Announcement
Southern Tier Athletic Conference
•Elmira: Derek Hamilton is in his 11th season as a boys soccer coach in the district and has a young lineup after 11 seniors graduated. The Express posted a 7-6-3 record last season, its third straight winning season.
Key returning players include senior midfielder Andrew Field, senior forward Logan Brimmer (13 goals), senior goalkeeper Owen Mason, senior midfielder Shawn Shaylor, senior midfielder Joe Cerio and freshman defender John Beecher.
Elmira’s top newcomers are junior defender Paul Milliken, junior defender Dan Dimon, junior midfielder Marty Hutchinson, junior midfielder Chris Knuth, junior midfielder Walker Moss, sophomore defender Nate Forrest, sophomore forward Jasio Ziembicki and sophomore midfielder Gavin Wise.
“The 2014 Express was a team full of juniors and seniors until John Beecher was called up midseason,” Hamilton said. “However, the 2015 squad will boast five underclassmen who will be looked at to contribute immediately.
“The maturation of the younger players, coupled with the leadership and experience of the seniors, will be the deciding factor on how the Express soccer fares this season.”
Elmira is in one of the toughest divisions in Section 4. The STAC West also includes defending STAC and Section 4 Class AA champion Ithaca, 2014 Class AA sectional runner-up Corning and Horseheads.
“STAC looks to be a very competitive conference in 2015, as most of the teams in the STAC West and Metro are on similar levels, with possibly Ithaca a cut above after a deep state tournament run in 2015,” Hamilton said.
•Horseheads: The Blue Raiders also have a young lineup, with few starters back from a team that went 5-8-1. Players to watch include Alejandro Nunez, Joey Heft, Isaac Pastel, Nick Juan and Kellen Boyles.
“If the boys continue to work hard and put forth their best effort each and every time they step onto the pitch to practice or play, I think we will do well,” Horseheads head coach Mark Mucci said. “We have some very talented young players coming up.
“The last couple of seasons we have been competitive with all of the teams in our league and have suffered numerous one-goal losses. Hopefully this year we can turn that around.”
•Corning: Head coach Steve Mastronardi’s Hawks finished with a 10-6 record last season and advanced to a Section 4 final for the third consecutive season, falling to Ithaca. All three STAC West/Metro all-conference picks from that team — defender Luke Terwilliger, midfielder Franco Summa and forward Zach Quist — have graduated.
The Hawks do return All-STAC West goalie Erik Ekstrom, who is one of their captains along with junior midfielder Cameron Metarko. Others who will help the cause include junior defender Connor Nazarczyk, junior midfielder Trevor Kohli, junior midfielder/defender Jacob Grano, senior midfielder/defender Grant Huff and senior defender Zach Horning.
“We will be very young, with just two returning seniors,” Mastronardi said. “Our focus will be organization on defense, mental focus and being creative in the final third. Our expecation is to improve as the season progresses and be ready for sectionals. STAC will be ultra competitive as always, with many quality teams.”
