Monmouth Regional's Weekly Insider's Report

Girls Lacrosse ‘Looks Dangerous;’ Beats Manalapan in Season Opener

Falcons’ varsity girls’ lacrosse had its first game of the season at home, beating Manalapan High School 15-13 on Friday, April 1. Down 4-0 early in the first half, Monmouth rallied around senior captain Haley Bowen’s goal, which ignited their comeback. The Falcons tied the score, which would stay within a one-point difference through the end of the game.  Haley had been moved from defense to midfield to help both the offense and defense throughout the course of the game.

With the game tied and about two minutes left in the second half, the outcome of this game looked to be an exciting one. Senior captain Tara Patti took the ball down the field and eventually scored the go-ahead goal to put the Falcons up over Manalapan. Junior Courtney Washeleski scored a goal as time expired off a penalty shot to put the Falcons up by two goals.

Tara, who was one of the leading scorers in the Shore Conference last season, started off the season strong with eight goals. Freshman Jenna Eustace, a starter on both this varsity lacrosse team and the varsity soccer team in the fall, looks to be a strong part of this team at midfield as she scored three goals in the season-opener.

Haley, Courtney, sophomore Mackenzie Kapuscienski, and junior Jackie Gage all scored goals in this strong victory over Manalapan. Haley and Jackie also each had an assist. Junior Amanda Breaud had six saves and looks to be a quality goalkeeper for this team.

The final score was 15-13 and this girl’s lacrosse team, who has been predicted to finish second in the B North Division behind Red Bank Catholic, looks to be a dangerous team this season.

Falcons’ Baseball Working Out the Kinks

Monmouth Falcons varsity baseball went up against Freehold Boro on Saturday, April 2. The Falcons were ranked fifth out of the whole Shore Conference and ranked second in the division behind Red Bank Catholic, before the game against their division opponent. They lost 8-4 but there were some positive things to be taken out from this early game in the season.

The Falcons went up 3-1 in the first inning, and they also had a total of 12 hits in the entire game. Senior Bill VanMeerbeke went 4-4 with an RBI and scored once. Senior Dan Carroll went 2-4 and scored twice, and Senior Max Schmardel went 1-3 with two RBI and a run himself. Junior Luke Cahill also went 3-4. The Falcons look to come back strong at home versus Rumson-Fair Haven on Monday and away at Ocean on Tuesday.

Falcons Track Holds its Own at Rebel Relays

The Rebel Relays at Howell High School were this Saturday, in which different relay teams of three or four athletes competed against about 20 other high schools in races or events. A bus-full of athletes from the boys and girls track teams from Monmouth competed in these relays. Monmouth competed in the Division 1 competitions.

For the throwing events, the shot put and javelin team that consisted of seniors Brandon Wall and AJ Visconti, as well as junior Max Neis, placed fourth in both events. For the discus event, Brandon and Max joined junior Anthony Baklouk to place third out of all the schools that competed.

For the girls, juniors Tyler-Anne Buck and Lilian Robles and also freshman Chloe Yelle placed fourth for the discus throw and the shot put. Tyler-Anne also helped the javelin team place fourth along with Mary Kate Innace and Joanna Stanton.

Senior Stephanie Skove and sophomore Julia Tupy placed first in the pole vault relay and Stephanie also placed third with Jessica Noe in the triple jump relay. All three of these girls teamed up to place third in the long jump relay as well.  Stephanie, freshman Brianna Hanks and junior Tyler Major placed second in the jump relay as well.

The boys distance medley team that included senior Sam Murray, juniors Jonathan Brand and Kerry Rugenstein and sophomore Craig Uplinger placed second out of the nine competitors in the Division 1 race. 

The 4 x 800 Meter Relay included the sixth place relay team that included freshman Carl Lawson and sophomores Eric Halvorsen, George Mwangi and Thanassi Natsis.

For the girls, the 4 x 100 team that consisted of Naomi Newman, Jillian Johnson, Jocelyn Anderson and Christine Daly placed sixth. The Girls Distance Medley team placed fifth, and this team included Stephanie Newman, Mikaela Peters, Taylor Noe and Emily Pszeniczny. The 4 x 400 Meter Relay team also earned a medal by placing sixth, and this team included Emily and Mikaela, and also Deseree Johnson and Jade Smolokoff.

Senior Nicolette Maura Looks to Compete in CA this Summer

Recently, senior Nicolette Mauro, who is the captain of the Falcons’ softball team and was also the captain of fall and winter cheerleading teams, won first place in the state at the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) competitions. Nicolette’s project was to organize a fair for preschool special education students, which was based on the letter “F”—especially “feet.”  She created different activities and included paint and bubble-wrap to help the children understand different textures by using their feet, and presented the project to three judges at the competition.

After winning first place, Nicolette is eligible to compete in nationals held in California this summer but needs to raise $3,000 for this trip. If anyone would like to donate or give her ideas for fundraisers, please e-mail me for her contact information. Nicolette has worked hard throughout high school with her cheerleading and softball teams, the FCCLA club and in her classes at school, and she deserves this opportunity to present her project at Nationals this summer in California.

Monmouth Seniors are Making their College Choices

Here are some more college decisions:

• Adreanna Santos will be attending Stevenson University. Pat Keating, who graduated last year, is a part of the newly made football program there.
• Kurt Mathisen will be going to Gettysburg College.
• David Zilly has decided to go to Drexel University in Philadelphia.
• Kate Hieber will be attending New York University.
• Allie Simon will be going to West Virginia University next year.
• Mike Brown will be going to the Culinary Institute of America in New York.
• Emily Harris has chosen to go to Quinnipiac University.
• Patrick Rounds has changed his decision and will now be going to Princeton University.
• Melanie Bowe has decided to go to James Madison University.
• Brandon Mayes and Malcom Missel-Gray will be joining the United States Army and will be leaving for Basic Training after Graduation in June.

There will be many more of these decisions in the next couple weeks. Again, please let me know if you have decided and would like to be included in these lists.