The George Mason High School Girls Field Hockey Club is keeping the excitement alive in the spring.  The team played in the “Beach Bash” tournament in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware last weekend, gaining lots of experience against teams from around the region.

Rising 8th – 11th grade girls and parents interested in the team may send inquiries to gmcfieldhockey@gmail.com for information about the Spring meeting, summer camps, and more.

GMHS Field Hockey Club team, sitting, from left, Annie Mothershead, Autumn Broxson, Caroline Duffett; kneeling, Celestine Taevs, Anna Hennessey, Hailey Thomas, Isabella Dod, Callie Gaskins, Darcy Jones, Gabe Brown; standing, Julianne Kelly, Nicole Iraheta, Rachel Pugh, Emily Garrett, Cami Malm, Sabine Wills, Ellie Yatsko. Not pictured, Coach Kristen Terry. (Photo by Justin Wills.)

Here is the weekly recap for this week’s Falls Church Kiwanis Little League games.

MAJORS Division

The FCKLL Red Sox defeated the Mason District Cardinals 6 to 3. In a fast-paced game, Red Sox winning pitcher Thomas Dean struck out 10 and walked only 1. Craig Fischer hit his first home run of the season and earned the save with 2 innings of scoreless relief. Thomas Creed had 2 hits, including a triple, and Ian Thompson, called up from AAA, had a clutch fielding play at third base. The Cardinals’ Dylan Nadler had 2 hits and scored a run, while Fehiber Rosario also had 2 hits, including a triple, an RBI, and 2 stolen bases.

AAA Division

The Tigers played host to the Mets on Tuesday, April 24th in a game that featured some great pitching, fielding and hitting. The Tigers were led by Ian Thompson who struck out 9 Mets Batters while issuing only 1 walk and 1 hit. Jack Taylor came in to pitch the save in the 6th inning striking out 2. Several Tigers also produced some nice hits: Marty Casserly, Davey Tarter, Jack Taylor, and Ian Thompson had nice base hits and Jacob Moran hit a shot to deep left resulting in an inside-the-park home run. For the Mets, Robert Newton took the mound in relief and registered 5 strike outs, with Chelsea Lang and Ryan Fletchall also seeing some action on the mound striking out 2 and 3 respectively. The Mets also produced some nice hits: Ryan Fletchall, Alex Pigeon, and Robert Newton hitting singles and Josh Post hit a nice double. Tigers 11, Mets 4.

AA Division

The Storm battled the Rock Hounds to a 10-3 win with Noah Cha and Ian Wilson hitting Home Runs for the Storm. The Rock Hounds Zach Sedmak had a good day a bat going 2 for 2. The Storm had a strong first pitching outing by Aaron Gaston and Thomas Shaw helped by the great pitching effort of Evan Stegenga. The Rock Hounds had great pitching from Danny McMahon.

The Scrappers hosted the Sand Gnats in a hard-fought game. The Sand Gnats struckfirst in the second inning when Peter Villa signaled and came around toscore. The Scrappers responded with fiveruns in the second inning due to hits by the following players: Brendan Schwefler, Conor Glavin, Curran Gilster, Jackson Leary, Jonah Wilkes, Tyler Kirbyand Jack Biggs. The Sand Gnats scoredfour to tie things up in the fourth inning with a series of singles from NickPollack, Reyn Butterworth, Gaarison Holran and Villa. The Scrappers and SandGnats both had solid performances on thepitching mound. For the Scrappers, AlexPawlowski and Zach Walker both pitchedwell. For the Sand Gnats, Reyn Butterworth and Charlie Tucker had solid outings on the mound. The game ended in a tie. Scrappers 5, Sand Gnats 5.

Single A Division

On April 27 the Single A Bees and the Express played a taut game filled with timely hitting, and solid defense. The Bees were led by Jake Rodriguez and Ian Williams who had 3 hits apiece. Williams also started a nifty double play by snaring a line drive and tossing to third baseman Connor Mills. For the Express, Jake Sisson, Noah Rodriguez, Trey Robinson, and Tapi Goredema led the offensive attack. With the bases loaded and two outs and the score tied in the bottom of the fifth, Kai Kujawa singled in the winning run. Express, 15; Bees 14.

