BY ELLA BROCKWAY, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ’17
This is the seventh edition of the Buc Sports Weekly, your recap of the week in RBR sports.
Girls’ Basketball (5-5)
The Lady Bucs faced one of the toughest stretches on their schedule this week with two games against teams ranked in NJ.com’s Top 10 in the state. The Bucs opened up the week against No. 7 Red Bank Catholic on the road on Tuesday. The Bucs struggled to hit key shots and lost 67-43. Senior Mary Vilardi led the team with eight points, and junior Bridget Tobin finished with seven. The Bucs then traveled down Ridge Road for a matchup with No. 4 Rumson-Fair Haven. The Bulldogs dominated on the offensive and defensive boards (25 total rebounds) and beat the Bucs 60-37. Sophomore Meghan Murray scored a team high of nine points. The Bucs finished off the week with a trip to Staten Island to face St. John Villa in the Coaches Choice USA NY/NJ Challenge. The Bucs took home a big 51-46 win over the Bears thanks to big performances from their seniors. Senior forward Noelle Halpin finished with 11 rebounds and put the Bucs ahead 48-46 on an inside bucket with less than a minute remaining, and senior guard Emma Keegan hit two big free throws to seal the win for the Bucs.
Senior Grace Dengler led the Bucs with 14 points on the day.
A Central rank: 5th
From the court: “We ended the week with a great win against St. John Villa Academy in Staten Island. We are looking to continue the momentum with a few big divisional games this week!” – senior forward Mary Vilardi
What’s next: @ Shore (1/10, 6:30 PM); vs. Raritan (1/13, 5:30 PM)
Boys’ Basketball (4-4)
The boys also had a tough week against two of the top teams in the Shore Conference. The Bucs started the week against Red Bank Catholic on the road. The Casey offense was hard for the Bucs to defend, and the Bucs fell 59-43. Junior guard Devin Cooper led the team with 14 points, and sophomore Liam Joyce added 12. The Bucs then faced a red-hot Rumson-Fair Haven team at home on Thursday night. The Bucs struggled to hit shots early, scoring only nine points in the first half. The Bulldogs came out of the gates with the momentum in their favor in the second half, and ran away with a 51-35 win. Cooper had 10 points in the loss, and senior Connor McLoone scored nine points off the bench for the Bucs. Check out this link for a gallery of great photos from Shore sports photographer Robert Samuels from Thursday night’s game: http://www.boofacephotography.com/p82295098#h80f2edec.
A Central rank: 3rd
From the court: “We had a tough week filled with hard losses, but we are looking forward to the week ahead with our heads up and positive attitudes.” – junior guard Devin Cooper
What’s next: vs. Shore (1/10, 6:30 PM); @ Raritan (1/13, 6:30 PM)
Girls’ Swimming (4-0)
The Bucs finished fourth overall at the Monmouth County Championships, finishing with 150 points. The Bucs 400 yard freestyle relay (senior Kelsey Ballard, freshman Claudia Kelly, freshman Jordon Sandoz and junior Maeve Kelly) finished fifth, and the 200 yard medley relay (M. Kelly, junior Laura Neff, Sandoz, Ballard) finished sixth. The Bucs swam strong on the individual side as well, with seven Top 12 finishes from five swimmers on the day. Sandoz finished seventh overall in the 100 butterfly and eighth in the 200 individual medley and Ballard placed 11th in both the 200 yd and the 500 yd freestyle.
What’s next: @ Long Branch (1/13, 4 PM at Ranney); @ Ocean (1/13, 2:30 PM at Deal)
Boys’ Swimming (3-0-1)
The Bucs finished tied for fifth overall at the Monmouth County Championships this weekend, tying with Shore with 144 points. Junior Andrew Hall can now add “Monmouth County Champion” to his resume after he took home first place in the 100 yard breastroke (1:02.63), and two other Bucs (Cole Bardinas, 5th and Patrick Sullivan, 15th) had strong swims in the event.
The Bucs’ 200 medley relay (Christian Galindo, Cole Bardinas, Hall and Matthew White) finished fourth overall, and the 400 yard freestyle relay (same group) finished fifth. Matthew White (8th in 200 free) and Christian Galindo (9th in 100 back) also had strong individual days, and Patrick Sullivan’s 1:12.31 time in the 100 breaststroke officially qualified him for the Shore Conference Championships.
What’s next: @ Long Branch (1/13, 4 PM at Ranney); @ Ocean (1/13, 2:30 PM at Deal)
Bowling
The Lady Bucs came extremely close to pulling out a win over Long Branch to start the week on Tuesday. The Bucs held a five-pin lead late in the second game with just one ball left to throw, but the Green Wave bounced back on one big throw and took the second game by a score of 517-513. Long Branch went on to win the match two games to one. The Bucs took home the win on the boys side, winning 2-1 thanks to big performances from junior Colin Baker (200) and Brandon Vuong (193). The Bucs faced Middletown South on Thursday, but The Buccaneer is still waiting on the scores and will post them here as soon as they come in.
What’s next: vs. Monmouth Regional (1/9, 3:45 PM at Harmony Bowl); vs. CBA (1/12, 3:45 PM at Harmony Bowl)
Ice Hockey (5-5-2)
The Bucs opened the new year with a trip down to Manalapan on Monday night. Manalapan pulled out a 9-3 win over the Bucs. Senior Frank Taddeo scored twice and had one assist in the loss. The Bucs bounced back four nights later on Friday on the road against Colonia and took home a 3-0 win. Junior Will Spencer scored two goals and had an assist for the Bucs in the win. The game was scoreless until junior Zach Yates scored the go-ahead goal on a power play with 2:27 left in the the third period. Spencer followed up with his two goals in the next minute, the second on an empty net with 1:01 to go. Freshman goaltender Mitchell Quinn had 16 saves on the game.
From the ice: “We had a solid week with a W to get us back up to .500. (We’re) hoping to keep the winning streak going this upcoming week.” – junior Zach Yates
What’s next: @ Robbinsville (1/11, 3:15 PM at Grundy Arena in Bristol, PA); @ Monroe Township (1/13, 3:45 PM)
Indoor Track
Junior thrower Tiaunna Macon had the top performance of the day for the Bucs at Friday’s Monmouth County Relays, placing second overall in the girls’ shot put finals with a final result 36-03.25. The girls’ 4×200 meter relay team finished 20th overall with a time of 2:00.54. The boys’ 4×200 meter relay team finished 8th overall with a time of 1:40.13, and the distance relay team finished in 10th place in the 4×800 meter relay finals with a time of 8:44.48.
Wrestling (1-2)
The Bucs got off to a fresh start in the new year after a rocky December with a 45-28 win on Thursday night against Rutgers Prep. Senior Guillermo Mundo had one of the Bucs’ top performances of the night, pinning his opponent 40 seconds into their bout. Junior Luke Devine, senior Sean Murphy, junior Sam Goldzweig, senior Moises Aguilar, and senior Jake Riegelman all took home wins for the Bucs. Freshman Tucker Cochrane, Alex Peregrina and Erik Olsen all picked up wins by default in the lightweight classes. The Bucs also headed to Elizabeth for the Elizabeth Minutemen Tournament on Saturday, but the results weren’t immediately available. The Buccaneer will update them here as soon as possible.
From the mat: “After a rough start to the season, we had a much needed win against Rutgers Prep. We will be looking to keep the momentum going, especially for our upcoming match against Keansburg.” – senior Sean Murphy
What’s next: vs. Keansburg (1/11, 6:30 PM); Tournament (1/14, TBA at Red Bank Regional)
The Buccaneer 