with each of the regular season matches decided by a lone goal (3-2 and 2-1 respectively). The Sidwell loss was avenged in dominant fashion during a memorable 3-0 tournament semi-final win, which served as one of the high points of the season.

 

 

 

The team was led by senior co-captains Jordan Savold and Cami Notaro, with both four-year players performing in outstanding fashion throughout the season to close out their NCS careers. They were joined by superstar sophomore duo, Emily Hester and Nicole Johnson in the All-ISL team with all four players very much deserving of the individual honors after consistently impressive play over the course of the season.

 

 

 

The team graduates nine seniors this year, and will miss the leadership, team spirit and sense of fun that this special group brought to the team. Goalkeepers Claire Lempres and Margaret Morrison will be hard to replace, along with defenders Abby Lindberg and Erin Hays, midfielders Sasha Hanway (another of our four-year players), Emily Hoffman, Jordan Savold and Cami Notaro, and forward Sally Marmet. The contributions of all of these fabulous young student/athletes over the years has been greatly appreciated and their dedication to the program and developing friendship is warmly acknowledged.

 

 

 

 

The 2010 varsity tennis team finished the season 9-4 and 3-4 in the top ISL AA Division. The season was challenging for the young team, but it provided good experience, and the players learned a lot about themselves. A highlight of the season was the team’s 5-2 win over defending league co-champion Bullis. The team was led by senior captains Emily Stephen, Bridget Morrison, Monica Cogo, and Olivia Rauh. Their leadership was important as we had eight new members. The team will miss the senior captains, and seniors Adele Hunter and Aigerim Saudabayeva.

 

 

The NCS varsity volleyball team welcomed back 10 letter winners from a team that had placed fourth in a tough ISL a year ago, and made tremendous improvement throughout the season. The 2010 campaign began with a quarterfinal finish in the St. John’s Fragile X Tournament, winning their first two matches and playing the eventual champions (Holy Cross). After the tournament, the Eagles won their first three matches by playing excellent all-around volleyball, and rode into homecoming weekend on a 5-1 run with the only loss being in five sets to Stone Ridge. Traditional league power Maret was the opponent for the Eagles’ first Friday night homecoming game, and the large crowd was not disappointed as NCS won a thriller in five sets. It was another five-set nail-biter that really brought out the best in the Eagles’ team, this time on the road at Episcopal. After trading blows throughout the first four sets (17-25, 25-16, 25-6, 22-25), NCS found itself down 13-5 in a 15-point fifth set.

 

Cathedral finished the season in 3rd place in the ISL AA Division, with its only losses coming to undefeated Flint Hill and one-loss Madeira. Izzi Eberstadt ‘11, an All-ISL performer for the second consecutive year, provided a sizable portion of the Eagles’ offense and defense, surpassing all of the high marks she had set the year before. She was complemented at the other outside hitter spot by a very strong season from Alex Packard ’11. Meredith Johnson ‘11, addition to providing her hitters with 560 assists, proved to be an excellent alternate option on offense. The offense benefited all season long from a strong serving performance by the Eagles. Apart from the three captains, two other players, opposite Tori Otten ’12 and middle blocker Tyler McGillivary ’13 tallied more than 20 aces, and the team as a whole had 290 aces and served for a percentage of .857.

 

The strong Cathedral defense was led by a much-improved blocking “roof,” led by Ogunrinde’s 25 blocks for the season. Other strong blockers included opposite/middle blocker Arlana Agiliga ’12, middle blockers McGillivary and Katie Carome ’11, Johnson, Eberstadt, Packard, and opposite Sarah Bredenkamp ’14. In the back row, a host of defenders picked up opponents’ hits, including defensive specialists Delia Chassaing ’12, Audrey Warren ’12, Gabie Drummond ’14, Mimi Yu ‘12, and Mireia Lozano-Carbasse ’11, opposite Katharine Watters ’11, and outside hitter Colleen Ward ’13.