Spring Sports Season: It's a wrap!

A spring season wrap first from Assistant to the Athletic Director Tawni Stoop ’11, then from each coach.

Coaches Rich Mazzola, Robert Torres, Tony Franco

Captains: Kyle Griffith ‘11 & Joe Bell ‘12

League Record: 5-5

Season Record: 6-7

Seniors: Kyle Griffith

MVP: Kyle Griffith ‘11 & Joe Bell ‘12

Most Improved Players: Cody Renfrew ‘13 & Jon Chang ‘14

After losing eleven players from last year’s team, this year’s goals revolved around a single word: improvement. Each day the boys worked hard—together and individually—to get better and better. A good measure of the team’s progress comes from a comparison of the two games against Ojai Valley School. In first game of the season, we met with defeat when OVS all but silenced our bats and we struggled to make plays on the field. But when we met again toward the end of he season, our captains Kyle Griffith and Joe Bell worked beautifully together as the pitcher-catcher combo, and we combined a powerful 12-hit offensive charge led by Cody Renfrew’s four hits, with rock-solid defense at every position to turn the tables and collect the win that earned us a berth into the CIF Playoffs. With only one senior graduating from this year’s squad, next year looks very promising for the Toads.

Instructor & Choreographer: Gallia Vickery

Seniors: Francesca Fataar, Valorie Denton-Moore, Steffi Star, Leeah Stickelmaier

Spring Dance Ensemble learned three pieces and had three performances. We had two master classes from guest artists Nanette Brodie and the UCSB Dance Company. Our first piece, “Boom, Boom,” was technically challenging and involved complex cello music by Zoe Keating that also challenged the dancers. Our second piece, “Nines” required fluidity and stamina to make connections. “Variations With and Without chairs” we developed quickly with some input from the dancers in the last weeks of the term.

Coaches: Cam Spaulding, Toby Elmore, Brandon Doyle

Captains: Graham Abbey ‘11, Will Callan ‘11

League Record: 3-2 (2nd)

Season Record: 6-7 overall

Champion Division II Carmel Invitational Tournament

Runner-up Division II Northern Section Playoffs

Most Valuable Player: Garen Fabian ’12 (29G 10A)

Most Improved Player: Jake Gannon ‘11, Kyrien Edwards ‘13

Most Inspirational Player: Graham Abbey ‘11, Will Callan ‘11

Seniors: Will Callan, Graham Abbey, Jake Gannon, Colin McMahon, Chris Dienst, Robbie Yeagle, Carson Land, Kyle Montes

It was a year of wild ups and downs for the Thacher laxers. We began the season by heading up to the Carmel Invitational Tournament and bringing home the Championship of the Division II bracket. J.J. Ntshaykolo ‘13 was honored as the Thacher representative to the All-Tournament team, a distinction made by the coaches and players from the opposing squads as to our team’s best player. And it was our defense which grounded us this season; led by J.J. and Marshall and a swiftly improving supporting cast, the defense dominated opposing attackmen, leading to lots of transition play for our offense. Youth and inexperience in the midfield however proved to be our Achilles heel as poor midfield help defense and sloppy transitions led to a stretch of four straight losses after a thrilling 6-5 overtime win over Crespi to start our regular season. We began to hit our stride with a strong outing against Dunn, and an overtime loss to an undefeated Oak Park team, but crumbled in our season finale against Cate where we gave up a seven-goal advantage to lose in overtime to our perennial rival for the league championship. Just when we thought our season over, we were selected for a berth in the Division II playoffs, and the challenge of some post-season play reinvigorated our squad. In our first two post-season appearances we put up 34 goals on our opponents while allowing only 11, and we seemed on our way to compete for the Southern Section Championship. We headed to Thousand Oaks for the Northern Section final, where we succumbed to a very strong Loyola LA squad that held our offense to a single goal.

With this season in the books, I look to next year team as one of the finest squads Thacher has had in many years, and expectations are high. Off-season commitment from its members will determine the outcome, for the team has the potential to count itself amongst California’s elite. Captains 2012: juniors Garen Fabian, Marshall Gifford, Ian Bearden

Coaches: Heather Grant, Peter Robinson

Captains: Mackenzie Boss ‘11, Hannah Norman ‘11

League Record: 1-3

Season Record: 4-8

Seniors: AhKeyah Allahjah, Mackenzie Boss, Erin Chisholm, Mary Ellen Funke, Noelani Nasser, Hannah Norman, Lili Pike, Katie Taylor, Jina Yun

