Crusaders Regatta Shines in First Competition

In their first varsity showing of the year, the Bergen Catholic Crusaders regatta squad competed among some of the best rowers in the area at Overpeck Lake Saturday for , drawing thousands of rowing fans to the county park. Led by team captain Simon Lezaja who took first place in the single rowers final with a time of 6:41.30, the two four-man teams of Smith/Weisbecker/Ciongoli/Niece and Harte/Kobierowski/Luglio/Jost placed second and third in the Novice 4x finals in 5:51.05 and 6:38.91 respectively.

Following a six inning match with DePaul Catholic, Jeff Granger stunned all by throwing a two-hit shutout as Bergen baseball rolled to a 6-0 win over the hot hitting Spartans from Wayne. But the Crusaders winning streak came to an end as the team dropped four games in a row starting with a 10-0 no hitter shutout by St. Peter's Prep. St. Joseph's Rob Kamisky struck out 10 Crusaders in their Big North United match-up on Monday in a five-inning no-hitter 10-0 victory over the Crusaders. Bergen then fell 9-7 to Pascack Valley and then a 2-0 three-hitter decision to Paramus after stranding runners on the bases.

While the Crusaders have been struggling on the diamond, the Golden Hawks are on a four-game hot streak starting with a 13-3 victory over Tenafly capped by a fourth inning spree of seven runs. River Dell then knocked off the competative Emerson Cavos with a 4-1 win, a 2-1 decision over rival Ramsey and a 19-1 five inning knockdown over Dwight Morrow. The Hawks big win of the week came after a 13-run second inning to secure the staggering lead.

On the courses, the Crusaders easily won the Blue Devil Invitational for the third consecutive year and then came up one point shy of bringing home the FDU Invitiational title on Tuesday. During the regular season, Erick Alonso shot two over par at White Beeches Country Club, in Bergen's 162-205 win over Waldwick. With plenty of depth, it was Eric Zimmerer (36), Ryan Rose (36), Matt Love (36) and Mike Rivera (37) who secured a 145-241 victory over Kennedy.

Despite Emily Wong's hat trick against Pascack Valley, River Dell girls lacrosse fell for the second time this season to the Indians. The Lady Hawks trailed 6-4 at the half but could not hold on in the second as PV tacked on eight goals. Rebecca Meyers has 10 saves in the cage. Tied with Bergen Tech at 5 by the half, the Knights netted 10 more goals in a 15-11 victory over River Dell. Meghan Ennis notched four points, Emily Wong and Gabrielle Davidson each had a hat trick while Carissa Pohan rounded out the goals. Meyers had 8 saves.

Golden Hawks lacrosse got off to a slow start against Paramus on Saturday before breezing ahead in a 9-3 win over the Spartans. Seven different players scored goals while goalie Ben Sagerman came out with 16 saves. River Dell continued its winning ways in a 11-6 decision over Pascack Hills with hat tricks by Grant Kuchar and Michael Neville. Rounding out the score were Kevin Barry, Kareem Khaddage, Steven Luca, Dan Monopili and Brendan O'Connell.

River Dell tennis earned their first win of the season 4-1 over Cresskill after losing six in a row including matches against Fair Lawn, 4-1, Tenafly, 5-0, and Ramsey, 3-2. Battling the Cougers senior captain Dzan Harba defeated Skyler Greenwald 6-1, 6-2 followed by Chris Ro's 6-4, 6-2 victory. Doubles teams Patrick Thane/Brandon Pepi and Ilya Leifer/Kyle Shtern also won their matches. The team then battled in a close 3-2 loss to Dwight Morrow.

Scott Kim has continued to lead the Hawks golf team on the courses, stroking a 36 par game against Hawthorne Christian for the 179-221 victory at Hackensack Country Club; a 42 in the Hawks 159-186 loss to Tenafly at Rockleigh; and a 36 par at the River Vale Country Club before the Hawks fell to Pascack Valley 179-180.

