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The Community Newspaper of Evergreen Valley / Silvercreek Valley since 1982 |
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November 17, 2006 Evergreen SportsCougar cross country star Gonzales lands at state race Evergreen runners ramped up for future EVERGREEN SPORTS
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| Speedy returner Leah Larott practices shooting at a workjout early this week. |
The Cougar roster is chalk full of talented freshman faces, as well as the team’s leading scorer, Caitlin Brennan, and speedy Leah Larotte. Still, head coach Michelle Sunseri said the challenge will be to replace eight seniors who graduated last spring.
And while the girls strive to gel and adjust, the process will take place in the top public school league, the Mount Hamilton Division, which Evergreen enters after winning the championship last season.
“Because we won our division last season, we moved up, so now every game will be a tough one, and a challenge,” said Sunseri.
Sunseri expects that, thanks to a shift in personnel, Evergreen will focus on the passing attack this year.
“We’re looking to keep the ball low and on the ground,” she said. “It’s a basic passing game. [As a result], we play really well on turf. Unfortunately, we and Live Oak are the only schools in the division that don’t actually
have turf.”
Defensively, Sunseri said the team will attack the same as before, with a sweeper and three standard defenders in set.
“I know that other coaches in our division anticipate that we will be competitive,” said Sunseri. “Sometimes when schools move up, they lose so bad that they are forced to move back down a division. But from what I can tell, and what I have heard, we should be competitive.”
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| Evergreen goalies Kaitlin Ambrosa and Theresa Rancadore will hold down the goalie position for the Cougars this season. Photos by Justin Petersen |
The talent is there, if not the experience. Star scorer Brennan returns to lead by example from her center forward position. The junior led Evergreen in goals scored last season with 26.
Larotte and center-mid Ashley Travaglione, meanwhile, are the playmakers. Sunseri said she counts on Travaglione’s passing skills to set up the offense especially.
“I tell the girls that the center-mid is like the stem of the umbrella that is our offensive attack,” Sunseri said.
Goalkeeper duties will be split this season by senior Kaitlyn Ambrosa and freshman Theresa Rancadore.
“Ambrosa also plays forward,” said Sunseri. “She is fast and feisty upfront.”
Sunseri also said Rancadore is part of an extremely gifted freshman class that Sunseri hopes will pick up where last year’s seniors left off, in terms of Cougar tradition.
“It is a very impressive freshman class,” she said. “They are going to be the promise of our team over the next few years.”
Freshman standouts include Jacky Zuniga, Samantha Brasil, Angelica Agurri and Rancadore.
Evergreen’s (3-3) performance to date has been a mixed bag, but strong overall. They dropped the season opener 2-1 while hosting Scotts Valley on Nov. 16, but returned strong, winning two straight leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday.
Most recently, the lady Cougars (3-3) went to the Burlingame Thanksgiving Tournament final, held over the holiday through Nov. 25, reaching the championship game before falling to Woodside Priory.
“We have only played a handful of games, but the girls are already bonding on the field,” said Sunseri. “I was a little nervous after the first game of the year, but playing in the tournament helped us learn to play together.”
Evergreen has already proved to have the nerve to handle tough game situations. After dropping a match to Capuchino, the Cougars recouped, climbing the consolation bracket. They gained revenge in the semifinals, where they faced Capuchino once more and handled its’ attack, reaching the final game before losing again.
New-look EVHS boys’ hoops team gear up for A-league challenge in 2006-07
Cougars return one starter for new season; outside shooting depth a plus for coach Dennis Fernandez
By Diego Abeloos
Editor
The end of the Thanksgiving holiday means the start of the 2006-07 season for the Evergreen Valley boys’ basketball team, albeit with a host of changes for the Cougars.
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| The Evergreen Valley boys’ basketball team will count on junior center Derek Pauli to provide an inside scoring threat this season. Pauli is the lone returning starter from last season’s team. |
For starters, the Cougars will enter the season as a member of the Mt. Hamilton Division, after spending last season at the B-league level in the Santa Teresa Division. In addition, the Cougars lost seven seniors from last season’s roster to graduation, leaving a relatively inexperienced team of returning players and newcomers from the frosh/soph level.
“No nervousness, but I’m very apprehensive about playing at this level,” said Evergreen head coach Dennis Fernandez of his team’s move to Mt. Hamilton Division. “The fact that I don’t have one starter coming back, except for one junior, it can be a very interesting season, to say the least.”
Fernandez said much of the team’s low post game on offense will hinge on the development of junior center Derek Pauli, who started last year with raw skills and gradually improved as the season progressed. Fernandez said he’s counting on Pauli to be his inside scoring threat this year.
