The St. Margaret’s CYO Intermediate – Cavaliers Section team lead 27 – 25 with one minute remaining in its first home game of the season against Our Lady of Grace. In that last minute the Dragons gave away the ball four times leading to five shot attempts and two free throws by Our Lady of Grace.  With about 15 seconds left St. Margaret’s was able to move the ball into their front court where Jessica Menna was able to secure the ball as the buzzer sounded with the Dragons 27 – 25 victors.  A tremendous effort by both teams in what started out as a Dragons rout. The Dragons, with a shortened bench, missing  Kristen Maurer, Gabriella Gangone and Nicole Hubert , fired out to an 8 – 0 first quarter lead ignited by Shannon Barrett  who played her best all around game of the season.  In addition to scoring a basket, Shannon’s ball handling, rebounding and defense overwhelmed O.L. Grace from the start.  Jubilee Aguilar scored two baskets and commanded the offensive boards, while Nicole Kopczynski also did a great job of rebounding and scored a first quarter basket. Miranda Lang, and Jessica Menna harassed and outplayed their counterparts on every possession. After a second quarter basket by Nicole that put the St. Margaret’s squad up 10 - 0, O.L. Grace, with only five players attending the game, put on an offensive surge of their own, scoring on three quick baskets after taking the ball away from the Dragons who were having trouble moving the ball.  A perimeter defense of Theresa Armano and Liz Lynch tried to hold off the onslaught by O.L. Grace.  A strong defensive rebound by Victoria Cirone translated into another St. Margaret’s basket by Jubilee at the other end of the court.  But just when it looked like the Dragons had righted themselves, the point guard for Our Lady of Grace hit two long range three pointers to knot the score at 12 – 12 by halftime. Both teams left the court at half time exhausted as the play had gone up and down the court at a furious pace.  In the second quarter missed lay ups by St. Margaret’s along with opportunistic scoring by Our Lady of Grace turned a lopsided game into an exciting match.   St. Margaret’s came out strong in the third quarter constantly applying offensive and defensive pressure to their opponent. Shannon continued to drive hard to the hoop resulting in two baskets and four free throws of which she connected on one. A rebound and basket by Jubilee and a lay in by Nicole provided the 9 third quarter Dragon points, while O.L. Grace was held to one long range three pointer, their third of the game, to close out the third quarter at 21 - 15.  A formidable defense and good all around play by everyone on the St. Margaret’s team got the lead back to six to start of the fourth quarter.  But Our Lady of Grace staged a frantic comeback and whittled away at the six point lead.  Two baskets by Nicole Kopczynski helped stave off the comeback, and when Liz Lynch hit a basket it looked like the Dragons were in good shape.  But those St. Margaret giveaways down the stretch provided the last minute drama.Next Saturday St. Margaret plays at home again against the team from St. Helen. 

St. Margaret Dragons Girls Intermediate - Cavaliers Section Come from behind victory 

