I always enjoy attending the Section 1 All-Elite Field Hockey Dinner because it is a celebration of the season, honoring the many outstanding players in Westchester, Rockland, Putnam and Dutchess Counties. However, once the dinner concluded tonight, it hit me, the 2008 Section 1 field hockey season is officially over and that bums me out.

I look forward to field hockey season each year when August rolls around because I am fortunate enough to see the best players in the BEST section in the state. No ifs, ands or buts about it, Section 1 is the best in the state and the state championships prove this. Section 1 leads New York in state titles, followed by Section 4 (which is aided greatly by Marathon’s nine). Ladies, coaches and parents, you should all take great pride in what Section 1 has accomplished.

This was another great field hockey season with so many outstanding highlights. And here are just a few:

Mamaroneck going undefeated and unscored upon to win the Section 1 Class A title, led by seniors Ellen Williams, Charlotte Gardiner, Cathleen Smith and Anna Reddicliffe.

Putnam Valley beating second-seeded and defending state champion Rye in the semis, then Lakeland in the final to take the Section 1 Class B crown, led by their talented seniors Ashley Morgan, Erica Fisher, Nicole Scott, Megan Warning, Caitlin White and Sara Kastuk.

A shout out to Bronxville and coaches Jackie Deppe Frawley and new mom, Courtnie Egan, as the Broncos won the Section 1 Class C title, regional crown and returned to the state final four for the first time since 2001. Bronxville’s only three seniors — Jessica Murrer, Caroline Harris and Anne Piper — were instrumental in this.

Congratulations to Mamaroneck, Putnam Valley and Bronxville for their outstanding seasons.

These were not the only highlights though. Here are some more noteables:

Suffern became the first Rockland County school to play for a sectional title when it faced Mamaroneck in the Class A final. Suffern coach Bernadette Gannon is one of the nicest and most respected coaches in Section 1 and she can boast of two of the finest players in Cara Eichenberger and Jenny Califano.

First year coach and former Lakeland all-state player Niki Berman guiding Rye Neck to the Section 1 Class C semifinals, a place the Panthers had not been in quite some time. Two of her impact players were senior midfielder Liz Tucci and goalie Amy Carelli. In only her first year, Berman has helped the girls restore the pride and tradition to this proud program which produced Holy Child coach Barbara Lorys, assistant coach Cheryl O’Shea, Mamaroneck assistant coach Tricia Miller and Ursuline coach April Clapp.

North Salem was seeded seventh in the Section 1 Class C sectional tournament, but consecutive wins in strokes over Hastings and Rye Neck propelled the Tigers to their first sectional final since 2003. Great job by coach Jen Frohman and assistant coach/former North Salem great Carly DeMartis.

Clarkstown North, which I don’t think had six wins this decade, won six games and qualified for sectionals under coach Danielle Trainor. The girls and Trainor also accomplished this without a Junior Varsity program. The Rams were led by seniors Abby Laffer, Alexis Kanter and Jen Reynolds.

In her first season at Fox Lane, former Somers standout Melissa Heyde guided the Foxes to 11 wins and a second seed in the Section 1 Class A tournament. She also had an all-state player in Lindsay Toppe. 

After graduating a large, talented senior class and welcoming Former Brewster great Emily Fitzgerald as its new coach, Rye was overlooked in some circles. However, behind the senior leadership of Courtney Burke, Juliana Kennedy and Mimi McCormick, and junior standouts Torie Stearns and Olivia Nabhan, the 2007 state Class B champions had 17 wins, including a 3-0 victory over Lakeland, and a played in the sectional semis. 

For the second consecutive year Lakeland graduated a stellar senior class, so what does coach Sharon Sarsen do with her young team, bring them to the sectional finals.

These are just some I thought of off the top of my clean-shaven dome. Congratulations to all of the Section 1 field hockey players, coaches and parents for making this sport such a pleasure to cover. Thank you for always being cooperative with me. Because of your cooperation, you made my job that much easier and that much more enjoyable.

To the seniors, your contributions to your programs and Section 1 field hockey will not be forgotten. It will not be the same without you next year, especially Mamaroneck’s Ellen Willams, Charlotte Gardiner and Cathleen Smith, Rye’s Courtney Burke, Julianna Kennedy and Mimi McCormick, Bronxville’s Jessica Murrer, Caroline Harris and Anne Piper, Suffern’s Cara Eichenberger and Jenny Califano, Putnam Valley’s Ashley Morgan, Erica Fisher, Nicole Scott, Megan Warning and Sara Kastuk. 