River Dell softball got a huge boost of confidence when they knocked off Tenafly, 16-7 on Friday afternoon after batting around with 23 hits. Julie Montore had a home run an two RBI while Lindsay Clark knocked a triple deep an finished with four RBI. But a day later down in Emerson for the annual EDSAF tournament, the rivalry between River Dell and Old Tappan returned to the field with the Golden Knights retaining their winning advantage over the Lady Hawks winning 7-3 as Kirsten Farrell remains undefeated on the mound striking out 13. Rival Ramsey pounded out 15 hits against the Lady Hawks in a 10-1 decision as River Dell's Sarah Reconati recorded the lone RBI. Amanda Walker blasted three RBI's along with Julie Montone smacking a triple for a RBI as the Lady Hawks downed Wayne Hills, 8-0.

RIVER DELL 8, WAYNE HILLS 0 (at Wayne)
Amanda Walker had three RBI while Julie Montone tripled and drove in one.

Crusaders tennis stayed ahead of DePaul, 4-1 on Friday and again on Monday, 4-1 over St. Joseph Regional of Montvale. The Crusaders then fell 3-2 to Paramus.

Bergen volleyball overcame a scrappy Hackensack Comets team on Friday to hang on for a 25-23, 25-20 victory and then spiked JP Stevens in a 25-19, 25-21 victory. The Teaneck Highwaymen were not match for the Crusaders in their 25-18, 25-15 victory while the North Bergen Bruins easily fell before the Crusaders, 25-18, 25-11 on Tuesday. Brendan McCullagh had 51 kills and 6 digs, Kirk Nouhan 78 digs and Hacik Arslanoglu 27 digs for the week.

On the road to Iona Prep (NY), the Crusaders lacrosse came on on top with a 10-5 victory behind Brendon McGuire's 4 goals. Bergen took the lead 4-0 at the first perior and continued to stay ahead as Matt Pedrick (5 saves) and the defense came into play. Bergen stayed neck-to-neck with the high riding Colts from Kinnelon on Sunday but a chance shot in OT doomed the Crusaders as they fell 8-7. James Piluso and Christoper Spada had two goal a piece, while explosive middie Brendon McGuire was limited to one as the Colts defense kept him out of play. Matt Pedrick had 18 saves. The mighty Maroons from Ridgewood trounced Bergen 18-6 on Wednesday with four athletes earning hat tricks. Fo Bergen James Piluso netted three, Brendon McGuire two and Nicholas DiScola a single. Lance Gibson (three saves) and Matthew Pedrick (five) shared time in the cage.

On the track, RD boys tied with Glen Rock for third place in the small schools division at the Comet Relays in Hackensack. Brian Samuel and Sam Becourtney tied for first in the javelin with 301-10 throws. The girls struggled placing last in the small schools division with a fifth place finish in the high jump. At the Old Bridge Invitational, River Dell was sixth in the 4-x-100 relay in 45.97, fifth in the distance medley in 11:25.35, second in the shuttle hurdles in 69.88, and won the pole vault (Calvin Hartman 13-0 and Lukas Kiefer 11-6). The Golden Hawks won the shot put relay behind Matt Koh (53-2) and Austin Berniger (47-6 3/4) and Koh threw 149-11 in the discus. In the girls meet, Paige Fernandez (66.06), Jamie woods (67.15) and fresh,mam Noreen Byrne (70.54) combined to run 3:23.75 in the 3-x-400 IH, a school record by more than two seconds, and eighth all-time in Bergen history. Emily Croonquist was third in the 800 in 2:25.92. The Golden Hawks were fourth in the 4-x-200 in 1:49.64 and was sixth in the DMR in 13:35.28. Bridget Brindley cleared 9 feet in the pole vault. Laura Oh led all throwers in the shot and discus at 35-6 and 104-9, respectively.

Over at the NJCTC Relays, Bergen Catholic was fifth in the long jump relay, third in the triple jump, sixth in the javelin and tied for fourth in the high jump