The St. Margaret’s CYO Intermediate – Cavaliers Section team traveled to Brooklyn Sunday to play the team from Resurrection in their third game of the season. Resurrection is new to CYO this season and has been playing in the Brooklyn youth league.  St. Margaret’s scored early on a Kristen Maurer lay in.  But Resurrection took control of the quarter by stealing passes, out hustling the Dragons to the ball and getting to the foul line where they hit on four out of seven free throws.  St. Margaret’s hung tough to end the first quarter at 6 – 8 on two free throws by Gabriella Gangone and a neat lay in by Victoria Cirone. The second quarter saw Resurrection again sprint out to a six point lead as St. Margaret’s continued to be plagued by foul trouble.  Then strong defensive contributions from Miranda Lang, Jessica Menna and Theresa Armano helped keep the deficit to a manageable margin while Jubilee Aguilar hit from the inside to get the Dragons onto the scoreboard.  Gabriella then hit for three baskets and Kristen made one of two free throws to cut the half time deficit to two, a 15 – 17 Resurrection lead. St. Margaret’s had many first half opportunities, but failed to convert while Resurrection made some outside shots and took advantage of the Dragons’ foul trouble.  In the third quarter Resurrection could not miss from the outside while St. Margaret’s shooting continued to be cold.  The only Dragons’ points came on two of two free throws from Jubilee Aguilar. However, St. Margaret’s did a better job of handling the ball, reducing their fouling and even putting Resurrection into foul trouble. Down 25 – 17 to start the final quarter the Dragons’ offense started to gel.  Nicole Kopczynski came off the bench to grab some key defensive rebounds and turn the flow of the game in the Dragons direction. Shannon Barrett twice went end to end to jump start St. Margaret’s comeback scoring. Gabriella consistently drove the lane drawing fouls on the Resurrection team, putting them into the penalty situation.  With about three minutes left in the game the Resurrection lead had been cut to two. At this point an inadvertent elbow to the mouth knocked Miranda Lang out of the game.  A half minute later Jubilee fouled out.  With both Nicole Hubert and Elizabeth Lynch missing the game, the Dragon bench was thin.  But contributions by Victoria Cirone, Theresa Armano, Nicole Kopczynski and Jessica Menna, who played some overwhelming defense, kept the Dragons from falling further behind. With less than two minutes left St. Margaret’s tried several times to go inside for a basket that would tie the score but to no avail.  Then Kristen Maurer hit a shot from the top of the key to knot the game at 28.  That shot seemed to breathe new life into the Dragons as they took advantage by outscoring Resurrection 8 – 4 over the final minute and a half.  This resulted in a very hard fought 36 – 32 win over a tough opponent. 

St. Margaret Dragons Girls Intermediate - Cavaliers Section Two opening weekend victories 

The St. Margaret’s CYO Intermediate – Cavaliers Section team visited St. Pancras for the inaugural game of the 2009-2010 season.  From the tap the Dragon’s took control of the game with strong defense, lead by Miranda Lang and Kristen Maurer, and potent team scoring.  Jubilee Aguilar and Jessica Menna kept the St. Pancras squad from making any offensive headway, while first quarter baskets by Shannon Barrett, Victoria Cirone, Miranda Lang, and three baskets and two free throws from Gabriella Gagone pushed St. Margaret’s to a 14 to 4 edge before St. Pancras hit a three pointer to close out the quarter at 14 – 7. 

However, in the second quarter St. Pancras hung tough, despite defensive pressure by Nicole Hubert, Nicole Kopczynski and Elizabeth Lynch.  Throughout the quarter St. Margaret’s efforts to score were thwarted and the half ended with the Dragons clinging to a three point lead, 14-11. The teams traded baskets early in the third quarter as Shannon Barrett hit a layup and was fouled but was unable to convert the free throw.  Ahead by three, Victoria made one of two foul shots and Gabriella drove the lane to put the Dragons up by six, but another St. Pancras three pointer cut the lead back to three. The forth quarter saw increased defensive intensity by the St. Margaret’s team as they held St. Pancras to 1 point via a free throw.  Although St. Margaret’s did get into foul trouble with it’s harassing defense, Miranda, Kristen, Liz and Jessica were formidable at the top of the key in not allowing St. Pancras to drive to the basket or pull up for three pointers. Nicole Kopczynski and Jubilee Aguilar handled the defensive boards.  On the scoring end, Nicole Hubert hit a baseline shot that seemed to ignite the scoring, while Shannon chipped in two more baskets and Gabriella another.    

The St Margarets Boy Novice Soccer team split the games this weekend with a 5-1 loss to St. Francis De Sales on Saturday October 3rd, and a 1-0 win against Our lady of Grace on Sunday October 4th.

The first game was a tough loss to a very strong De Sales team. St. Francis opened with two quick goals and then resorted to strong defensive play before breaking the game open in the second half.  The Dragons played hard but couldn't seem to get anything going offensively. Each time St. Margaret’s went on the attack, they couldn’t get past the De Sales defense and hardly put pressure on the goalie.  The lone goal was provided by Elizabeth Zhivanaj, her first of the fall season after, a great pass from Nicolette Wurglics. Anthony Cardinale also assisted on the goal.