The Volcanoes outlasted the Sea Dogs – 18 to 12. Tied through 3 innings, the Volcanoes put together two solid innings at the plate to win going away. The Volcanoes’ clutch hitting was keyed by four hits each by Troy Ehrlich, Tyler Bledsoe, John Roberson, and Bradley Persson. Three hits apiece were added by Henry Martin, Ryan York, Nathaniel Bledsoe, and Mario Medina. The Volcanoes defense also came through with several important outs. The Sea Dogs were led by Jonathan Buchholz with 4 hits and 2 RBIs. Nicholas Teply and Finn Evenson had 3 hits and 3 RBIs, and Nathan Milhorn joined the 3-hit parade for the Sea Dogs.

The George Mason High School Athletic Hall of Fame Nominating Committee has announced that it will be reviewing nominations for the Hall of Fame with the objective of holding inductions in the Fall of 2012. Interested individuals are encouraged to nominate any athletes, teams, coaches, administrators, or program friends they believe are worthy of consideration and induction. The Committee will also consider nominees for a Special Achievement Award which is designed to honor persons who have made particularly inspiration contributions to George Mason High School athletics.

Information as to the criteria used for selection are available on the website and the nominating form. The form can be obtained at http://www.masonathletics.org/index.cfm?action=main.alumnitr (when you are on the site, scroll down and click on “nomination form”) and may be submitted after completion as described on the form.  Among other things, athletes must have graduated at least five years ago (classes through the Class of 2006 are eligible) with similar constraints as to teams (teams that completed their seasons on or before the spring of 2006 are eligible). Self-nominations are not permitted.

Nominations should be submitted by no later than Tuesday, May 15th.

If you have questions, please contact the Committee Chair Scott Sager (scotts1147@aol.com), Vice Chair Joel Hamme (joel.hamme@ppsv.com), or George Mason High School Athletic Director Tom Horn (HornT@fccps.org).

While the rest of the country looks forward to an exciting end to the 2012 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, the Falls Church Times pool champion is nearly decided.  Entrant owengohl is in the top 1% of all entries in the ESPN brackets and has a nearly insurmountable lead with three of his final-four choices still in the race.  Gohl picked  Kansas to face a heavily favored Kentucky in the final.

There are dark horse competitors however. While Dr. McDoogal Noisewater 1 and Kathleen2600 2 trail more then half the ESPN field, a Louisville victory in the finals can still vault them to the top of the Falls Church Times group.

Demonstrating that you can’t be wrong all the time, but you can be darned close, Earley Will has the bottom two brackets both of which trail a remarkable 99% of ESPN competitors. Unfortunately, New Mexico State will not be facing University of North Carolina in the final match-up as Will predicted.

The last three games will be played in New Orleans. The quarterfinal match-ups will be played tonight, March 31, with Louisville facing Kentucky at 6:09 PM followed by Ohio State and Kansas at 8:49 PM. The final game is Monday, April 2 at 8 PM.  Check your local listings for stations.

After a season of wrestling boys, 4th grader Sierra Sulc took the opportunity to take on other girls and captured 1st place in the United States Girl’s Wrestling Association (USGWA) Virginia Championships in Hampton, Virginia, on March 24th.

When Sierra was tagging along with her big brother Hunter to his many wrestling tournaments all over Virginia, Maryland, New York and New England over the years, he didn’t realize the impact that the sport was having on her.  In fact, her father Brian Sulc, who coaches youth wrestling, was caught by surprise when Sierra and her younger sister, Sonora both asked to become participants instead of spectators in this grueling, combative, predominantly male sport.

That was three years ago and although Sonora has moved on to basketball, Sierra has spent the last three seasons taking on boys in the practice room and in matches.  And while girl participation in wrestling is steadily rising nationally (in fact, George Mason had two girl wrestlers this season –  Sarah Gompper and  Tiffanie Chau-Dang ), Sierra has been giving boys all they can handle, all the while posting a winning record.

