Pleasantville’s Brown Now Third on All-Time Girls Scoring List

Aces Wild in Somers vs. Pac Extra-Inning Affair; Yorktown Retains Murph, Sorrentino Cups

By Ray Gallagher, Examiner Sports Editor @Directrays

On a week when PLEASANTVILLE High sophomore Faith Brown would move into third place on the all-time scoring list last Wednesday, surpassing her former coach and idol Lauren Drillock, the talented Brown followed that up the next day in the state-ranked (No.3) Class D Panthers 10-9 win by dropping the game-winner on Class C heavyweight  John Jay CR, ranked No.16.

The Panthers, the current No.1 seed in the upcoming playoffs (BRIARCLIFF, No.2), saw Brown finish with two goals and two assists and will now set her sights on No.1 on the Panther all-time scoring list where Nicole DiFabio (circa 2016) sits as the all-time points leader at Pleasantville (297 points) before she continued her lacrosse career at Catholic University. 

After Saturday’s 18-5 win over No.7 WESTLAKE, Brown has now amassed 197 goals, 79 assists and 276 total points during a record-setting career. Brown will likely smash the school record and set a new standard early in the spring of 2026.

“Faith Brown is truly an impactful player for us with 65 draw controls, 57 goals and 226 assists in 14 games this season so far,” Panther Coach Hanna Tiso said. “As a sophomore with 191 goals, 77 assists with 268 overall points thus far, that’s remarkable. The girls feed off Faith’s energy. She’s been a really great leader for us, which has helped a young group mature a little bit quicker at a higher level. Faith allows each girl to grow into their potential; we have had numerous girls step up for us in big moments because of how Faith continues to push us. Stats aside, everyone sees that she’s an even better person and someone who makes an impact daily on and off the field.”

Against JJCR, the Wolves jumped out to a 6-3 lead before P’ville stormed back to go up 9–6 behind a balanced attack: Ella Collins (2G, 4A), Ella McCourtney (2G, 1A), Maddie Becerra (1G, 2A), Julie Karaqi (2G) and Sam Schultz (1G). That set the stage for Brown, who gripped and ripped with 1:37 remaining for the final margin.

“This group has been really motivated and a special group to coach,” Tiso exclaimed. “The John Jay game was a tough, physical, grind-it-out type of game, with an incredibly well coached John Jay staff, and an impressive group of girls that they have. We challenged the girls at half, being down 6-3. We weren’t playing to our potential, dropping passes, not stepping up to girls in transition. Just little details that I knew we could fix. 

“We’ve played a challenging schedule, and for the most part we’ve stepped up to the challenge,” said Tiso, the former Somers star. “We just wanted them to compete harder because we knew that they were capable of doing so. Most of our girls are multi-sport athletes, and have been put in pressurized situations before. Likewise, our eighth-grader, Samantha Schultz, ran midfield the entire game, and had a fantastic day on the circle, with five draw controls. She has been gritty on the circle, in every single game so far this year. She is a three-sport athlete, who is not phased by big games, despite her age. Our offense all stepped up in this game.”

The Panther defensive unit – G Ava Berkowitz, Skylar Aghen, Elenah Lavigne, Kayla Gooden and Ashley Vamossy – was locked in all night and came up huge down the stretch to secure victory.

“Our defense played one of their best halves all year, really dialing into stringing together stops for us,” Tiso said. “Our goalie Ava made huge plays that kept us alive in huge moments in that game. Our defense has been our focus lately each week, and it has been battle tested throughout this year so far, but I’m proud of the way they stepped up, stood together, and propelled us to a big program win. It’s a credit to all of our girls for how close they are and how much they trust one another. We still have work to do; I’m proud of the effort and ability to always step up to the challenges this year so far.”

In the Panthers 22-9 win over PUTNAM VALLEY, Brown (7G, 3A), Collins (4G, 7A), Schultz (4G, 1A) and Becerra (3G, 2A) all had five or more points.

The Panthers were set to visit Briarcliff Tuesday in a game that will go a long way toward determining the top seed in the playoffs where both clubs will hope to avoid current six-seed Bronxville, ranked No.6 in NYS. The reigning champion Broncos have been inconsistent this season but have several huge wins over Class B state-ranked (No.9) Greeley and (No.12) Ursuline. It was nine-time defending Section 1 champion Bronxville which ended Pleasantville’s season, 6-5, in the 2024 semis, and might have been 11-time defending champs if not for Covid (no tourney in 2020-21), so the path to the 2025 title will likely go through Bronxville at some point.

