By Anthony Bosco and Dylan Butler
For the Queens College men’s basketball team, the 2000-01 season proved to be a historic one as the Knights earned their first-ever bid to the Division II NCAA tournament last March.
Sure Queens, who garnered the No. 6 seed in the Northeast Region, would fall to UMass-Lowell, 85-67 in the first round of the 48-team tournament, but for the program that was making small steps of improvement, this was one giant leap.
The Knights, who finished the year 17-11, were comprised mostly of local talent, including Queens residents Phil Lyons, Gary DeBerry and Steve Sikiric, who finished 11th on the all-time Queens College scoring list, eclipsing fellow Archbishop Molloy grad Stephen Hale.
The Queens women’s program also improved by leaps and bounds under the direction of head coach Jerry Ingenito. For much of the season, the Lady Knights led the nation in field goal defense, playing old-fashioned in your face man-to-man defense.
After years of being a cellar dweller in the New York Collegiate Athletic Conference, Queens College surprised many by garnering a No. 5 seed in the conference tournament.
As is the case with the men’s team, the Lady Knights’ success was largely rooted in local talent. Erin Dollard, who was a standout at Grover Cleveland High School, was forced to play point guard for the first time in her life and the Elmhurst native responded by scoring 10.9 points per game en route to winning NYCAC Rookie of the Year honors. Her older sister Theresa didn’t have a bad year either as the junior forward was third on the team in scoring, averaging 7.9 points per game.
Elena Rakova also had a superb season, earning All-NYCAC first team honors and leading Queens in scoring (14.7 points per game) and rebounding (8.7 rebounds per game) last year.
For the St. John’s men’s basketball team, 2001 was less than a stellar year. The team began the year on the downside of a losing season and ended it with the Red Storm’s struggles continuing. The club lost freshman Omar Cook to the NBA, missed out on the NCAA Tournament for the first time in four years and sported a 14-15 record, the first losing record in head coach Mike Jarvis’ long career.
The St. John’s women’s team didn’t fare any better as the Red Storm trudged through the 2000-01 season, finishing a disappointing 12th in the Big East conference and lost to Villanova, 63-41, in the Big East quarterfinals. The play of Latasha Thompson was one of the few bright spots for the Red Storm, who finished with an 8-20 record. She ended her career 10th on the St. John’s all-time scoring list with 1,073 points.
The York men’s basketball team’s 2000-01 season also ended on a sour note as the Cardinals finished 14-12 and were upset by eventual CUNYAC tournament champions CCNY in the tournament semifinals.
Former Holy Cross standout Stanley O’Neil (17 points per game) and Alex Malone (11 points per game) led the way for York.
The York women’s basketball team had a remarkable year, finishing 16-8, 10-3 in the conference while fielding a roster that topped out at seven players.
Former St. John’s standout Jackie Smith earned CUNY Coach of the Year honors, while Tamara Taylor was named CUNY Player of the Year. Other standouts include point guard Garianne Brown and forward Ineshia Roberts. The threesome combined to score 49.7 points per game.
It was also a big year for Tom Pecora as the Queens Village native realized a lifelong dream by becoming the head coach of the Hofstra men’s basketball team, filling a void created by Jay Wright, who left to accept the head coach’s job at Villanova University.
“I consider myself a very lucky person,” he said at a March news conference. “I learned at an early age to have passion for what you do and I do love my job and I also have a tremendous passion for Hofstra and I’m honored to be here.”
The biggest story in Queens PSAL hoops in 2001 was the return of Mike Eisenberg to the coaching ranks. After a highly publicized three-year hiatus Eisenberg returned in grand fashion, leading the Patriots to a 24-4 record and a return to the PSAL ‘A’ final at Madison Square Garden where Lewis fell to undefeated Murry Bergtraum, 72-36.
To get back to the World’s Most Famous Arena, Lewis had to beat two of the three teams that had beat them in the regular season. First, the Patriots avenged a 41-point loss to league foe Martin with a 66-60 quarterfinal win over the Angels.
Sophomore point guard Teresa Rozza scored a game-high 17 points in a 49-41 win over Sheepshead Bay, a team that defeated the Patriots, 77-53, during the regular season.
After missing the playoffs for 10 straight years, the John Adams girls made their second straight appearance in the PSAL ‘B’ title game, but the Spartans could not repeat as ‘B’ city champs, losing a heartbreaker, 47-42, to South Shore.
There would be no Queens boys representation at the Garden. Cardozo — which was led by all-city point guard Daryll Hill — was the team that went the furthest in the ‘A’ division, falling to city runner-up Robeson in the quarterfinals, while Aviation and John Adams both were ousted in the ‘B’ semifinals.
In the CHSAA, Queens teams continued to strut their stuff, both in the boys’ and girls’ divisions. As usual, the Christ the King Royals, led by coach Bob Mackey, continued to add trophies to their mantel. Led by Bell Harbor’s Clare Droesch, who went on to sign with Boston College, CK once again captured the CHSAA city and CHSAA state ‘A’ crowns.