“I don’t think there’s any mistakes about who we’re going to go to in the post,” Fernandez said of Pauli. “I’m just hoping he develops into a strong player and gets confidence in himself, because I know what he’s capable of doing inside. We’ve seen it in different games, I just need him to be more consistent.”
Still, Fernandez said he’s pleased with other elements within his offense, namely his depth on the roster with outside shooters. Although Fernandez said he doesn’t have a set lineup complete yet, he’s confident in the outside shooting abilities of several returning players, including Domingo Candelas and Andrew Kim, two players who learned the also returns to the fold this season as another scoring threat for the Cougars.
The depth in outside shooters is nothing new to Fernandez, who last season counted heavily on graduated senior Morgan Blakely to fill that role.
“Morgan Blakely’s gone, but now I’d like to think that I have maybe four Morgan Blakelys that are not afraid to take that three-pointer and shoot it with confidence,” Fernandez said. “That’s the key right there. Some kids can shoot threes all day, but it’s not going in. But these kids are going to shoot and it’s going to go in.”
To boot, Fernandez said he’s counting on a familiar name to Evergreen basketball, in filling out the outside shooting depth on the roster in Khoi Nguyen, the younger brother of Tinh Nguyen, a senior point guard
on last year’s team. Fernandez said the younger Nguyen showed the coaching staff during summer league play that he will be a scoring option for the Cougars in 2006-07.
“The difference between Tinh and Khoi is that Tinh’s defensive tenacity was just untouchable,” Fernandez said. “Khoi, his offensive tenacity is untouchable. He comes down (the court) and he’s looking for the shot immediately. He’s not one to take it from the three-point line; he’s going to take it about three feet from the three-point line. As soon as he crosses half court, he’s looking for the shot, and I don’t have problem with that, because they go in.”
Fernandez said he expects his team to utilize its’ strengths by employing a rapid up-and-down style game in order to compete at the higher Mt. Hamilton Division level. Fernandez said he’s shooting for a .500 record in his team’s first season in the higher division.
“We’re still looking at being at least .500,” he said. “Obviously, I’ll take anything better than that. I’m hoping that we progress enough that maybe we’re better than .500, which would be nice. I don’t know about other coaches, but I’ve always strived on trying to be the best program. The four years coming here, going from the C division (West Valley), immediately getting B division and then getting to the A division, those are goals I think you make for yourself and hopefully they transfer over to your players.”
Evergreen resident’s team wins first place in Silver Stick Pacific Regional Hockey Tournament
Thirteen-year old Erik Leaf’s Bantam ice hockey team, The Tri-Valley Blue Devils, won first place in the Silver Stick Pacific Regional Hockey Tournament held at Logitech Ice in San Jose during the Thanksgiving Holiday.
The Devils had their first game before feasting on Thanksgiving turkey and over the next two days, the team managed three wins and one tie, advancing them to the championship game against the San Jose Jr. Sharks on Sunday, Nov. 26.
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| The Tri-Valley Blue Devils won first place in the Silver Stick Pacific Regional Hockey Tournament held at Logitech Ice in San Jose during the Thanksgiving Holiday. |
After three exciting periods, the Devils beat the Jr. Sharks in a 5-0 shutout. The champions of each division progress to the International Finals Tournament, which will be held in Pelham, Ontario on Jan. 11-14, 2007. The first Silver Stick Tournament was held in Ottawa, Canada in 1958.
The founder, Ernie Temple, wanted to promote citizenship and International Goodwill through competition at the Bantam (ages 13-14) and Peewee (ages 11-12) age groups in the form of an ice hockey tournament. He used a long silver stick instead of a trophy. Currently over 63,000 players and coaches participate in the Silver
Stick tournaments.
Erik is an eighth grader at Chaboya Middle School. He started skating at four-and-a-half years old, and was on his first hockey team, coached by his father, at age five in the in-house league at Logitech.
He started travel hockey when he was 10. In his short career, he has won a NORCAL championship and a Gold Medal at the California Games in San Diego. Currently, his Bantam team is in first place in NORCAL’s travel hockey league.
The Blue Devils are undefeated in their last eight games.
The team plays their NORCAL league home games in Dublin and Oakland, and will travel as far as Fresno or Lake Tahoe during the hockey season. The Blue Devils will once again play the Jr. Sharks at the Sharks fourth annual Winter Classic held at Logitech on Dec. 28-31. Erik is an avid Sharks fan and enjoys going to the games with his
dad. Erik also has had the thrill of playing several games at the Shark Tank, held during the intermission of Sharks’ games.
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