In Class B, FOX LANE responded to any and all doubters when the host Foxes, ranked No.7 in NYS, knocked off reigning Section 1 champion Horace Greeley, 14-10, last Tuesday. By now, the Quakers, ranked No.9 in NYS, read all about Fox Lane senior Zoe Stonecipher’s guarantee to win it all in 2025 (courtesy of my longtime colleague Nancy Haggerty), and a postseason rematch at some point would be quite spicy and entirely juicy to say the least after Zoe and Co. posted what might have been the Foxes (13-1, 11-0 in Section 1) biggest regular-season win in program history.

Stonecipher finished with two goals, three assists and two draw balls. Dylan New had a pair of goals and Sophie Bueti had a goal and an assist.

The Section 1 girls lacrosse seedings will be announced on May 20. We can only hope to see the Foxes and Quakers on opposite sides of a wildly competitive bracket.

Greeley senior M Rowan Edson, a D-I University of Colorado commit, scored the first goal of the fourth quarter (the 200th of her storied career), and her game-high fifth to go along with an assist, to spot the Quakers (10-4, 9-4) a brief 10-9 lead. 

Imagine a rematch between these two longtime rivals on June 4th on the swag campus of Lakeland High School for all the Class B marbles, but getting there will be half the battle with either No.4 Ursuline or No.5 YORKTOWN (9-6 overall, 8-5 in Section 1) waiting in the semifinal wings…

And from the ‘How You Like Me Now’ Dept., 2024 Pleasantville grad and University of Richmond freshman Daniel Picart scored just one goal in the Spiders’ 13-10 D-I opening round win over UNC Saturday, but in typical Picart (10G, 6A) fashion it was a deposit that provided Richmond a 12-10 lead with 4:17 left in the fourth quarter of their first-ever D-I playoff win…

 

BASEBALL

The rainy weather, which has rocked the world of Section 1 groundskeepers, has been a major issue in recent days and despite the need to maybe delay the start of the baseball/softball tournaments, word came out Friday afternoon that there will be no change to the end date of the regular season. The last day to play games remains Wednesday, May 14th, and the Section One Baseball Championships seeding meeting will take place on Thursday morning, May 15th, so the tournament remains on schedule to begin with Class AA, A outbracket games on May 17 with first-round games in AAA, AA, A, and B on May 19. Know this much; lining up your best pitchers for a prolonged run will be a nightmare for some.

Horns were locked Thursday when bordering Class AA rivals SOMERS and MAHOPAC sent their respective aces to the hill in what turned out to be an epic 5-1, nine-inning Tusker win over the Wolf Pac. Tusker senior ace Andrew Kapica (7IP, 1R, 13K) and Wolf Pac junior ace Nick Masciarelli (6 IP, 11K, 1 ER) were whiffing batters like nobody’s business before yielding to their bullpens where Somers had the edge behind winning reliever Patrick Bracelin (2IP, 0 hits, 0 runs). Bracelin added two RBI.

“It was as good as advertised,” Mahopac Coach Anthony Nappi said.

Tusker SS Jack Hopper went 1-4 with two RBI and two runs to provide support while Lorenzo Enchandy walked, swiped a bag and scored the lone Wolf Pac run. As pitchers dominated throughout, both sides combined to whiff 27 times.

Current No.4 seed Mahopac (12-5) bounced right back in Saturday’s 12-0 mercy win over No.6 Somers (9-7) when junior hurler RJ Grabeklis (5 IP, 10K, 1 hit) fired five shutout innings in what could only be dubbed his finest outing of the season. Louis Girau whiffed the side in the final frame and support came in the form of junior CF Nate Mascoll (3 hits, RBI, 3 runs), C Drew Lichtenberger (2 hits, 2 RBI), Jack Moeller (1 hit, RBI) and Grabeklis (1 hit, 2 RBI).

Class AA figures to be a dogfight with current No.1 seed YORKTOWN (15-3), ranked No.20 in NYS, No.2 seed FOX LANE (13-4), ranked No.8 in NYS, and No.9 darkhorse HORACE GREELEY (6-10) all set to challenge among the 14-team field of challengers.

Since losing to RCK at the end of April, Yorktown had won five in a row through May 7, doing so by a combined 56-5 count, including a double-dip over John Jay CR (10-1, 11-1). It seems to be all coming together for Coach CJ Riefenhauser’s Huskers at just the right time, including Saturday’s 11-6 win over LAKELAND in the 43rd annual Sorrentino Cup game. The Huskers are 17-6 since 2002 in the coveted cup game, expanding their dominance behind Alex Ornstein (3-4, 2R, 2B), Brian White (2-3, 2SB), Aidan Flynn (3B, 3RBI), Tyler Galante (2B, 2RBI) and reliever Dylan Leitner (2.2IP, 1H, 0ER, 4K). 

Sergio Hormazabal (3-4, 2 doubles, R, 3RBI), Alex Mautone (2B, 2RBI) and Ramzi Done (RBI) each drove home runs for the Hornets (6-12), the current 14-seed in Class A, who have lost four in a row.

