Girls’ Lacrosse wins the Class D Sectional Championship. Photo by J. Murrer

June 16, 2021: Sectional playoffs were held last week, and with home field advantage for the girls’ and boys’ lacrosse teams and the baseball team, the school fields were jampacked with games and fans. By the end of the weekend, three Bronxville teams had won their respective Section 1 Championship: boys’ lacrosse, girls’ lacrosse, and girls’ track and field.

The Bronxville girls’ lacrosse team was undefeated during the regular season and sailed through the sectional playoffs. The Broncos defeated Westlake 19-6 in the quarterfinals, and defeated Pleasantville in the semifinals 16-6.  In the final game held on Saturday at Chambers Field, the Broncos took an 8-1 lead in the first half with the Falcons only able to score on a penalty shot in the last 30 seconds of the half. Bronxville easily handled Albertus in the second half, winning the Class D Sectional Championship 16-3.

In years past, the Broncos would then head to the Regional Championships and the New York State Championships after that, but Covid restrictions only allowed for Sectional Championships this year.

Despite the abbreviated playoffs, it was an incredible season for the Bronco girls who were the top seed in all of Section 1 starting early in the spring.

“This team played with grit in beating every team in LoHud’s top ten, and being the first undefeated team in Bronxville girls’ lacrosse history,” said Coach Sharon Robinson.  “I am so incredibly proud of the whole team.  They worked hard each week, improved in many ways, had a lot of fun together, and finished strong through playoffs.”

In the Sectional Championship game against the Falcons, Kiki Tormey was the top scorer for the Broncos with five goals and one assist. Also scoring for Bronxville were Bridget Finley (4G), Catherine Berkery (2G 3A), Caroline Ircha (2G 2A), Molly Krestinski (2G), Anna Becker (1A), and Victoria Ruffo (1G). Senior Captain Ruffo was sidelined with an injury but was able to get back in the last couple of minutes of the final game. When she hit the back of the net, the fans and team celebrated wildly.

The Broncos won 12/21 draw controls with contributions from Kiki Tormey (5), Molly Krestinski (1), Caroline Ircha (4), Catherine Berkery (1), and Amy Villanueva (1). Olivia Shinsato had eight saves.

“The 2021 team was incredible in every way,” said Coach Robinson.  “Our defenders are tenacious, and Olivia Shinsato came up with big saves all season long.  The midfielders and attackers are incredibly fast, dynamic, powerful players who played together as a team.  We regularly had 8-10 players contributing points, and every time a player was injured or sidelined for a bit, someone else stepped up.”

Boys’ lacrosse wins the Class D Sectional Championship. Photo courtesy of @sports_broncos.

The Bronxville boys’ lacrosse team, seeded No. 2 in the playoffs, won the Class D Sectional Championship after defeating No. 7 Croton Harmon 24-5 in the quarterfinals and No. 3 Pleasantville 22-2 in the semis.   Bronxville and Pleasantville have had a big rivalry for many years.

“We played a close game in the regular season,” said Captain Tommy Garofalo. “We came out really hot to avenge our loss from a couple of years ago.  We really came out swinging at both ends of the field and won by a lot.”

The Broncos won the Class D Sectional Championship by defeating No. 1 Irvington 19-4 in the final game. In the sectional final, played at Irvington, eight different Broncos scored including Garofalo who was the top scorer with six goals and two assists. Also scoring for the Broncos were Conor O’Neil (4G 1A), Chris Patterson (3G 1A), Henry Sheehan (2G 1A), Luke Sheehan (2G), Ben Davis (1G), Sean McGrath (1G), and Henry Donohue (1A).

Faceoff specialist Henry Donohue was 21-24, and Will Stupart was 1-2. Luke Arrighi had six saves and Peter McSherry had two.