But the team did fall short of previous years, however, losing to Murry Bergtraum in pursuit of the state federation title.
The Archbishop Molloy Stanners, coached by the venerable Jack Curran, made it all the way to the CHSAA city finals. Led by Wendell Gibson, John Sikiric and Thomas Harrison — among others — the Stanners defeated Queens rivals Holy Cross in the semis before falling to the St. Raymond’s in the championship after three grueling and heart-stopping overtimes.
Cathedral Prep, the borough’s lone ‘C’ league representative in the CHSAA, won the city crown.
The CHSAA restructured the league for the 2001-2002 season, forming a 10-team super league in the ‘A’ division, which includes five Queens schools: Christ the King, Molloy, Holy Cross, St. Francis Prep and Monsignor McClancy. The new-look also features the three ’A’ teams from Bronx/Manhattan in Rice, St. Ray’s and All Hollows.
The St. Francis Prep hockey team had a banner season, sweeping Salesian to win the CHSHL ‘B’ title in just its third season as a varsity program.
Leading the way for the Terriers were seniors Adam Discepolo and Ken D’Andrea. Discepolo, the team’s captain, was one of the Terriers’ top scorers and D’Andrea was one of the team’s steadiest defensmen.
Jason Black, a junior goaltender from Middle Village, was named MVP of the championship series as he allowed just two goals and made 58 saves in the Terriers’ two-game sweep over Salesian.
Spring arrived and brought with it the baseball, softball and PSAL girls’ soccer seasons.
It was a less than spectacular year for the CHSAA boys baseball teams, with Molloy being the last Queens’ team standing in the race for the city crown. The Stanners, led by Fred Estes and John Sikiric, were within two wins of the title game but were eliminated by Monsignor Farrell.
On the softball side, St. Francis Prep captured the Brooklyn/Queens championship with a shutout performance by sophomore pitcher Kristen McEvitt. The team came up short, however, in a bid for the city crown, falling to Staten island’s Moore Catholic.
It was a relatively down year in PSAL baseball as no team advanced past the second round of the ‘A’ playoffs. In the ‘B’ division, Flushing surprised many by moving up to the PSAL ‘B’ final after garnering the No. 15 seed. But the young Red Devils fell in the title game at Shea Stadium, 8-2, to top-seeded Chelsea.
“It never feels good to lose, but I am proud of the effort, I’m proud of the whole team,” said Flushing head coach Fernando Herrera after the game. “The fact we got here proves we earned respect. This season really put Flushing baseball on the map.”
For a fourth straight year the Bayside softball team made the trek to the ASA Complex on Staten Island to play in the PSAL semifinals and for a fourth consecutive year, the Commodores lost a grueling semifinal game, dropping a 1-0 decision to defending champion Port Richmond.
Bayside, which was led by sophomore pitching sensation Sapphire Edwards and the hitting of Sam and Kim Grabkowitz, finished 23-8 and was the top team in the borough.
Cardozo, Francis Lewis, John Adams and Bryant also had standout seasons.
In tennis, the St. Francis Prep girls team again dominated, first winning the Mayor’s Cup by defeating Cardozo and then the Terriers, led by senior Alessandra Pedergnana, won their fourth consecutive New York State crown and 65th straight match in a 5-0 win over St. Joseph Hill in October.
The story in CHSAA boys’ soccer was Archbishop Molloy, which rebounded from a tough 4-0 city championship loss to Monsignor Farrell to capture the New York State crown with a hard-fought, 1-0 win over St. John the Baptist.
Rob Sardis, T.J. O’Leary and Mike Testa were phenomenal for Andy Kostel’s Stanners, who met FIFA president Sepp Blatter at the Met Oval last month.
St. John’s Prep also had a great year, winning the CHSAA B city championship. Ferney Ruiz and Sebastian Garcia helped lead the Red Storm to a 3-0 overtime win over Moore Catholic in the title match.
On the girls’ side, Filippa Petruccelli battled chronic back pain all year to help lead St. Francis Prep to the CHSAA title match, but the Terriers, which also received standout performances by Lynne Dunham, Susan O’Connell and Christine Lettieri, fell to St. Anthony’s 3-2.
The Mary Louis Academy capped a perfect season with a 4-2 overtime win over rival Fontbonne Academy to win the Brooklyn/Queens Diocesan championship. Freshman Katie Sanchez scored all four goals in the title match.
In PSAL soccer and football, Queens didn’t make much of a dent in the citywide playoffs. Springfield Gardens was the soccer team that went the furthest, losing in the ‘B’ semifinals while August Martin advanced to the quarterfinals, before falling to Canarsie, 32-6.
In the CHSFL, however, St. Francis Prep made it all the way to the finals for the first time in six seasons, although the team, powered by the all-purpose play of Christopher Zambrano, fell to St. Anthony’s in a one-sided affair.
