Raiders Lacrosse Team Opens Season -Wrestlers Take League Championship

The Scarsdale Boys Varsity Lacrosse team kicked off its spring tryouts on Monday March 7. It has been a shaky past couple of years for the Raiders. Past seasons have been filled with strings of losses along with big upsets and pockets of consistency, but this season the team aims to take home a title after years of heartbreak.

A large graduating class from last season has opened up spots for new team members hoping to make a big difference on the field. Among these new players are returner Junior William Cabrera. Cabrera who has come back from Canada's Hill Academy, where he spent a year developing his skills in a competitive sports driven atmosphere. Cabrera's dedication to the sport helped him to secure a Division 1 commitment from Yale. When talking about the upcoming season Cabrera said " It's really exciting to wear the Raiders jersey again and play with my friends, it's amazing to be able to compete against towns that I have rivaled for so long. Coach has started a couple preseason practices and has prepared a scrimmage schedule versus some highly rated teams like Iona Prep and Suffern, he has us focusing on playing fast and emphasizing stick skills in the offseason."

Offseason preparation has been essential to success in previous years, and the Raiders are looking to build on this success as the season begins in the spring. One of the team's captains for this year, Senior Andre Cutrim, offered insights about his experience in the past couple of seasons and his outlook on the upcoming season, "We had some pretty tough close losses last year that left a lasting impact on our returning players. This year we have a lot of new players coming onto the team and we are hoping that offseason preparation will pay off especially in our opening games."

It'll be a long season for the Raiders, facing steep competition from high caliber local teams like Fox Lane and Mamaroneck who have also gained reinforcements in the offseason, but the Raiders remain hopeful. Cutrim elaborated on this by saying, "This year we have a lot of good talent and have the potential to be a real threat to top teams in the section. We have some key returning players that know how to compete at a high level, and new additions to the team will only strengthen our talent pool".

Coach Brendan Curran is in his 3rd season as head coach , his second full season, assisted by James Synowiez in his second year as assistant coach, they both have high ambitions for the season and have been pushing the players to reach their potential. This season the coaches have taken a different approach by focusing on stick work and offensive/defensive principles to have an edge over the competition.

With an upcoming scrimmage against Suffern, and their league opener scheduled for March 29th against Brewster, the Raiders are hoping to translate their pre-season momentum into strong performances.

(Text and photos by Justin Barlow)

Scarsdale Wrestlers Take First League Championship Since 1999

Scarsdale Raider Wrestling Team had a banner 2015-16 season. Led by an extremely talented group of seniors, the team placed in the top three of every tournament and brought home 1st place at their own Scarsdale Invitational. The team finished with a 21-7 record. The Raiders brought home the League 1A Championship finishing 5-0 in the league. The last league championship Scarsdale won was in 1999. The team qualified 8 boys for Sections and had three boys place in the top 4. The season was capped off with 113Lbs Michael Dabramo receiving a wildcard for the State tournament where he placed fifth in the State. He finished with an amazing 46-6 record. His only losses came from Nationally ranked wrestlers.

The stats for the eight wrestlers that went to Sectionals are: 99lbs Johnny Keltz,25-14,113lbs Michael DaBramo 46-6,113lbs Jack Ortner 16-13, 132lbs Seth Schulman 25-14, 170lbs Raphael Rogoff 17-16, 182lbs Andrew Braun 31-8, 195 lbs Brendan Knaack 25-10, and at heavyweight 285 lbs Ethan Raff 32-9.

The three seniors who were named All Section were Brendan Knaack, Ethan Raff took and Michael Dabramo.