And, one more thing before I sign off for the season, all the best to the 4-time reigning Empire State Games gold medalists — the 2008 Hudson Valley Scholastic Women’s field hockey team as it travels to beautiful Palm Springs (Cal.) next week for Festival. The team includes, to name a few, Rye’s Courtney Burke, Olivia Nabhan and Torie Stearns, Mamaroneck’s Ellen Williams, Charlotte Gardiner and Cathleen Smith, Lakeland’s Megan Bozek, Jillian Caffrey and Liz Gonzalez and Putnam Valley’s Ashley Morgan and Erica Fisher. To say this team is loaded is an understatement. Best of luck ladies and to coach Sharon Sarsen and assistant coach Sara Gonzalez.

I’m at the Binghamton Press and Sun Bulletin office filing my Rye girls soccer stat-final story and I heard that East Rochester defeated Marathon, 2-0 in the Class C title game.

This is very surprising.

Ward Melville dethroned defending state champion Williamsville North, 2-0 in the Class A final. No word yet on the Class B final, but I’m sure Garden City won.

Final: Marathon 3, Bronxville 0

Marathon will play East Rochester tomorrow for the state title. East Rochester beat Pine Plains 3-1 in the other semi.

Congratulations to Bronxville on an excellent season, especially its three seniors – captains Jessica Murrer, Caroline Harris and Anne Piper. Bronxville coaches Courtnie Egan, Jackie Deppe Frawley and Andy “Liebs” Liebman could not have asked for three finer captains and individuals. Bronxville will miss Murrer, Harris and Piper next year. 

Bronxville came out flying in the game, creating two penalty corners in the first four minutes, but Marathon was up to the challenge. Before Marathon scored goals on successive corners, the Broncos and Piper negated the Olympians’ first three penalty corners.

Bronxville played a much better second half. The Broncos were sustaining pressure and generated four penalty corners to just one for Marathon. However, once again, Marathon was there. The Broncos were awarded a penalty stroke as a result of one corner, but Marathon goalie Cigi Edwards made the save.

Bronxville will have to fill the wide gaps at center forward (Murrer), center midfield (Harris) and goalie (Piper) created by the rio’s graduation. Bronxville will return everybody else, led by its entire defense of Bizzie Howitt, Maggie Goff, Anne Longobardo and Lilly Santoro, midfielders Rachel Kim and Libby Goodell and high-flying wings Brooke Gogel and Alex Lynch.

This will be the first time since 1999 that Section 1 will not have state champion or a state finalist. In this decade alone, Section 1 leads all sections with 10 state champions. Section 4 is second with eight, five of which belong to Marathon.

I voiced my anger and displeasure to Section 1 coordinator/Pelham field hockey coach Sue Hughes about the state draw this year and two years ago. I can’t wait to see next year’s draw, as far as how can the state make it the toughest on Section 1 to get to a state final four while other sections annually breeze into the final four.

Hughes explained it to me that Sections 8 and 11 have to play each other while Sections 5 and 6 also have to play each other. Okay, that’s understood, but how about making the rotation Sections 5, 6, 3 and 4 and the other half being Sections 1, 2, 9, 8 and 11? Just a thought. 

Update 2: It’s halftime and Marathon leads 3-0. Tessa Knapp scored Marathon’s third goal with 9:42 left in the first half. Marathon has six penalty corners. Bronxville has three.

Update 1: Stephanie Fiske scored at the 10:31 mark on a penalty corner and Marta Malmberg scored on another penalty corner at the 18-minute mark to give Marathon a 2-0 lead. Bronxville just called for timeout after the second goal.

Beginning of day report

Tony Pinciaro is at Chittenango High School for today’s Class C state semifinal between Section 4’s Marathon and Bronxville and will be checking in with updates. Stay tuned.

For the third consecutive year Holy Child and Rye Country Day School met in the Independent schools state title game. Holy Child won the title in 2006 and last year RCDS was the champ. Holy Child won its second state championship, 2-1 in penalty strokes.

The teams traded goals during regulation with RCDS sophomore Christine Cunningham scoring in the first half, then Caroline Gray answered back in the second half for Holy Child.

Holy Child converted its first three strokes, with Charlotte Tierney clinching the state title on the third stroke.

