SHS Soccer Player Named to All-State team for Second Consecutive Year
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Allison Stafford has been named fourth team All-State 2018 for Class AA by the New York State Sportswriters and Coaches Organization for Girls Sports. She was also recently selected as a member of the Westchester/Rockland/Putnam/Dutchess Coaches Association’s Elite 12, which recognizes the 12 high school girl soccer players in the region who best combined standout play on the field with outstanding classroom performance. Class AA consists of the largest high schools in New York State and Section 1 is comprised of high schools in Westchester, Rockland, Putnam and Dutchess counties.
It’s the second consecutive year that Stafford, a senior at Scarsdale High School and a three time All Section and All League selection, has been named to the New York All-State team. She’s the first female player from SHS to receive the honor since 2011. What makes the All State and Elite 12 designations especially impressive in Stafford’s case is that she played midfield the past two years for the Raiders even though her natural position, and the position for which she’s been recruited by college coaches, is center back.
Coach Mindy Genovese believed that Stafford’s talents would best serve the team if she played mid-field. In describing her experience playing a different position for the Raiders, Stafford said ”I have great respect for Coach Mindy’s judgment and wanted to do whatever I could to help the team. I believe that playing midfield helped our team maintain possession and start many offensive rushes. It also helped me continue to develop my all-around game by giving me a greater role in the offensive attack.”
Stafford, who looks forward to continuing her soccer career at Amherst College, said she had an exceptionally good experience playing high school soccer, having developed camaraderie with her teammates, enjoying her leadership role as co-captain, and experiencing on the field success each year. The success in the 2018 season culminated in the Raiders’ hard fought, 1-0 overtime loss to eventual section champion Arlington in the Section 1 playoffs in October. “I really enjoyed playing on the high school team these past four years and am going to miss it. I’m especially grateful to Coach Mindy for everything she did for our team. It was so much fun and the memories, including the inspiring play of my teammates late this past season that had us playing at a Section champion level, will stay with me forever,” Stafford said.
Winter Raider Pride Week at SHS
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With the winter sports season is in full swing, Scarsdale High School celebrated the new season of athletes and demonstrated its school spirit at Winter Raider Pride Week.
School spirit was seen throughout the week at spirit days where students dressed to a different theme each day. Monday was pajama day, Tuesday it was a black out and on Wednesday, they wore pink to pay tribute to Mean Girls. On Thursday students re-created their favorite memes and on Friday students and faculty were decked out in school colors maroon and white.
Pompoms, rally towels, foam fingers and flags were distributed to the teams and fans.
On Wednesday, Maroon and White provided the athletes with complimentary healthy snacks outside of the gyms after school. On Thursday, Maroon and White kicked off the opening rounds to the annual Kari Pizzitola basketball tournament. The Varsity girls lost 51-40 in the first round Thursday evening against Horace Mann but dominated in the consolation round against South Bronx on Saturday with a victory of 75-20. The Varsity boys beat High School of American Studies on Thursday and went on to win the tournament in front of their home crowd with a 71-45 victory over Iona Prep.
Raider Pride Week culminated on Friday with a school wide pep rally introducing all the teams to a jam-packed gymnasium of students, teachers and coaches. Photos by Jon Thaler. See more here:
Ava Londa, a freshman on the varsity basketball team, handles the ball as she looks for a pass against South Bronx.
Senior Captain Emmeline Berridge goes up for a shot against South Bronx. On Saturday, the Raiders beat South Bronx 75-20.
Three Scarsdale Varsity A Girls Soccer Players Honored At All Section Award Dinner
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Olivia Bryant, Nayumi Parente-Ribeiro and Allison StaffordOn Monday evening, November 12, three Scarsdale Varsity A girls soccer players were honored at the 2018 All Section awards dinner at Colonial Terrace in Cortlandt Manor. The awards dinner occurs annually after the conclusion of the high school soccer season and recognizes the top high school female soccer players in Section 1, which consists of all high schools in Westchester, Rockland, Dutchess and Putnam counties in New York State.
The 2018 Scarsdale Varsity A Soccer team was represented by senior forward Nayumi Parente-Ribeiro, who was All Section honorable mention; junior forward Olivia Bryant, who was All Section; and senior mid-fielder Allison Stafford, who was All Section for the third consecutive year. Stafford was also named to the Westchester/Rockland/Putnam/Dutchess Coaches Association’s Elite 12, which recognizes the top senior girl soccer players in Section 1 who have also have excelled in the classroom. Head coach Mindy Genovese described Bryant as “a dynamic forward with explosive speed, technical ability and powerful shot who was a scoring threat every time she touched the ball.” Regarding Stafford, Coach Genovese stated: “Allison was the key playmaker for our team who won countless balls to start our counter-attacks. She is an exceptional player who played with perseverance and grit and displayed great leadership on and off the field.”
