Sweeney does more than win faceoffs for St. Rose
Niskayuna grad leads the team in ground balls too
The College of Saint Rose men’s lacrosse roster lists graduate student Eoghan Sweeney as a faceoff specialist. He is doing that job but is doing much more than just that for the Golden Knights.
Sweeney, a 5-foot-10, 180-pounder from Niskayuna and a Niskayuna High graduate, leads the team with 70 ground balls. That’s eighth in Division II and his 7.78 ground balls per game is 15th. He helps the team on the offensive end as well with three goals and five assists for eight points.
Of course, his main role is winning those faceoffs and he has won 122-of-193 for 63.2 percent. That stands 20th in Division II.
St. Rose, which is 5-4 overall and 0-1 in the Northeast-10 Conference, is getting offensive help from senior Paul Wright (Queensbury High) and Jackson Spikereit (CBA), both with three goals and three assists. Graduate student Cam Smith of West Springfield, Mass., leads the Golden Knights with 40 points on 32 goals and eight assists and sophomore Noah Gibson of Rochester has 26 goals and 11 assists.
Senior Walter Ross (Niskayuna High), senior Luke Pemrick (Greenwich High) and freshman Addison Willis (South Glens Falls High) are helping on the defensive end.
Tyler Figueroa (Colonie)
The Siena baseball team has started 1-19, but the Saints are getting solid play from the 5-8, 165pound freshman infielder. The Colonie High graduate has started all 20 games and is hitting. 297. He has 22 hits in 74 at-bats with four doubles, a triple, two home runs, 13 runs scored and 11 runs batted in. Sophomore
Danny Barberio (Colonie High) has also started every game for Siena. He’s hitting .279 (19for-68) with three home runs.
Casey Van Nostrand (Schenectady)
The sophomore will lead Cobleskill’s hunt seat equestrian team into the Region 3 Team Championship on Saturday at Skidmore College. The Guilderland High graduate was the top scorer for the Fighting Tigers and earned High Point Rider honors at an Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) Region 3 Zone 2 meet, helping Cobleskill win the event and finish in second place in the Region 3 standings March 9 at Dutch Manor Stable in Guilderland.
Emily Speck (Mechanicville)
The freshman kicked off her collegiate debut with the RPI women’s lacrosse team with a big game in a 16-11 victory over Oneonta on Feb. 27. The Shenendehowa High graduate scored her first college goal and had seven ground balls, a caused turnover and five draw controls. She followed that up with goals in the next three games to give her four for the season. Freshman Micaela Leonard (Shenendehowa
High) is also starting for the 2-3 Engineers and senior Roya Lewis (Shaker High) has scored a goal.
Katie Julien (Loudonville)
The senior has started all six games for the Union women’s lacrosse team. The Garnet Chargers are 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the Liberty League after a 14-8 league victory at Rochester Tech on Saturday. The Shaker High graduate had two goals and two assists, giving her four goals and four assists on the season. Union is also getting solid play off the bench from freshman Hannah Compa (Shenendehowa High), who has five goals and three assists with 11 draw controls.
Moira Collins (Troy)
The 5-4 freshman right-hander is 4-1 with a 1.12 earned-run average for the 5-3 Hudson Valley softball team. The Tamarac High graduate has three complete games and in 25 innings has given up 17 hits, 10 runs, four earned, with three walks and 35 strikeouts. The Vikings’ offense is led by a pair of freshmen. Anna Siter (Ichabod Crane High) is hitting .478 (11for-23) and Grace Harris (Shaker High) is batting .393 (11-for-28).