Sports

By John Bernhardt
The American economy is not the only slowdown to hit late September of 2008. Last week, in Delaware County soccer league play, area girls’ soccer teams experienced a slow down of a different sort. Goal production slowed to a standstill last Thursday as all three local teams suffered shutout losses.

By John Bernhardt
Area high school soccer teams had a busy week between tournament play and league matches.
Mayor’s Cup Results
South Kortright 1, Laurens 0
Two local soccer powers squared off Saturday night in the championship round of the Stamford Mayor’s Cup. Laurens, unbeaten and perennial contenders in the Tri-Valley League locked horns with the Delaware League’s unbeaten Rams from South Kortright.

By John Bernhardt
Monday’s 2-1 loss to Davenport was a gut check of sorts for the Andes boys’ soccer team. After dropping a hotly contested come-from-behind decision to the Wildcats, the Mountaineers need to take a hard look in the mirror and decide the team they would like to be.
For the first 25 minutes Monday, Andes looked like one of the Delaware League’s top tier teams. From the left wing, sophomore Eric Reed left his footprint on the first 15 minutes of the game. Reed’s left foot initiated four serious goal attempts.

Soccer teams for several local schools took part in Stamford’s annual Mayor’s Cup tournament. Weekend games included second-round action including the semi-final round.

The Roxbury Rockets unleashed some early season firepower finding the nets 10 times in the two-day Minekill Tournaments. The Rockets blanked Gilboa, 4-0, in opening round action Friday then blasted Schenevus, 6-3 in championship action Saturday. Ryan Skipper had a big weekend. The explosive striker drilled two goals in the opener and three more in the title game. Rudy Staab and Kyle Ciaravino added single goals against Gilboa. Staab also recorded an assist.

By John Bernhardt
When Andes girls’ soccer coach Sandra Baldauf put away the balls at the end of the 2007 season she had reason to be optimistic about the fall of 2008. Baldauf would be losing only two girls to graduation. If she could pick up a handful of younger players, Baldauf anticipated a deep roster this fall. Sometimes funny things can happen on the way to the forum.

The Margaretville Magic ended their summer soccer campaign winning the championship game over Roxbury in the New York Power Authority Mine Kill State Park Men’s Soccer League with a victory over Roxbury last week.
The match was off to a quick start when Roxbury began attacking at the first whistle. The Magic held off early attacks and eventually broke through the Roxbury line to score the first goal of the match. Good defense created a scoring opportunity in which Avery Meehan coolly slid his shot into the net.

See the early history of baseball come to life all Labor Day weekend in Roxbury’s magnificent Kirkside Park, as the Roxbury Nine vintage team hosts the Harry M. Keator Vintage Base Ball Tournament. A full weekend of action and emotion is guaranteed as eight of the northeast’s most competitive vintage ball clubs converge on Roxbury in the western Catskills. The action begins on Friday evening, August 29, and continues full throttle all Saturday and Sunday, August 30 and 31, with the championship game on Sunday at 1 p.m. — a match the Roxbury Nine has never lost.

By Sindy Becker
The rain-postponed finals matches of the 34th Annual Fleischmanns Tennis Tournament got underway at 10 a.m. Sunday. It was the first time in its three plus-decade history that the tournament could not be concluded as scheduled. The six remaining finalists, out of the original field of 46 registrants, prepared to take their turns at center court, to resolve the men’s doubles match that had been halted in the crucial third set, and to vie for the coveted men’s and women’s singles titles.