Old Guys Win Loeffler Tournament; Over $1,000 Raised For Scholarship

In the most competitive Loeffler Indoor Tournament ever, the oldest team staved off a fierce challenge from the 2006 squad — perennial contenders — and won in overtime, 2-1.  Chris Mitchell ’91 — consensus MVP of last month’s Turkey Bowl — scored both goals in the final.

The event raised $1,003 for the Loeffler Scholarship Fund.  Nearly all alumni paid to play.

Chris Mitchell '91.

The old guys — Mitchell, Todd Coleman ’84, Dan Donovan ’82, Mark Noonan ’83, Jem Sollinger ’88, Dr. Jono Sollinger ’86, Brian Sullivan ’82 and Jon Whitfield — reached the finals after a 1-0-2 record in round-robin play.

Their foes — Greg Bachman ’07, Brendan Cristobal ’07, Keaton Cristobal ’07, Matt Hammer ’07, Chris Meinke ’05, Dave Sharpe ’07 and Craig Wolgast ’07 — roared through qualifying play with a 3-0 mark.  Their semifinal also went to golden goal.  There were 2 extra rounds, in which players were taken off the field to open the game up.

They ’06 side finally won, over the squad of current players:  Harry Birch, Frankie Bergonzi, Dylan Hoy, Jake Krosse, Court Lake, Brendan Lesch and Mikey Scott.  They did not win a 1st-round match, but acquitted themselves well in the semi.

The 4th side in the very competitive evening was a mix of coaches, alumni, and current and future players:  Kurt Dasbach, Shane Dasbach, Zack Gross ’01, Will Meinke, Russell Oost-Lievense ’07, James Rubin and Jim Wolf ’01.

Honorary Wrecker Amos Magee Gets Married; Makes NY Times

Amos Magee grew up in Minnesota.  The first he heard of Staples was at Wesleyan University, where his teammates on one of the Cardinals’ best teams ever were Peter “Ox” Doolittle ’88 and Ty Jagerson ’88.

Amos Magee

Ox and Ty made sure Amos spent plenty of time in Westport.  He was a fixture in short-goal summer games, and returned for alumni events.  Through his friendships with players like Jem Sollinger ’88 and Jon Walker ’88, Amos became an honorary Staples Wrecker.

His marriage Saturday night made the New York Times. The long story described how Amos — who, after a long professional playing career, is now assistant coach of the new MLS Portland Timbers, while completing a master’s in public administration — met Charlotte Tuttle, who has a master’s in performance theory and is studying for a Ph.D. in applied economics.

To read all the details of Amos and Charlotte’s flirting amid cats, click here.

Staples Earns Academic All-America Award

For the 7th time in 10 years, the Staples boys soccer program has been honored with a national award for academic excellence.

The National Soccer Coaches Association of America gave the Wreckers a Team Academic Award — one of only 3 boys soccer teams in Connecticut to be so named.  To qualify, a squad must have a 3.25 grade point average of all varsity players.  The award is given for the previous academic year.  In 2009, Staples’ 26 varsity players had an average GPA of 3.37.

“I’ve always said that our players are some of the smartest and most creative people at Staples,” said head coach Dan Woog.  “We want our guys to be as strong in the classroom as they are on the field.  What’s especially gratifying about this award is that it’s won as a team.  I’m proud that the NSCAA recognizes our team as one that strives for academic excellence.”

The Wreckers are not only strong scholastically, of course.  The 2009 team won both the state and FCIAC championship.  Woog said that the 2010 side — which three-peated as FCIAC champ, and reached the final of the state tournament — should also qualify for the Academic All-American honor.

Staples' latest Academic All-America team.

 

Brendan Lesch Named CT Post And Norwalk Hour MVP; Frankie Bergonzi, Sean Gallagher, Greg Gudis, Mikey Scott Also Honored

The Connecticut Post and Norwalk Hour announced their All-Area boys soccer teams today.  Though they serve different circulation areas, both agree:  Brendan Lesch is their MVP.

The Hour team — consisting of 14 players from Westport, Norwalk and Wilton — also included Frankie Bergonzi, Sean Gallagher, Greg Gudis and Mikey Scott.