Sierra Sulc

But wrestling boys who are typically stronger than her has presented challenges, so when Sierra was given the opportunity to wrestle in the USGWA Championships, she jumped at it.  And like her big brother, who battled through nine matches in one day to become this year’s Virginia Middle School Championship runner-up, Sierra also battled hard and returned to Falls Church with a medal around her neck.

Because there weren’t a lot of girls in her age group and weight class, her elementary school bracket was combined with the middle school bracket and she had to wrestle a 6th grader as well.  When all was said and done, Sierra had pinned each of her opponents, and at the end of the day stepped up on the podium to receive her medal for first place.

According to Coach Sulc, “Sierra’s strong point is her technical wrestling.  What she lacks in strength and aggression she often makes up for by executing precisely what she is taught.  She also has the rare ability to listen in the heat of competition and follow instructions in a calm and cool manner.”

The idea of girls wrestling didn’t always sit well with the older Sulc.  Over the years, when he would see a girl at Hunter’s tournaments, he would tell his son, “If you ever have to face a girl, you’re forfeiting.”  But Sulc had to eat his words when a girl appeared as Hunter’s opponent early in the New Hampshire State Championship tournament, which Hunter eventually won.  Although Coach Sulc states he strongly believes in raising his sons to be gentlemen towards females, when his daughters asked to wrestle, he had to reconsider his philosophy about girls wrestling.

“I thought about what a profound, positive impact wrestling has had on me and on Hunter. It has been influential in our character development and our ability to deal with adversity, and has taught us many life lessons.  And then I asked myself, ‘Why would I deprive my daughters of that opportunity?’   The answer was I couldn’t and didn’t. Ideally the sport will grow so that girls can just wrestle other girls.  In the meantime the benefits to girls as well as boys are too valuable to pass up.”

Next year Sierra will be a charter member of the new Falls Church Wrestling Program.  Sonora (8) and their little brother, Bojan (4), will be joining Sierra on the team as well.

All MEH and GMHS students, 6th – 11th grade who are interested in playing George Mason football next Fall are welcome. Pizza and drinks will be served and opportunities for joining the team will be discussed.

Current Mustang players are welcome and encouraged to attend – bring a friend who doesn’t yet play!

To pose inquiries, contact theFCCFA (info@thefccfa.org)

By FALLS CHURCH TIMES STAFF
March 13, 2012

In 2010, then Falls Church Times’ Food Reporter, Jimmy Scarano, hosted our first Falls Church Times March Madness Pick’em Tournament. It was a close and exciting battle narrowly won by Daniel Butler over Dennis Zaenger from the tie-breaker. Without Jimmy’s leadership, the Tournament failed to launch in 2011, but is back this year for “Little City Madness 2012″.

You can test your basketball knowledge and good fortune against those of your fellow Little-cityzens in the 2012 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament pick’em challenge. Victors will get bragging rights (for at least a year) and three lucky participants will take home gift certificates to one of our fine restaurants and retailers in Falls Church City – the 1st place winner will receive $75 in gift certificates, 2nd place $25, and last place $5 (you must have a complete bracket to compete for last place!).

Sign-up now. You’ll want to get your bracket in before play starts on Thursday March 15. To join

• go to the tournament website
• sign-in or sign-up
• the password is “fctimes”
• fill in your bracket
• watch the games and results come in.

You can sign-up after 3/15, but you won’t be able to get as many points so don’t hesitate. If you have questions, comments, or prizes send a note to Dave Witzel.

See you in the stands.

The George Mason High School Lady Mustangs beat the Lady Devils of Gate City 50-47 to earn the VHSL Group A Division Two Championship.  The game was close throughout, with seven ties and eight lead changes.