Fox Lane remains among the best-coached teams in the state under Matt Hillis and the Foxes weren’t ducking anyone last week as they split with Clarkstown North after defeating rival Greeley (6-3) to open the week.

In Fox Lane’s 7-5 win over North, Jackson Carroll (4.2 IP) got the win and Will Rudolph (2.1 IP) notched the save thanks to the bats of Drew Diaz (3B, 3 runs, 2 SB), Logan Mammola (RBI, 1B), Danny Spolansky (RBI, 2B), PJ Stornsby (RBI) and Sean Singleton (RBI, 3B).

In the win over Greely, Foxes Mammola (HR, RBI), Rudolph (2 RBI, 1B) Spolansky (2 hits, 2 RBI) and Diaz (RBI, 3B) staked winning P Frank Salvatorelli (4.1 IP, 5 K, 1 ER 1H) with the lead before Michael Salvatorellu (2.2 IP, 4 K, 1 ER) secured the save.

A PANAS vs. CROTON Class A postseason matchup would be especially juicy. The current No.1 and No.4 seeds, respectively, the state-ranked (No.12) Panthers (13-4) and (HM) Tigers (12-6) are currently lined up for a semifinal playdate should the seeds hold true and each take care of business. The bordering programs would enter as Panas a slight favorite after winning its first sectional title in 2023 and placing second in 2024 while the reigning Section 1 Class B champion Tigers played a big-boy schedule this year to prepare for the rigors of their first year in Class A. Sign us up for this #CartBeforeHorse. 

No.7 WESTLAKE (10-7), No.8 PLEASANTVILLE (9-8) and No.11 BYRAM HILLS (8-9) round out the top 11 of a very competitive Class A field.

Despite recent losses to Class AAA heavyweight RCK and Yorktown, PUTNAM VALLEY remains the No.1 seed in Class B, seeking their first sectional title in school history. The Tigers (13-3) certainly have high-end talent in players like Jay Constantino, James Sanford, the Benedetto Bros. (Nick and Dom) and too many to mention, but the title has been elusive since losing in the 2008 finals to what was one of Kennedy Catholic’s premier clubs. Until now, PV? #IsItInYou. If memory serves me correctly, this is longtime Coach Joe Natalie’s best chance to do so #NoPressure #NatManDo… 

 

BOYS LAX

Host LAKELAND/PANAS hung around for three quarters before YORKTOWN stashed and dashed off with the Murphy Cup after Saturday’s 8-3 Husker win. Tied at 3-all, the current third-seeded Huskers (7-6 overall, 5-2 in Section 1) closed on a 5-0 run to win the cup for the 15th straight year and 32nd time in 35 years overall. 

It is rare indeed when the state-ranked (No.13) Huskers lose to the current No.6 seeded Rebels (6-9, 6-5), who we still expect to see in the Class B semis should they bring their A-game in the post, but Huskers Frankie Ofrias (4G, 1A), Jack Simone (2G), Ryan Fastiggi (1G), Gianluca Marchini (1G, 1A), JT Carney (2A), Tommy Carney (2A), Chad Bowen (2A, 11/15 at X) and G Hunter Mezzatesta (13 saves) would not be denied. Still waiting on the 42-time Section 1 champion Huskers to max out, which they often do in May, but state-ranked (No.3) HORACE GREELEY will enter the playoffs as the team with the most flex going in.

Rebels Paul Fitzgerald (2G) and G Dan Horowitz (19 saves), a budding three-sport (football, wrestling) star at Lakeland and son of former All-Section Rebel goalie Greg Horowitz, did what they could to keep the Rebs competitive.

MAHOPAC made its way into the state rankings at No.18, and that is no small feat given the prior losses to L/P, Yorktown and Put Valley, but Coach Jon Bota’s current fifth-seeded Wolf Pac (9-5) are on a four-game roll headed down the home stretch and anything short of the semifinals would now become a disappointment if these state rankings are any indication.

In Class D, if the playoffs were to start today, state-ranked (No.5) PLEASANTVILLE, the two-time defending champion Panthers (8-4, 7-1) to you, would emerge as the top seed and it would be very tough for No.2 North Salem to rise above. Given that, might we have some bracket-busting potential if North Salem were to secure the No.2 and No.11 PUTNAM VALLEY? The youthful PV Tigers (6-8) have faced a pretty meaty schedule, including a win over Mahopac. That said, Put Valley laid an egg last week in three losses to Nyack, L/P and BREWSTER (6-7), the current No.7 seed in Class B, just above FOX LANE (5-8, 3-8).

Photo credits: DAVID TABER/CHRIS SMAJLAJ