2018-19 Girls HS Preview: Addition of Niagara County boosts Section VI

Ithaca players Nicole Nixon (9), Kelty Goodrow (3) and Madison Sorenberger (13) are back.

As far as FLOP is concerned, the only thing better than winning the state title last year would be to repeat as champions in their own backyard.

All roads will lead to Buffalo as the NYSPHSAA girls championship returns to HarborCenter (Feb. 8-9) for the first time since 2015.

FLOP, the merged team comprised of Frontier/Lake Shore/Orchard Park high schools, made history last season by becoming the first-ever Section VI team to win the NYSPHSAA girls championship when it defeated Section X Salmon River.

Returning All-State defender Brooke Becker and a core of talented players who helped FLOP win it all enter the 2018-19 season ready to defend the title.

“We addressed it as our title to defend,” FLOP head coach Bob Klimowicz said. “People are gonna be coming after us. That means we’ve got to step up our game.”

It will be an interesting year for FLOP, which graduated three of its top four blueliners and three of its top six forwards, including Haylee Tatar and Emily Kromer.

While several key players have departed, the one constant is a blue-collar approach to the game. Even though FLOP boasts some of the most-skilled girls in the state, the secret ingredient to the success is really no secret at all — hard work.

“Coach (Klimowicz) said we are not the most skilled team,” Becker said. “We are the hardest-working team out there. The whole reason why we won all these championships is because we have such heart and such hard-working girls.”

FLOP returns senior forwards Jessica Peters and Abby Bliss and the goaltending duo of seniors Tori Cottrell and Maggie Spyche.

When asked if states being held in Buffalo is serving as a motivator, Becker was succinct: “Oh, heck yeah,” Becker said with a smile.

As confident as it is, FLOP is well-aware that the first step in defending the state title is winning sectionals, which is no easy task, as Section VI can lay a legitimate claim to being the best overall league in the state.

Eyes will be on CASH (Clarence/Amherst/Sweet Home), which is looking to avenge not one but two postseason losses to FLOP, the first coming in the sectionals semifinals. The second came a few weeks later in the WNY Federation championship game.

CASH returns sophomore goalie Hannah Barrett, senior forward Charleigh Rondeau and the WNY Fed’s leading scorer, senior Emma Faso.

Defense will be on the young side, with sophomores Lilli Adimey and Sara Barrett, and a pair of freshmen in Madison Leeper and Isabella Clary.

Erin Roland (defense) and Emma Roland (center) will help keep Williamsville in the hunt for the Section VI crown, but the team lost leading scorer Holly Schmelzer and No. 1 goalie Jenna Lukomski to graduation.

The fastest-rising team in Section VI might very well be LID (Lancaster/Iroquois/Depew), which is led by senior forward Jersey Phillips.

The last time states was at HarborCenter, Kenmore, which is now merged with Grand Island, was in the title game against Section X Massena. But states appears to be a longshot for KenGi, as it is in a rebuilding year. Seniors Jaclyn MacVittie and Chloe Moore lead the way.

Section VI also has officially added an eighth team, known as Niagara County, comprised of schools in the Starpoint and Niagara-Wheatfield school districts located in the Niagara County section of western New York.

NiCo already had a Hollywood story background even before it had its first official puck drop on Nov. 26. Girls and parents from both districts spent months lobbying with their respective school boards to get a team. In the spring, North Tonawanda High School, also located in Niagara County, joined the cause. The team officially was granted in August when superintendents from all three districts signed off on the merged team.

But when tryouts opened, NT mysteriously had vanished, with the school’s interim athletic director saying girls were no longer interested in playing. The Niagara County girls then found themselves in a financial bind that required an additional $400 per player to meet the costs. Needing money in a hurry, assistant coach Mike Dunlop started a GoFundMe page that took off when ESPN’s John Buccigross made a generous donation of $1,200. The exposure of Buccigross’ involvement sparked others to donate and helped Niagara County raise well over $4,600 and secure a chance to play.

