On Campus: Local High School Alumni Racking Up Accolades At College Level

By Brett Mauser

Water Mill resident and St. Anthony's grad J.B. Andreassi has flourished as a starting cornerback at Dartmouth. At St. Lawrence, East Hampton alum Marta Johann has helped the Lady Saints to a 25-5 record to this point. Andreassi photo by David Silverman; Johann photo courtesy St. Lawrence Media Relations

Southampton - With each school year that goes by, we bid adieu to the prep athletes who lit up the East End for one or more seasons for one or more years. This fall, a vast number of them are doing the same on their college campuses, whether it's on the football field, the soccer pitch, or the volleyball court. Here's a look at who's doing what and where ...

A victory either at Delaware or Towson this weekend clinches a sixth consecutive Colonial Athletic Association Tournament berth for the Hofstra field hockey team. Leading the way has been sophomore Genna Kovar of Hampton Bays. Kovar, who shattered numerous records in leading the Lady Baymen to the Class C title game in 2007, leads the Pride in goals (14) and ranks second in assists (4). Her 32 points currently place her in a sixth-place tie on the Pride's all-time single-season list. A year ago, Kovar totaled five goals and five assists as a freshman and was named to the CAA All-Rookie Team. The Pride enter the weekend with an 4-2 mark in conference play and 11-6 record overall. A sweep would give this year's Pride the second-most wins in school history with the playoffs still to go. The record is 15, set by the 1987 squad.

Hampton Bays' Sharon Siegel has made quite an impact on the Tulane women's tennis team. Photo courtesy Tulane Media Relations

Former Westhampton Beach star Dillon Pottish has landed at Emory University in Atlanta and already made quite an impact with the squad. Earlier this month, he took fifth place at the ITA Small College National Championships. Pottish cruised into the quarterfinals before bowing to the bracket's top seed; he ran off two more wins to take fifth. Pottish and teammate Chris Goodwin also teamed up to place second in the doubles draw, falling 6-1, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5) in the title match. Pottish earned University Athletic Association player of the week honors in late September after claiming both the singles and doubles crowns at the ITA South Atlantic Regional Championships. He paired with Goodwin for the doubles win but had to beat him 6-3, 6-1 in the finals of the singles bracket. The wins earned Pottish a pair of All-America distinctions.

With the help of Westhampton grad Jackie Aldrich, the Richard Stockton women's volleyball team secured the No. 2 seed in next week's New Jersey Athletic Conference Tournament. Aldrich, who with a talented senior class led the Lady Hurricanes to the Class B state final four in 2007, is second on the Lady Ospreys with 379 assists, or about 3.64 per game. Stockton posted a record of 23-11 overall and 7-1 in NJAC action and earned a first-round bye for the tourney.

As for her Lady 'Cane teammates: Bianca Hernandez transferred from Fordham to Stony Brook and has been great on the Lady Seawolves' back line. Through Thursday, the defensive specialist ranked fifth on the team with 97 digs, or 1.83 per game. Hernandez was named first team All-State as a senior at Westhampton before moving to Fordham, where she played in 34 matches and racked up 165 digs. Outside hitter Brynn Lettieri has 191 kills for Messiah, but even more impressively, she has an attack percentage of .258, hands-down the best on the team. Lettieri also leads the 16-13 Lady Falcons with 53 service aces and is second with 76 blocks. Another key to that county championship squad, freshman Alexa Lampasona, has seen spot time at Manhattan, picking up 15 kills in 13 matches.

Water Mill's J.B. Andreassi, a graduate of St. Anthony's in Huntington, has had a breakout season for the Dartmouth football team. A regular starter at cornerback, Andreassi ranks third on the team in tackles with 35 and is tops in both pass break-ups (5) and deflections (6). Last week, Andreassi's first career interception helped seal the Big Green's 28-6 victory over Columbia. He has also brought back a team-high 11 kicks for 238 yards, a 21.6 yard average, while also returning two punts. His 245 all-purpose yards are third-best.