The Post squad — selected in a vote of high school coaches throughout southern Fairfield County — also included Gudis and Gallagher on the 1st team, and Bergonzi on the 2nd team.

Matthew Doran’s long article profiling Lesch noted the All-American’s intense work ethic.  Brien McMahon head coach Ken Dustin praised Lesch’s “strong presence on the field,” while Wilton coach Jim Lewicki called him a “dynamic player” who combines skill, fitness and unselfishness.

The Hour cited Bergonzi as “one of the top two-way players in the FCIAC,” Gallagher as “”the team’s mental and vocal leader,” Gudis as a “tremendous finisher” and Scott as “one of the most underrated players in the FCIAC.”

Click here for the Hour story on Lesch, and additional All-Area coverage.

Click here for the Post All-Area coverage.

Brendan Lesch, Connecticut Post and Norwalk Hour All-Area MVPs. (Photo by Lisa Krosse)

CIAC App Available To Download

The CIAC has embraced the 21st century, with an iPhone and iPod app.

SchoolZapp – Connecticut has features for parents, fans and athletes.

All information is drawn directly from the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference database.  That means users have instant access to the most up-to-date info on CIAC sports.

The app provides  information about each CIAC member school and CIAC-sponsored sport, including:

• Game schedules, results and more.
• Tournament rankings and information.

• Driving directions to every school.

To download SchoolZapp – Connecticut from the iTunes App Store, click here.

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Kyle Martino ’99′s Engagement Announced On People.com

If you can believe People.com, Kyle Martino ’99 is engaged.

The bride-to-be is 25-year-old actress Eva Amurri, daughter of Susan Sarandon and a graduate of Brown University.  The engagement is also noted on Eva’s Wikipedia page.

According to People.com, Eva tweeted that Kyle — the 29-year-old former MLS Rookie of the Year, and current Fox Soccer Channel commentator — is “the most wonderful man on this planet.”

StaplesSoccer.com joins People.com in congratulating Kyle and Eva on this great news.

Kyle Martino '99 and Eva Amurri (Photo credit Kevan Brooks/AdMedia)

Amurri’s rep also confirms the engagement, telling PEOPLE: “They just got engaged and both couldn’t be happier.”

Vote For Staples Boys Soccer As Stamford Advocate Team Of The Year

The Staples boys soccer team is one of 5 nominees for Stamford Advocate Overtime FCIAC Fall Team of the Year.

In describing the Westporters, Dave Ruden wrote:

The Wreckers built on a proud tradition by winning their 27th FCIAC title, going 15-0-1 after a 1-2 start. They advanced to the championship game of the Class LL Tournament before falling to Farmington, 2-1, to finish 20-3-1. Staples ended up with 12 shutouts.

To win the award, the Wreckers must beat out the Darien field hockey, New Canaan girls swimming, Greenwich girls soccer and St. Joseph football teams.

Voting is done online:  click here.  The winning team earns a plaque, and players receive t-shirts.

The Wreckers hope their many fans vote for them for Fall Team of the Year.

Carl McNair’s Photo Book: A Great Holiday Gift!

A limited number of Carl McNair’s photo books are available — and they make great holiday gifts.

The full-color book includes superb action photos of every varsity player; random shots like pre-season training at the Old Mill tidal flats, Senior Day, Quiz Night, Superfans and scenes from The Hill, plus team shots of the JV and freshmen.

The cost is $75.  Checks made payable to “Staples Boys Soccer” can be sent to:  Staples Boys Soccer, c/o Dan Woog, Staples High School, 70 North Ave., Westport, CT 06880.  Turnaround time for delivery is very quick!

Carl McNair captured game action -- and Hill shots too, like Jim Goodrich rallying a post-season tournament crowd.

Greg Gudis’ Banquet Speech

On Sunday night, senior Greg Gudis spoke at the Staple boys soccer banquet.  Here’s a portion of what he said:

It’s finally over.  My playing days at Staples are over.  I am not sure how to feel about the closure of my Staples career. While mine unfortunately ended a few games before everyone else’s, I’ve had a revelation in many ways about “closure.”

I attended Fairfield Country Day from 6th-8th grade, leaving many of my grade school friends behind.  Towards the end of 8th grade I faced a decision on where to attend high school.  I was leaning towards boarding school. But the deciding factor became Staples Soccer.

