Seasons for the ice hockey and swimming teams at North and South opened on December 1. Teams at both schools are returning talented players and should be prepared for successful runs this year.
The remainder of the winter teams will begin their seasons later this month.
North Hockey. Coming off a 18-5-1 effort last year, the Knights return a slew of seniors and juniors with valuable experience. Seniors Dylan Strober, Sam Goldfinger, and James Slonaker, and juniors Kyle Adair, Joe Bensky, Ben Bugge, Marc Kolber, Casey Litwack, and David Sandberg will enable the team to overcome the graduation of Stephen Kolber, Marc Raziano, and Andrew Washuta.
Sophomores on the team are Scott Abrams, Liam Corbett, Jason Kessler, Matt Strober, David Zohn, and Malic Harris. Freshmen include Sean Henry, Alex Richman, Garrett Weinberg, Sam Engel, and Ed Acetta.
Last year, the team made it to the Mercer County Tournament semifinals and made an appearance in the state tournament. This year, the team opened with a win over Steinert, 3-1, on December 1. In the effort, Zohn, a sophomore, nearly notched a shutout in his first ever start in taking over the position after last year’s graduations. He finished the night with 11 saves.
South Hockey. The Pirates went 11-11-2 last year and will look to improve under new coach Laurent Lassance, who takes over for Brian McGurney. Like North, the South hockey team is also rich with experienced players.
Returning to the team are seniors Will McAuliffe, Alex Senopolous, Jess Carnegie, Adam Rothman, Joe Cangelosi, and Nick Wong, as well as juniors Kyle Inverso, Chris So, Carlos Alvarez, Alex Mangone, and Jon Plester. Sophomores on the team are Chris Clancey, and Karl Stafford, and freshmen include Ben Starace, Steven Cangelosi, and Andrew Holubec.
Last year, the Pirates also made it to the Mercer County Tournament semifinals, but fell in the first round of the state tournament. They were scheduled to open their season against Princeton on December 2, after the News’ deadline.
Boys’ Swimming. Under second-year coach Todd Robinson, the North boys will be competitive this year, behind key swimmers Jung-Mao Hsieh, Wilson Chan, Gregg Cino, Alex Afursin, John Martinez, and Vic Gonti.
At South, while the Pirates lost some important contributors to graduation last year, they have the talent necessary to succeed. Key swimmers this year will be Dan Druckman, Kevin Welsh, Grant Lee, Ian Dixon-Anderson, Tyler Jaffe, and newcomer Peter Park, a freshman.
Girls’ Swimming. At North, the Knights lost key swimmer Kelly Covey to graduation last year, but the team is expecting to see contributions from Melissa Loo, Michelle Saladino, Diane Maa, Ann Lee, Christine McCarthy, and Connie Zhang.
Over the past few seasons, the South girls have found much success. They went undefeated in the regular season for two years in a row, claimed a Mercer County Tournament championship, and won two state titles.
However, their most valuable swimmers — Rebecca Lewinson and Meredith Ketchmark — graduated last year. Still, South returns key swimmers in Cori Michibata, Jocelyn Yuen, Amanda Grant, Annie Bonazzi, and Kim Chiu, and will get key contributions from, Elise Quian and Sydney Bornstein.
The Pirates opened their season with a co-ed meet against Robbinsville, where they won, 100-70, behind a good performance from Dan Druckman. Druckman won the 50 freestyle and was part of two team relay races that took first place.