Junior Stephanie Cheney opened the scoring with two in the paint from an offensive rebound, followed quickly by a fast break score by Senior Lauren Kane for a 4 – 1 lead.  Gate City came right back, tied the score at seven, and Mason took the lead back for a 10 – 7 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

Mason’s defense continued to frustrate Gate City, as Stephanie Cheney blocked back-to-back shots, and Senior Leah Roth stole the ball and took it to the hoop for a 14-7 lead.  Sophomore Ashley Alexander drilled Mason’s only three point goal of the night to extend the lead to 10 points.  Gate City used a very physical defense to try to get back in the game, committing several fouls, but Mason could only convert 4 free throws in the first half and the Lady Mustangs went to the locker room with a lead of only two points, 25-23.

Stephanie Cheney with one of five blocked shots

The third and fourth quarter were a see saw battle of ties and one point lead changes.  Mason fans grew quite concerned when Stephanie Cheney fouled out with 4:55 left in the 4th quarter, but her teammates rose to the occasion to fill her shoes.  Lauren Kane, Senior Krista Kelly, and Freshman Katie Goodwin all nailed free throws to seal the win in the closing seconds.

Lauren Kane drives for two of her 16 points

Lauren Kane led Mason’s scoring with 16 points, Ashley Alexander had 11, Stephanie Cheney totaled 10, Katie Goodwin came off the bench to add six points, Leah Roth tallied four, Krista Kelly with 2, and Jaya Chavern scored one.

The celebration was well deserved for the Lady Mustangs, who have been been to the final four 8 times, with this their third championship in four years.  Seniors May Williamson, Krista Kelly, Leah Roth, Lauren Kane and and Sonia Kapoor have completed fabulous basketball careers at George Mason!

The Lady Mustangs celebrate another State Championship!

Mason scores against Fort Chiswell

The George Mason High School boys basketball team thumped Fort Chiswell 62-50 today in the semifinals of the Virginia State Basketball Tournament to move to tomorrow’s Championship game. 

Nunley (24) replaced injured Nate Ogle

The Mustang boys were underdogs entering today’s contest, lacking the services of senior forward Nate Ogle, who broke his hand in GM’s quarterfinal outing against Essex.  But the Mustangs led from the start and built a double digit lead in the fourth period that Fort Chiswell was unable to overcome.   Junior forward Will Nunley was a huge bright spot on the day, stepping into Ogle’s shoes and delivering a 13 point performance. 

Tickets for tomorrow’s Championship games at the Siegel Center ($10 plus fees) are available online here.

The Lady Mustangs of George Mason High School defeated Glenvar Thursday night 64-48 in the semifinals of the Virginia State Basketball Tournament.  With the win, George Mason advances to the State Championship game against Gate City Saturday in Richmond.

Glenvar and Mason played a nip and tuck game early in the contest, but the Lady Mustangs managed to lead 18-15 at the end of the first quarter.  In the second period, the Highlanders fought back to take a 19-18 lead.  Sophmore Jaya Chavern came into the game and hit a three point shot the first time she touched the ball to put Mason back in the lead for good.   Senior Krista Kelly drove the lane and scored to give Mason a 29-25 advantage going into the locker room.

The Lady Mustangs started the third quarter strong, with consecutive baskets by Sophomore Ashley Alexander, Senior Leah Roth, and Senior Lauren Kane, to open up a 10 point lead.  Glenvar showed great determination and eroded the lead to single digits several times.  Lauren Kane showed her skills at both ends of the court by blocking a three point shot by Glenvar, and then taking the ball all the way to the hoop at the other end. 

Lady Mustangs were leading 45-36 entering the final stanza.  The fourth quarter was all Mason, with the Lady Mustangs dominating the Highlanders on both ends to walk away with a double digit win.

Stephanie Cheney led the Lady Mustangs in scoring with 20 points on the evening.  Lauren Kane had 13, Krista Kelly found several holes in Glenvar’s defense to add nine, Leah Roth scored seven, and Ashley Alexander tallied 5.

George Mason’s Championship game opponent, Gate City, advanced with a 48-42 win over Stuarts Draft earlier in the evening.  The Blue Devils started the season 5-11 before turning a corner in the second half of the season to claw their way into the state finals. 

The Championship game will tip off at 3pm Saturday at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Siegel Center in Richmond.