My earliest memories about Staples soccer date back to when I was about 14.  I witnessed Preston Hirten score the 2nd most beautiful goal ever, against a strong Greenwich opponent.  (The first — well, I’m partial to my goal against Glastonbury in the state semi finals.)  I remember thinking to myself, one day I would like that to be me. The roar of the crowd, the high fives from teammates, coming out on the winning end of a bitter rivalry — hand in hand with my best friends…that was a great picture.

My freshman year, Dan took a chance and took four freshman under his wing. Myself, Sean Gallagher, Brendan Lesch and Frankie Bergonzi were among only a select few in Staples history to make varsity as freshmen.  I trained hard; showed I belonged, and even scored a few goals.

A younger Greg Gudis

My sophomore year was a completely different experience.  We picked up another 3 sophomores, so we were now 7; this would be significant over the next 3 years. Dan and Kurt placed a relatively young team on the field.  We won our first FCIAC title, and it was surreal.  Beating Greenwich after being down 1-0 was amazing.  I remember the roar of the crowd; the high-fives; the whiteout flooding the field, and for the first time, acceptance of the young 7 by even the doubters.

Winning FCIACS, the team was instant celebrities at school.  It was awesome. We felt on top of the world.

That year, while learning what it feels like to win, we also learned what it was like to lose. We lost to Glastonbury 2-1 in the state semifinals. There was not a person on the team who didn’t hang his head down and shed a tear.  I remember sitting in the middle of the field, feeling all alone, thinking that I just couldn’t get the job done.  That feeling stuck in our stomachs for an entire year. We were determined to come back and avenge our defeat.  We trained even harder.

Junior year could not have been better.  I learned what it was like to win in style, with guys I cared about who had my back.  The team cruised through the regular season and ventured into the post season. Back-to-back champions were born, but it wasn’t enough.

Despite hitting a speed bump and going into PKs against Newtown, we avenged Glastonbury in one of the most memorable games of our careers.  Then we captured a state championship.  I felt on top of the world.

Unbelievable.  Next year would be my senior year; I was a state champion, and we had made significant contributions to another 20 win season.   What could go wrong?

Let’s rewind to a year ago.  I am sitting in this same banquet celebrating a great season; the leading scorer, thinking I am about to be pronounced a captain.  That didn’t happen.  Adversity struck in a near perfect year— especially when I had done more than put a few in!  What was happening to the perfect ending?

Wonderful Mrs. Lamb was the first person who reached out to me and helped me see the bigger picture.  She knew much more about adversity than I.

Greg Gudis always played with intensity. (Photo by Lisa Krosse)

My senior year; this year was different than I expected.  I was determined to come back better, faster and stronger.  I had some individual goals (like 50); 4 of us had already committed to DI colleges.   But we struggled in the early games.  Many on the outside, and maybe a few on the inside, thought something was broken; the 4 freshmen looked more like a feuding Dukes of Hazzard re-run.

Max Udell and Greg Gudis

I did my thing on the field, but something was missing and I still felt empty.  Two people made me see things in a different light:  Tom Henske, who I will never be able to repay for his mentoring, encouragement, and support with Columbia; and a 7-year old named Max Udell–a first grader whose enthusiasm for Staples and “#6″ made me see the game in a different light.

I was playing for Staples, for legacy, and for pride.  It wasn’t about individual records; being a press tag-line, or being captain. It was about tradition and lifelong friendships with guys I stood shoulder by shoulder with since age 6.

November 11 — adversity struck again. A great goal in OT after a pretty mediocre game, I am taken down with 5 minutes to go.  A fractured tibia, and I am out for the season; my Staples playing days over.  My teammates and best friends would be forced to go it alone.  The seniors were banged up; duct taped together.  Lying in the ER and getting a note of encouragement from Dan, I had a revelation; maybe it was the pain killers?

I came to practice the next day, in a lot of pain and fighting serious emotions.  I looked at the faces of my teammates, especially the underclassmen.  They were down; almost like a ship adrift at sea.  I knew that if I couldn’t do it on the field, I had to do it on the sidelines.  I spoke to the team about Staples’ winning tradition; about overcoming adversity; about being more than 1 or 2 players, and how their time had come to step up and show everyone that they were the future and worthy of wearing the “S.”  It would be their team in a month.