The second game was a close 1-0 win against Our Lady of Grace. The lone goal was provided by Anthony Cardinale after an exceptional pass into the open space behind the defenders by Jaklyn Lada. This was textbook soccer by both players who manage to get behind Grace’s defense with precision passing and running. St. Margaret’s kept up the attack with a breakaway by Anthony but he was tripped up in the box on the play. The uncalled trip could’ve have come back to haunt St. Margaret’s as Our Lady of Grace dominated possession throughout the second half.  The ball seemed to be in the defensive zone the entire half.  Great defensive efforts by Joseph Cardinale, Joseph Hickey, Alex Licari, Joanna Rizzo, Jonathan Roemer, Michael Gervais and John Pszeniczny along with Shane Stock’s first clean sheet of the season were the key in preserving the victory.

The Dragon’s stand at 3-2 at the halfway point and hope to continue their winning ways with a rematch against Our Lady of Grace on Saturday at Mafera park in Glendale.

Old News:

The St Margarets Dragons had their first game this Saturday September 12th, against one of our biggest rivals, Our Lady of Hope. The St Margarets Boys Novice team beat Our Lady of Hope in a very exciting 1-0 win to start the season. The the goal was scored by Eric Schemitsch (unassisted) after running from midfield around mulitple defenders and taking a difficult shot from a sharp angle in the left of the box that went in right next to the right goal post. Awesome shot Eric. Our defense and midfield played extremely well and were a big reason in keeping us in the game. Great goaltending by Joseph Hickey who gets his first clean sheet (shutout) of the year.

The St Margarets Boys Novice soccer teamsaw their modest two game win streak come to an end with a tough loss to St. Francis de Sales.  The final score was 5-1 but the game was a tightly contested matchup until the final minutes.  The Dragons saw themselves quickly behind 2-0 as St. Francis scored early in the game.  St. Margaret’s defense, led by John Pszeniczny, Michael Gervais, Joanna Rizzo, Jonathan Roemer, Elizabeth Schatz, Joseph Cardinale and Max Brutkiewicz, kept them in the game until the offense was able to break through de Sales’ defense and goaltender with forward Derek Stock making a threaded pass to a streaking Anthony Cardinale to cut the deficit in half.
 

St. Margaret’s was able to swing the momentum their way with that goal.   Constant pressure by forwards Nicolette Wurglics  and Vincent Ciulla was matched by the brilliant defense of St. Francis.   Midfield support by Peter Stimpfl, Alex Licari, Sal Turriciano, Elizabeth Zhivanaj, Jillian Hubert and Jaklyn Lada was key in keeping the pressure on in trying to knot the score.  Goalies for both teams (Dragons starter Joseph Hickey and Shane Stock in second half) kept the match close until St. Francis put the game away in the final minutes with 3 goals. 

The teams will meet again this Saturday for a rematch at Fort Tilden.

The St. Margaret’s Dragons Boys Novice soccer team rolled over Our Lady of Snows to improve their record to 2-0 on the young season with a 5-1 victory.  St. Margaret’s jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead as Eric Schemitsch converted a nice pass from Nicolette Wurglics.   The Dragons continued to put pressure on Snows’ defense with excellent play from midfielders Jaklyn Lada and Alex Licari. Forwards Sal Turriciano and Elizabeth Zhivanaji continued pressure on Snows defense was instrumental in Jillian Hubert getting her first ever goal which gave St. Margaret’s a 2-0 lead.  Wurglics picked up her second assist with Vincent Ciulla also getting an assist on the play.  
Snows couldn’t sustain any attack as the defense continued its strong play from the first game.  The solid efforts of St. Margaret’s defense (Michael Gervasi, John Pszeniczny , Joanna Rizzo, Shane Stock, Joseph Cardinale, Jonathan Roemer and  Max Brutkiewicz)made it difficult for Snows to get shots on goaltender Joseph Hickey.
Anthony Cardinale had a hand in the next goals as he scored unassisted before assisting on Derek Stock’s first goal to stake St. Margaret’s to a 4-0 lead.  Snows converted on an attack with a deflection goal to break the shutout before Wurglics got her third point of the game with a goal this time, assisted by Schemitsch, who finished the game with two points of his own.
St. Margaret’s strong start to the season can be attributed to the strong finish to the Spring season where they now have won 6 of their last seven games.  Coach Dominick Cardinale hopes the Dragons can build on their strong start with tough matchups coming up versus St. francis deSales and Our Lady of Grace.