2018 was another successful season for the League champion Scarsdale's Girls Varsity A soccer team, which after a slow start against the top non-League teams in the Section, ended the season with a 9-7-1 record. The team peaked at the end of the season, going undefeated in its last nine games before losing in the quarterfinals in the playoffs, taking eventual Section champion Arlington to overtime in a 1-0 loss in a game that could easily have gone the other way. The Raiders will graduate nearly a dozen seniors in 2019 but there is considerable talent that will be returning next year, making the team well positioned for another successful season and playoff run.
20th Annual Greenacres Turkey Bowl and Tailgate
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The wind chill temperature was 10 degrees at kickoff time but nothing was going to stop 25 fathers and sons from participating in the 20the anniversary of the Greenacres Turkey Bowl and Tailgate party “The best lousy football in America” Most of the kids playing weren’t born when Keith Schutzman started the game in 1999 because he lived across the street from Greenacres Field and felt it was his responsibility to organize a traditional Thanksgiving Touch football game. There were 6 players that year Over the years the game expanded to include the players sons, many of who have played football for Scarsdale High School. The Pregame and Postgame party has also expanded as the number of players has increased to almost 30
Several of the players were over 60 and the highlight of the game was when the oldest played on the field, 69 year old Ed Coleman of WFAN Radio made a diving catch for the game winning touchdown. Other participants included Keith Schutzmans sons Grayson and Cole, Brian Hogan and sons Brett and Colin, Lorenzo Patrizio and sons Lawrence and Daniel, John Kantor and sons Finbar, Dermot and Patrick, Jon Bosco and son Max, Charlie Kramer and son James, Peter Del orto and son Andrew, Peter Doyle and Mark Nadler (who played in the first game in 1999.)
Opinion: School Security Without Armed Guards
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The following was sent to Scarsdale10583 by Diane Greenwald: I am grateful that the evacuation of students from the Quaker Ridge last week was an exercise in abundant caution, not a real threat, and no one was harmed. My sigh of relief is my thank you to everyone involved.
That same day, national leaders dodged pipe bombs targeting them because of their politics. And then… it got worse. I do not have words to express my grief and dread about the hate shooting at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. We now add Pittsburgh to the list, one that often starts with Columbine and has no end in sight.
Unbearable.
It has been a sorrowful week that brings the feelings of threat and violence close, and we feel vulnerable and powerless. It does not then come as a surprise that some good people in Scarsdale believe the most responsible course of action, in light of great fear, is to place armed guards in schools. I can understand the response, but for me, even under the cloud of these horrifying shootings, I do not support the presence of firearms as part of school security plans.
It is not only because of my own enormous anxiety around guns or devotion to schools as sacred spaces of learning, but because there is reason to question the value and effectiveness of armed presence in schools.
President Trump suggested that the Pittsburgh synagogue would have had a different outcome if they had armed guards at their peaceful place of worship, effectively blaming the victims for their misfortune of being shot. To me, his suggestion defies logic, given that 4 trained officers were hit by bullets during their efforts to apprehend the heavily armed killer. It is indecent rhetoric and ignores a miserable truth that, if someone wants to kill you with a semi-automatic, they are going to.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the highly trained NYC Police Department’s ‘hit rate’ during a gunfight is 18%. Our most stellar first responders miss their mark 82% of the time. Guns do not equate to safety, even in the bravest and most competent hands. And if you don’t have guns in schools, you can’t have a gun accident.
Furthermore, fear and risk are not always linked in rational ways. The risk of the most terrifying gun violence is extremely low. Analysis in a Washington Post states that “the statistical likelihood of any given public-school student being killed by a gun, in school, on any given day since 1999 is roughly 1 in 614,000,000." Any number is monstrous but let us not readily funnel resources away from teaching, learning, counseling and training, in service of a false sense of security, that might have unintended consequences for children and not be the most effective focus of our safety and wellness work.
So what do we do now, here is Scarsdale, when reasonable people may disagree?
First, it is my firm and unwavering belief that every single person in our community is fundamentally committed to the safety of our children. I trust that every member of the Scarsdale School Board, the Administration, all faculty and staff, every parent and caregiver, all law enforcement, and all in local government considers our children’s safety to be the paramount priority. We are in this together.
Second, we can and should be proactive to ensure safe schools. I am sure there are lessons from the incident at QRS, but I worry that if we forget that we all share a universal value of safety, we could lose the ability to have nuanced exchanges with productive outcomes. I also worry that in the name of transparency, a normally good value, we could undermine the at-times private nature of security work. Effective security demands our trust.
Third, I encourage our District leadership to consider ways to foster inclusive discussions on this extremely sensitive topic, likely in spaces beyond agenda-packed Board meetings. We need facilitated forums for dialogue where everyone has an opportunity to learn and participate. We can model the collaboration and respect we champion for our children.
Like others in this community, I am distraught. Not only is there unleashed hatred in America, there is ample availability of monstrous weapons. I don’t have answers to the harrowing events of these dark times, but I will not give up what I value in America to hide behind a wall. Or a guard. Or a gun.
We cannot control what is in another person's heart, but we can legislate what is in their hand. Whatever you think the best security options are our children in schools, support common-sense gun control. It’s the best thing we can do today to ensure safety for our children tomorrow.
