{"id":1952,"date":"2018-10-10T10:06:57","date_gmt":"2018-10-10T15:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/?p=1952"},"modified":"2018-10-10T10:07:56","modified_gmt":"2018-10-10T15:07:56","slug":"fall-sports-in-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/fall-sports-in-progress\/","title":{"rendered":"Fall Sports in Progress"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year was a massive success for fall sports at Grace, filled with playoff matches, first place league finishes and plenty of hard fought games. However, this year promises to be even more exciting. After a strong start to the season for all seven teams, hopes are high for one of the best seasons we\u2019ve ever had. <\/span><\/p>\n

For fall sports, the season begins long before the first day of school. For the second year in a row, we sent our soccer teams, and for the first time, volleyball and cross country, to the <\/span>Berkshire Soccer Academy<\/span><\/a> in Otis, MA. For one week, our fall athletes had full access to the camp\u2019s terrific facilities, which includes three soccer fields, a lake, a campfire, and even bubble soccer. I asked Will Simotas \u201819 what he thought of this new tradition, and he had nothing but great things to say about the trip, \u201cI think it\u2019s great. It\u2019s a great way for incoming freshman to meet people in the school, and more importantly it helps the teams improve a lot!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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One of the many activities available to Grace students in the Berkshires: Bubble Soccer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Here\u2019s a review of all 7 teams’ seasons so far:<\/span><\/p>\n

Varsity Girls Volleyball<\/b><\/p>\n

The Varsity Volleyball season has started on a high note. After losing their first game, they bounced back in a big way. They made school history by playing the first game in our brand new gym, and got a big win in 3 games over Staten Island Academy. Julia Kramberg \u201820 says that it \u201cfeels really nice to finally have a space of our own, and it was great to finally cut the ribbon with a nice win.\u201d She also was appreciative of the turnout for the opening game, saying \u201cit was nice to see all the people who came in support of the team.\u201d Varsity Volleyball will play all of their home games in the new gym, including Senior Night on October 22nd at 4:15pm.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Varsity Girls Volleyball huddling up during a game against UNIS. From: Coach Dagel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\nJV Girls Volleyball<\/b><\/p>\n

The JV Volleyball team has gotten off to a fast start, winning three of their first four games, and remain undefeated in the new gym. Freshmen Olivia Berger and Emily Lopez said \u201cit\u2019s been great so far, and it\u2019s been a ton of fun. We\u2019re really trying to come together as team, and we\u2019re looking forward to the rest of the season.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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JV Girls Volleyball in season opener vs. St. Ann\u2019s. From: Coach Buckle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\nVarsity Boys Soccer<\/b><\/p>\n

Last year was one of the best years for Varsity Boys Soccer in team history. It was highlighted by a big league semi-final win and championship game appearance. This year they\u2019re ready to go all the way. After a rocky start in their first game, they\u2019ve rebounded with back to back clean sheet victories, for a combined score of 6-0. \u201cIt\u2019s been great! We had a rough start, but since then we\u2019ve been totally dominating,\u201d said Will Simotas \u201819. When asked if the team could go all the way this year, he was quick to say \u201cI think we definitely can win it all.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Jiwon Simpkins \u201819 taking free kick in win over Dwight From: Coach Turner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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JV Boys Soccer<\/b><\/p>\n

The JV Boys Soccer team also has a promising season ahead of them. Captain Michael Prieto \u201820 said, \u201cI think we\u2019ve been improving a lot year by year, and this year we\u2019ve got a lot of great players. Our main goal this year is to come together as a team and play well, and if we do that I think we\u2019ll easily be able to finish with a winning record.\u201d Most home games for the soccer teams will be split between Randall\u2019s Island and the East River Fields (located around Houston St. & FDR Drive).<\/span><\/p>\n

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JV Boys Soccer having pre-game talk in opening game. From: Mr. Robinson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Girls Varsity Soccer<\/b><\/p>\n

The Girls Varsity Soccer team has played 4 games so far and according to Ava Pingree \u201819, there is \u00a0\u201ca lot of stuff we need to improve on, but we have steadily gotten better after each game.\u201d For the rest of the season, Ava says she would like \u201cto win more frequently and to see the team become more cohesive and interdependent upon each others skills.\u201d With new freshmen on the team, the soccer team is becoming more united and working better together every game. They have many more games coming up, including one against Friends Seminary at Homecoming on Saturday, October 20th at 11am.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Katy Arons \u201820 clearing ball from her own box. From: Coach Carrasco<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\nGirls Varsity Tennis<\/b><\/p>\n

So far, the Girls Varsity Tennis team has had a great start to the season, still undefeated after three matches. They are a very strong and united team, but still have many things to work on going into the season. According to captain Avery Rahr \u201821, the tennis team is working on \u201ccommunication between doubles partners, singles improving, working on shots, form, and getting to the ball. If they continue with these improvements and their current form, they hope to not only continue to play their best, win and have fun, but also \u201cto make it to the PSAA finals and win the whole tournament.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Girls Varsity Tennis team warming up before their win over Columbia Prep. From: Coach Merino<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Cross Country<\/b><\/p>\n

With a new coach and the incoming freshmen, Cross Country has gotten off to a good start. As a team, everyone works hard and wants to cut their times down. For the rest of the season, the team is looking \u00a0to improve on their \u201cunity as a team, especially with the new freshmen, in addition to their times and not overworking or underworking themselves,\u201d says Talli Weiss \u201821. She hopes that \u201cwe become unified and everyone wants to be there and enjoys being there, in addition for everyone to feel that they have improved by the end of the season.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Cross Country team after competing in a meet at Van Cortlandt Park. From: Mr. Quinn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Last year was a massive success for fall sports at Grace, filled with playoff matches, first place league finishes and plenty of hard fought games. However, this year promises to… Continue reading “Fall Sports in Progress”<\/span> <\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":2000,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[40,337,180,338,151,154,158,169],"appful":[],"class_list":["post-1952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","tag-athletics","tag-cross-country","tag-featured","tag-pre-season","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-volleyball"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9uEnr-vu","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/IMG_8212.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1952"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2008,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1952\/revisions\/2008"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1952"},{"taxonomy":"appful","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gracegazette.org\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/appful?post=1952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}