At Pace, freshman cornerback Mike Aydinian of East Quogue has seen action in six games, logging three tackles for the Setters. As a tailback and corner at Westhampton, Aydinian guided the Hurricanes to a Division III playoff berth last fall.

With eight goals and eight assists, East Hampton grad Alex Waleko ranks second in points on the Haverford field hockey team. Photo courtesy Haverford Media Relations

Although it hasn't necessarily registered in the scoring column, sophomore Bethany Semlear, formerly of Pierson, has been vital to the UConn field hockey team's run to a 16-2 mark. Semlear has started all 18 games for the seventh-ranked Lady Huskies, who have outscored their opponents 73-19 through last weekend's games. Semlear had a goal and an assist in her first year in Storrs. Also in field hockey, former Lady Bonacker Jenn Reich has appeared in 11 games, including three starts, for the Siena field hockey team. The forward from Montauk has taken a total of three shots.

Southampton grad Desiree Halaka has done a fine job in net for York women's soccer. The junior has compiled a 1.27 goals against average in seven games for the Lady Spartans, who registered a 13-4-1 record in the regular season and face Wesley in the first round of the Capital Athletic Conference playoffs, which begin Sunday.

Few teams' records sparkle more than that of the St. Lawrence women's volleyball team, which upped its record to 25-5 last Saturday with a sweep of Hamilton. Marta Johann of Montauk, a three-sport star at East Hampton, had her season cut short on October 2 when she suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her knee. She had reconstructive knee surgery on October 22. According to coach Melissa DeRan, Johann has served as a second assistant coach while rehabilitating her injury. Even with the abbreviated campaign, Johann ranks fifth on the team with 113 kills, fourth in blocks with 36, and third in attack percentage (.256). The Lady Saints have ripped off five straight wins and hope to carry that momentum into their two matches this weekend and then the Liberty League Tournament on November 6 and 7.

Another three-sport star at East Hampton, Nicole Fierro, has fit right in with the CW Post women's soccer team. She has given up five goals in more than 843 minutes between the pipes, compiling a 6-2-1 mark, including five shutouts, with a 0.53 goals against average. The Lady Pioneers are 12-4-1 heading into Saturday's regular season finale at Bridgeport.

Bonac also has a presence on the men's soccer team at Post. Graduate student Jetone "Tony" Shoshi assisted on two of the Pioneers' eight goals in their 8-1 drubbing of Concordia on Wednesday. They were the first two helpers for Shoshi, who transferred to Post from Sacred Heart, has the Pioneers at 11-5-1 and in prime position for Saturday's final at Nyack and then the conference tournament.

Emory men's tennis player Dillon Pottish won both the singles and doubles competitions at the ITA South Atlantic Regional Championships and was fifth and second in singles and doubles respectively at the ITA Small College National Championships. Photo courtesy Emory Media Relations

Elsewhere on the soccer pitch, Quogue's Connor Stockton has jumped right into the mix at Lesley. In 17 games, he's notched a goal and three assists but more importantly helped the Lynx pile up a 14-3-2 record, including 5-1-1 in the New England Small Colleges Athletic Conference (NESCAC). The freshman's lone goal came in a 2-1 loss at Newbury on October 13. As for other Westhampton soccer grads: Jeff Fallier, has appeared in 16 games for Methodist, starting nine. The Monarchs are 8-9 overall and 3-2 in the USA South Conference; they wrap up their regular season on Saturday against Shenandoah. Sean McEnroy, a Westhampton Beach grad, has logged time in eight games and scored one goal for King's College, which sports a fine 11-5-1 record heading into the weekend. Senior defender/midfielder Guthrie Raimondo saw action in 14 games at Vassar and lifted the Brewers to a 9-5-1 mark leading up to Saturday's home game against RPI.

Jena Arnister of Water Mill has scored twice and assisted on two others for the Western New England women's soccer team. On October 24, Arnister's goal in the 34th minute punctuated the Golden Bears' three-goal first half en route to a 5-0 win over Anna Maria. Four days earlier, the former Southampton standout scored the first goal of her college career in WNEC's 6-0 win over Regis. The Bears open with Roger Williams in the Commonwealth Coast Conference tournament on Saturday.