Junior Tommy Garofalo, who joined the varsity team as a freshman, is one of the top scorers in all of Section 1. He was able to score his 100th point in the last 40 seconds of the championship game. Garofalo may have scored even more this season if it had been a normal year with regionals and states, but after losing the 2020 season due to the pandemic, the Broncos were grateful to have somewhat of a normal season in 2021.

“Our 2020 team was going to be really special, and we were thinking about that since elementary school,” said Garofalo.  “Those seniors laid the foundation for us in years to come. Their hard work ethic and the culture they built was all around us this season.”

Tommy Garofalo (25) in the game against Irvington. Photo by Susan Miller.

The lacrosse team’s accomplishments are especially impressive given that almost three quarters of the team was playing football in March and April and had no break between those two sports. In fact, one week during the spring the boys were practicing for both football and lacrosse. This is a talented group of athletes as they also won the Sectional Title for football.

The Broncos were led by team captains, senior Henry Donohue and Henry Sheehan and Garofalo. Sheehan will play for Holy Cross in the fall.

Girls’ track and field wins the Class C Sectional Championship. Photo by David Ryan.  

Track and Field also participated in the Sectional Championships last week. The girls’ team won the Class C Sectional Championship for the 22nd consecutive year. Bronxville did exceptionally well in the field events with Milly Koenig placing first in the long jump and 2nd in the triple jump and Jules Gravier placing first in the pole vault.  Koenig also finished 2nd in the 100m and 200m dash, and Gravier placed 3rd in the 100m and 400m hurdles.

Maeve Sullivan, Kelly Weild & Jules Gravier (l to r) holding the championship plaque.  Photo by David Ryan.

It was the final meet for Head Coach David Ryan who is retiring at the end of the school year. Keina Samuels will take over as Bronxville’s head coach. She has been the short distance coach for many years.

The top five finishers are listed below.

100m dash: Milly Koenig (2nd, 13.02)

200m dash: M. Koenig (2nd, 26.66), Donna Napolitano (5th, 28.33)

400m: D. Napolitano (3rd, 1:02.12), Hope Hershberg (4th, 1:04.67)

800m: Maddy Stupart (2nd, 2:21.55), Rory Denning (3rd, 2:28.34), Isabella Fenner (4th, 2:31.11)

1500m: Ava Black (3rd, 5:02.81), Maeve Sullivan (5th, 5:14.17)

3000m: Avery Widen (4th, 11:17.87)

100m hurdles: Jules Gravier (3rd, 17.85)

400m hurdles: J. Gravier (3rd, 1:16.62)

2000m steeplechase: Kailee Fino (1st, 8:52.04), Rachel Coniff (2nd, 9:52.34)

4x100m relay (2nd, 53.26)

4x400m relay (2nd, 4:17.69)

4x800m relay (1st, 10:31.55)

High Jump: Marielle Dibbini (3rd, 4-6)

Long Jump: M. Koenig (1st, 16-6.5)

Triple Jump: M. Koenig (2nd, 34-8), Remy Mellinghoff (4th, 31-6)

Pole Vault: J. Gravier (1st, 10-6)

The boys’ track and field team wrapped up the season with a strong showing at sectionals finishing 4th overall.  The strongest event for the boys was the Steeplechase, and three athletes placed in the top four: Ellis Goodson ((2nd, 7:12.94), Will Redman (3rd, 7:26.44), and Tim Atkeson (4th, 7:32.54).  Johnny Moynihan finished 3rd in the 100m dash and 5th in the triple jump, leading the way for the boys individually. Max Dicker finished 4th in the pole vault (8-0), and the 4x400m relay finished 5th overall in 3:39.43 (Goodson, J.W. Henningson, Ian Gegenwarth, and Redman). 

Middle-school milers Skylar Lau and Will Hogue qualified for the Nike Outdoor National Championship at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon with their times of 4:47.94 and 4:58.08 respectively. 

Enjoy the photo gallery below. Click on first photo to scroll through gallery or simply scroll on your phone.

Go Broncos.