They responded with back-to-back wins.  Everyone stepped up in an 8-2 smashing of Hall in the semis.  Unbelievable!  The guys whose backs I had all season — Lorenz, Smith, Hobie and Malowitz — responded with conviction…and of course James, who has been the most rock solid underclassman all season.

Does this have a happy ending?  Unfortunately the finals didn’t go our way.  We were a better team, but didn’t get it done and that sometimes happens — there just wasn’t enough left in the tank!

To next year’s team:  Use not finishing with a win as motivation to reach deep and continue a 53-year winning tradition; watch each other’s backs; and define your own legacy within the grander Staples Soccer legacy.

In closing:  So much of who we are in life is made up by family.  Staples Soccer is my family.  (You too, Mom and Dad!)  I believe that Family measures our stability; it defines our character; and it dictates our happiness and well-being.  Maybe it took an injury and being on the sidelines to figure this out.  Who knows?

I honestly would like to thank my teammates who had my back, and coaches over the last 4 years for allowing me to be a part of the Staples soccer family. To Dan, Tom and Kurt:  Thanks for guiding me through adversity; for believing in me, and for taking a chance in 2007 when 4 young freshman set out to be part of something special.

Perhaps it takes adversity to understand what success is all about.  In life you find out who your friends are when things don’t go well.  Records — 63-7-1; a three-peat of FCIAC titles; 2 state championship appearances and a state title are all great, and are this team’s legacy.

In 20 years we will look back and say damn we were good.

#15 Passed Down To James Hickok

One of the highlights of last night’s Staples soccer banquet was the start of a new tradition:  passing along Preston Hirten’s #15 to a younger player.

Preston Hirten, #15

Before the announcement, Preston’s mother Lisa described in loving detail how important it had been for the Hirten family to watch Frankie carry on Preston’s tradition of tough, passionate and prideful play.  She thanked him for helping maintain Preston’s memory in so many ways.

Frankie Bergonzi — who wore #15 for the past 3 years — then spoke eloquently of what the number meant to him.  He called it “the greatest honor of all,” and quoted the Hirtens’ note to him 5 days after Preston’s death:

Frankie…we will be watching you.  You are the perfect person to wear Preston’s number.  Good luck this year.  Go for it the way Preston would.  Love you guys.  Marc and Lisa Hirten.

Frankie Bergonzi, #15

“To this day,” Frankie said, “the biggest compliment I have ever received was that in the eyes of his own father, I was worthy of wearing Preston’s number.”

Though Frankie had always thought of #15 as his own number — both he and his father were born on the 15th — he spent the last 2 years thinking of it as Preston’s number.  “I was just given the privilege of borrowing it for a few years,” he said.

Frankie recalled being in 8th grade, and watching Preston:

He had speed.  He had skill.  He had composure.  But what I admired most was his heart and determination.  This kid simply never quit.  He was relentless.

Frankie continued:

Preston’s incredible work rate game after game influenced me to become a harder worker.  I wanted people to say the same things about me when they evaluated me as a soccer player, and more importantly as a person.  I wanted to be known as the hardest worker, and the kid with the most  heart….

I knew there would be times when I wouldn’t be the strongest kid on the field, or the fastest.  But I also knew that outworking my opponent was always within my control.  I learned from Preston that you can’t always control what’s going to happen on the soccer field, but you always have control over your work ethic and that nothing should prevent you from working hard.

After describing Preston’s kindness to him as a young Watermelon Cup player, Frankie said:

My most heartfelt memory of last year’s state championship was not winning the game.  It really wasn’t.  It was going up to the stands after all the celebration, and seeing Preston’s mom.  I went up to her, and she thanked me for wearing Preston’s number so proudly.  That moment will stay with me forever.

And then — citing his charge to “give the number to a player who played the game most like Preston, with unparalleled determination and passion” — Frankie concluded:

It is my responsibility to hereby pass on #15 to James Hickok.

Thank you, Frankie.  Congratulations, James.  Preston Hirten’s memory lives on.

James Hickok, #15 (Photo/Christian Abraham CT Post)