East Hampton alum Alex Waleko has continued her excellent career with the Haverford field hockey team. The junior is tied for the team lead in points (24) and ranks first in assists (8). On Wednesday, the Fords dealt a 7-1 defeat to Swarthmore. Waleko tallied two assists to help them move to 7-9 overall and 5-4 in conference. They wrap up the season Saturday at McDaniel. Haverford has averaged five wins over the first seven seasons this decade but have won seven, nine and seven in Waleko's stint outside Philadelphia.

After leading the Southampton boys soccer team to the county championship game, Eduardo Nava has taken his game to Averett. In 14 games, the freshman midfielder has notched a goal and an assist for the Cougars, who are 9-6-1 heading into Friday's bout with Christopher Newport. Nava plays under Ed Goodhines, who played at Southampton College before taking the reins of both the women's (1983-1991) and men's (1992-2000) teams.

Hofstra's Genna Kovar, formerly of Hampton Bays, leads the team in goals and points. Photo courtesy Hofstra Media Relations

At last Saturday's St. Joseph's Invitational at Sunken Meadow State Park, Amagansett's Mary Fromm finished 17th overall, her time of 24:17 ranking fifth for the Golden Eagles, who ran away with the championship. Their 49 points ranked well ahead of second-place Suffolk County CC (97) and third-place Fashion Institute of Technology (100). On Sunday, St. Joseph's travels to Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx for the Skyline Championships.

On October 17, Sheila Marsicovetere of East Quogue was part of the Loyola women's crew team's B boat that finished 20th out of 54 boats at the 45th Head of the Charles in Boston. However, race officials issued a one-minute penalty for not yielding in a timely fashion, dropping the boat to 37th. The Lady Greyhounds' A boat finished ninth. Marsicovetere ran four years of track at St. Anthony's before becoming a four-year crew member and two-year co-captain at Loyola.

Also in the Head of the Charles was East Hampton's Helen Quigley, who helped lift Hamilton to a 20th place finish in the collegiate eights race, finishing with a time of 19 minutes, 19 seconds, and ahead of five teams in their conference. On Sunday, Quigley and Co. placed 12th in the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta in Philadelphia, completing the 2.5 mile course in 15:53.

East Hampton's Evan Piermont trimmed his best 8K time by nearly a minute at the Brooks Cross Country Invite held at Wisconsin-Oshkosh. His time of 27:49 was a significant upgrade over his previous best of 28:48 and his 349th place finish - or 184th per the team scores - was the Foresters' best individual result on the day. Altogether, there were 551 participants at the race.

Hampton Bays' Sharon Siegel has racked up a 5-1 mark this fall for the Tulane women's tennis team. Her last match came on the final day of the three-day Rice Classic when she defeated Texas State's Jennifer Nowland 6-2, 6-3 on September 27. She also teamed with Jessica Lange in the doubles draw. Elsewhere, former Westhampton No. 1 Allie Harding, now at Villanova, concluded fall play with a straight-sets win in singles play at the College of New Jersey Fall Kickoff on Wednesday. She and teammate Wesley Denadio were upended in doubles competition. Harding's one-time teammate, Stephanie DiCapua, went 11-5 in singles during the fall for Cortland, including 9-3 at the No. 2 spot. On October 11, DiCapua earned runner-up honors at second singles at the three-day SUNYAC Women's Tennis Championships.

At WNEC, Southampton's Ashley Czetlatka finished her fall season with a 9-4 mark between singles and doubles at Western New England. In field hockey, Rachel Taylor, who transferred from Pacific to SUNY Oneonta after a stellar career with the Lady Mariners, has played in all 17 games for the Red Dragons, tallying three goals on just five shots. They wrap up the regular season on Saturday at Lock Haven.

Sag Harbor's Bethany Semlear has been a key cog for the UConn field hockey team, which is ranked seventh in the country. Photo courtesy UConn Athletic Communications