Congratulations to Holy Child and RCDS for having excellent seasons. Both teams were hard-hit by graduation, but there they were, playing for the state title in what has become an annual event. Prior to the season, I’ve said it three straight years that Holy Child and RCDS will play for the state crown and I have actually been right.

Both defenses and the respective goalies, RCDS’ Kate Moelis and Holy Child’s Carrigan Henderson, were excellent. Whether in regulation or overtime, the goalies came up with the big saves and the respective defenses made excellent stops.

Congratulations to the coaching tandem of Holy Child head coach Barbara Lorys and assistant coach Cheryl O’Shea. The life-long friends and former Rye Neck standouts have been at Holy Child five years. During this time, the tandem has transformed a struggling program into an perennial elite among private and Catholic schools and won two state titles. Lorys and O’Shea work so well together and the players love them. They don’t yell or scream at their players should one make a mistake. Instead, either or both will take the player aside and explain what needs to be done.

Two other former Rye Neck players are the same way in regards to their respective players, Mamaroneck assistant coach Tricia Miller, O’Shea’s sister, and Ursuline’s April Clapp.

Class B Garden City 2, Putnam Valley 1: Garden City jumped ahead 2-0 at the 12:31 mark of the second half as Amanda Keller scored on a penalty corner. Putnam Valley did cut the lead in half on an Amanda DeChent goal with 2:54 remaining. This also came on a penalty corner. Garden City returns to the state final four for the fourth consecutive year. Congratulations to Putnam Valley on an excellent year, especially the seniors. Garden City leads Putnam Valley 1-0 at the half. Putnam Valley had a Megan Warning goal disallowed in the first half. The official, representing Long Island, called it off claiming it hit Warning’s foot. Class C 3:52: Bronxville needed just 49 seconds to end it as Brooke Gogel scored her second goal of the game for a 2-1 victory. Bronxville returns to the state final four for the first time since 2001, when it played in the Class D state final against Marathon. The Broncos will play the winner of Marathon (Section 4)Cazenovia (Section 3), 3:30 pm Friday at Chittenango HS. Marathon should be Bronxville’s opponent. Marathon beat Bronxville, 3-2 in overtime of the 2006 Class C regional final.3:46 pm Port Jefferson and Bronxville are going into 7-v.7 overtime. Stay tuned. 3:35 pm No sooner do I post about the possibility of Section 1 being swept today, Bronxville evened the score at 1-1 on a Brooke Gogel goal with 8:18 on the clock.3:29 pm – There is 11:37 remaining in the game and Port Jefferson still leads Bronxville, 1-0. 2:58 pm – Bronxville had a penalty corner in the final minute, but the Port Jefferson goalie made the save, according to my colleague Casey Tolfree, who is covering the game while I write my story.2:32 pm – Port Jefferson has grabbed a 1-0 lead nine minutes into the game, scoring on its first penalty corner. Class A Emilee Rahner’s goal, on a penalty corner, was the difference as Ward Melville (Section 11) shocked previously undefeated Mamaroneck, 1-0 in a Class A regional final at Lakeland. It was the first goal Mamaroneck allowed all season.Ward Melville advances to the state final four, where it lost in the semis last season. Mamaroneck concludes with a 20-1 record.This is quite a shock. In my opinion, Mamaroneck was Section 1’s best teamall season and I thought was going to win its second state championship. Despite the loss, congratulations to Mamaroneck on a great season and thank you to senior captains Ellen Williams, Cathleen Smith and Charlotte Gardiner for speaking to me after the game. They could have said no, but were excellent just like they played all season.

Prior to the 2006 season, I always remember the state field hockey playoff brackets revolving around Section 1, Section 2 and Section 9 with one team receiving a bye to the regional final each year. However, in 2006 and 2007, Section 1 was thrown into the mix with Section 4 and Section 9.

Section 4, based on Marathon’s numerous state titles, is second to Section 1 in state championships and final four appearances. In 2006, Maine-Endwell defeated Rye in a regional game and Marathon survived, in overtime, against Broxnville.

This season, Section 1 has to face the Section 8-Section 11 winner (Long Island) champion. If Mamaroneck, Bronxville and Putnam Valley should win, these teams will play the Section 3-Section 4 winner. Talk about a difficult task. This year, the Section 5 winner plays the Section 6 champ for a state final four berth while Section 2 and Section 9 face each other for the other state final four berth. Not to take anything away from these four sections, but it appears the Section 1 side of the bracket is much, much tougher.