“There were so many times where we thought it actually wasn’t going to happen, so it just means a lot,” senior forward Julia Gerspach said. “I feel like, not that we owe anybody anything, but we have to prove ourselves. That it was worth the fight and everyone’s effort. We need to show that they did it for a good cause and that we’re making something good out of it.”

Gerspach is the daughter of Dave Gerspach, who coached Sweet Home High School to the NYSPHSAA D-2 title last season.

FLOP’s greatest challenge outside of Section VI will no doubt come from last year’s state runner-up, Section X Salmon River. With 16 of its players in grades eight through 10, the Lady Shamrocks defied all odds last season as they rode one of the youngest teams in the state to within one win of the state title. Now with Kara Newtown, who spent three seasons as an assistant, taking over as head coach, the plan is to keep moving forward as it looks to win the program’s first state title since three consecutive banners from 2006-08.

“Our optimism is very high. So now that they have a taste of what it feels like to be in that state tournament, you can tell they’re very focused on it,” Newtown said. “It’s just a matter of making sure they know that it’s a new season and everybody starts from scratch. So last year was awesome, but we have to build off of that. Our practices have been a little harder. We’ve been hitting the weight room a little bit more frequently so that we can get them up to that level that we’ve seen what other sections can bring to the state tournament. We want to be able to compete with them.”

Salmon River will look to forwards Madison Collette (senior), Rhylee Garrow (junior) and Brycelan Sunday (sophomore) to lead the offense. Kayla Cunningham (soph.) and Autumn Benedict (junior) will anchor a strong defense in front of junior goalie Carli Cartier.

“We’re pretty strong. We think we can do it again,” Cartier said. “Everyone is working really hard.”

Newtown said its about striking that balance of confidence that it has the talent to win it all, while pushing harder to realize the increased commitment that it will take to return to state and see the mission through.

Newtown added that being on staff as well as coaching these girls in other sports has allowed her to build a relationship with them, so that trust is already in place. “It allows practices to run very quickly and very smoothly,” she said. “Not much down time.”

Eyes will also be on another state final four participant, Section III Skaneateles, which lost to FLOP in the semis.

Coach Andy Rozak’s Lady Lakers return a core of girls from the team that won the 2017 state title with a perfect 19-0 record. Led by forwards Sophia Burns, Megan Teachout and Campbell Torrey as well as defenseman Ioanna Christou, Skaneateles might have the skill and even more depth than last season.

Section VII Beekmantown, which lost to Salmon River in the other state semifinal game, will have a roster comprised entirely of underclassmen. “I’m in a rebuilding year,” coach Ray Guay said.

Hope for the future in riding on the shoulders of a strong of sophomore class — Brook Ruest (center), Bailey Carter (forward), Madison Tetreault (defense) and goalie Brianne Knight.

Section VII Saranac/Lake Placid is in its second year as a merged team and appears poised to make some serious noise after losing to Beekmantown, 1-0, in last year’s sectional title game.

A balanced team, SLP will look to its 1-2 offensive punch of senior Lea Hill (Saranac) and sophomore Lydia Bullock (Lake Placid).

“She has great vision on the ice and plays with great passion,” head coach Bill Peer said of Bullock, who had 24 points in 20 games. Hill, who had 13 assists in 20 games, is a speedy playmaker who makes the offense hum.

The defense is led by junior Annabelle Bombard-Schmidt (Lake Placid) and sophomore Rylee Preston (Saranac). Leer said the twosome perfectly complement each other when on the ice together. Preston is the slick puck mover while Bombard-Schmidt is the solid stay-at-home defender.

The two schools split their home games between the Olympic Center in Lake Placid and Saranac Lake Civic Center.

Section X Ithaca appears to have a gem in freshman forward Madison Sorenberger, while Section X Alexandria Bay and Section X Massena are always in the hunt for states.

Hudson teams on the horizon

A grassroots campaign to get a girls league up and running in Hudson Valley is under way. A club league for girls grades seven through nine in Rockland and Westchester counties will debut in December. Tess Brogan, who serves as one of the coaches in the program, said other schools are expected to join soon. The goal is to have a four-team varsity league up and running hopefully as early as next year.