I asked Section 1 field hockey coordinator Sue Hughes about this and she said the brackets are set up based on travel. I would think that Sections 3 and 4 are much closer to Sections 5 and 6 than Sections 2 and 9. It just seems that Section 1 gets the short end of the field hockey stick each year with the state brackets. Even with this though, Section 1 has had a state champion every year since 1999 as well as a state finalist.

Here is the schedule for Saturday’s regional finals at Lakeland:

Class A - Mamaroneck will face Section 11 champ Ward Melville after a 3-1 win over East Meadow. The Ward Melville coaches were scouting Mamaroneck in the Section 1 final. Even before I saw the coaches, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that Ward Melville would meet Mamaroneck. Ward Melville is 19-1 on the season. The last time these teams met in the state playoffs, Mamaroneck prevailed 1-0 in a 2004 regional final at Putnam Valley HS as current Harvard sophomore K.J. Warren provided the goal on a penalty stroke. Mamaroneck captains Ellen Williams and Charlotte Gardiner told me, in a pre-season interview, that the Tigers beat Ward Melville on the Bermuda field hockey trip in August.

Class C - Bronxville will follow at 2 p.m. and play Port Jefferson, the Section 11 titlist, after its win over Friends Academy. Port Jefferson (9-10) upset top-seeded Pierson/Bridgehamton, 1-0 in the Section 11 Class C final.

Class B – Putnam Valley will close the day at 4 p.m. facing Garden City (Section 8, 17-0). SportsFan asked me about Garden City. The 2007 state Class B finalist is undefeated. A Garden City fan checks in once a week, obviously keeping tabs on Rye. I’m sure Garden City is disappointed it won’t face Rye and have an opportunity to exact revenge for last year’s double overtime 1-0 loss in the state final on Olivia Nabhan’s goal. Garden City will probably look past Putnam Valley, thinking it has an easy game now. If the Section 8 champion does this I think it will be a major mistake.

No. 3 Putnam Valley (18-2) vs. No. 1 Lakeland (18-2)

Update 6: Putnam Valley wins 3-2. It’s the Tigers first sectional championship since 2005, when they won the state tournament.

Update 5: Putnam Valley goes up 3-2. Megan Warning deflected in an Ashley Morgan pass for her second goal of the game at the 16:28 mark.

Update 4: Putnam Valley and Lakeland are tied 2-2 with 16:43 left. Megan Bozek returned seven minutes into the second half and converted a penalty corner at the 11:56 mark, assisted by Jilllian Caffrey.
Update 3: Putnam Valley leads 2-1 at the half. Lakeland’s leading scorer Megan Bozek left the game wiht 2:46 left in the half and her status for the second half is unclear right now.

Update 2: Putnam Valley leads 2-1 with 6:03 left in the first half. Erica Fisher scored on a rebound with 9:41 left in the first half.
Update 1: Game is tied 1-1. Lakeland took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Emma Bozek at the 9:30 mark. Putnam Valley tied it a minute later on a goal by Megan Warning.

FINAL – Bronxville 2, North Salem 0

5:54 – Bronxville extended its lead to 2-0 on a Jessica Murrer goal with two minutes remaining in the first half.

5:41 - Bronxville’s Brooke Gogel scored on a penalty corner with 10 minutes remaining in the first half, giving the Broncos a 1-0 lead.

We’re just about to start the Class A final between No. 3 Suffern (14-4-3) and No. 1 Mamaroneck (20-0). Check back here throughout the day for live updates.

FINAL – Mamaroneck 4, Suffern 0

Mamaroneck, playing in its fifth straight sectional final, won its third Section 1 championship since 2004.

Update 4: Mamaroneck leads 4-0 with 8:18 left. Williams scored her second goal off a rebound from Gardiner’s penalty corner.

Update: 3: Mamaroneck leads 3-0 with 22:45 left. Ellen Williams converted a penalty stroke.

Update 2: Still 2-0 at the half. Mamaroneck had four penalty corners and Suffern has one. Suffern does not have a shot on the goal.

Update 1: Mamaroneck leads 2-0 4:45 into the game. Cathleen Smith deflected a penalty corner from Anna Reddicliffe 1:57 in. Charlotte Gardiner scored unassisted at the 4:45 mark.