Most Valuable and Most Inspirational Player: Mackenzie Boss

Most Improved Player: Eleanor Hancock ‘13

Captains for 2011-2012: Lauren Butler ‘12, Emma Patterson ‘12

This year’s team was experienced, skilled, enthusiastic, and fit. We had some great games against Oak Park and Dunn in which we played “pretty lacrosse” with fluid, consistent passing in transition, dependable and adaptable defense, and nearly unstoppable offense originating from team play. Even in games we may have lost, we frequently out-played our opponents in measures that are often used as predictors of the outcome of the game (draw control and ground ball control), which are indicators of the hustle and determination of this team. Lauren Butler also had some great games where her play in goal made the difference between a win and a loss, or where she helped keep games much closer than they would have otherwise been. We struggled, however, to find our footing this season and were plagued by inconsistent play and a number of cancelled games. In the end, we started to form a cohesive group—one that I would have liked to coach for another few weeks. Next year we hope to build upon the work we’ve done and develop a more consistent focus throughout the season.

Coach: Bo Manson

Captains: Will Kirkland ’12 & Marlon Miller ‘12

League Record: 3-1

Season Record: 5-3

Seniors: Patrick Teague

We enjoyed a fun season filled with positive energy and good sportsmanship. With a small squad of only fourteen, each player experienced plenty of game time. In fact, they were more often than not exhausted and ready for a brief break on the bench. The boys needed to be adaptable, as well, as they shifted positions to accommodate for illness and injury. We filled our days with both lacrosse-specific drills and creative “games” designed to encourage physical fitness and plenty of good, old fashion fun. We even turned a rainy conditioning day into an impromptu trip into Ojai for frozen yogurt! Considering that I focus primarily on instruction, participation, and sportsmanship at the JV level, I do not have the team single players out for individual end-of-season awards, but Will Kirkland ’12 deserves recognition. He offered the JV team his characteristic thoughtfulness, enthusiasm, and good humor all season and led by example: encouraging his teammates in drills, cheering on the less experienced players, offering instruction, and volunteering to clean up after practice.

Coaches: Kara Hooper, Kayla Elliott

Captains: Lisea Lark ’12, Emily Jordan ’12, Paule Voevodsky ‘12

League Record: 0-4-1

Season Record: 0-5-1

Seniors: none

Most Valuable Player: Emily Jordan ’12, Lisea Lark ‘12

Most Improved Player: Ciara Byrne ‘14

Most Inspirational Players: Paule Voevodsky ’12, Sarah Ratsimbazafy ‘13

We began the season with only five players who had ever played the sport before. Our highlight was most certainly our 7-7 tie against Cate. Down 6-5 with two minutes to play, we came back twice on goals by Annie Beckham ’14 and Gracie Farese ’13, topped off with a key save by Sarah Ratsimbazafy ’13 at the whistle.

Coach: Michael Mulligan

Captains: Alex Yeagle ‘14 & Alex Zaldastani ‘14

League Record: 0-3

Season Record: 0-3

All players new or nearly new to the game meant that our biggest challenges were basic: running, catching, throwing, ground balls. There was nothing easy about their learning curve: straight up. But the boys learned a lot and we all had some fun. Thacher is a great place to for a youngster to learn a new sport -- and this year's Frosh Lax Team had an opportunity to take on some new challenges together. It’s all good!

Coach: Peter Fagan

Captains: Jesse Garrett ‘11, Jacob Nelson ‘13, Chris Yih ‘12

League Record: 0-6

Season Record: 2-6-1

Seniors: Jesse Garrett

Most Valuable Player: Willie Halsted ‘13

We were a young and rebuilding team. Although we didn’t have a strong overall record, our personal growth was remarkable. Each player showed improvement throughout the season in many ways. I was especially proud of the newer, younger players for putting in the dedication needed to advance their skills. Overall, it was a successful and skill-building season.

Coaches: Derick Perry, Sarah DelVecchio, Theana

Captains: Anouk Ackerman ’12 and Jesse Gonzalez ‘11—awarded the Heffelfinger Track Shield

League Record: Boys – 2nd in League Championships; Girls – 2nd in League Championships

Most Valuable Player: Anouk Ackerman, awarded The Track Cup

Most Improved Player: Amy Kim ‘13, awarded the David S. Lavender Most Improved Award

This was the smallest combined team in recent years. Nonetheless, both teams competed extremely well, and both secured with 2nd place finishes in the Condor League Championships, a fairly significant accomplishment given the size of the team. More to the point, the kids had fun, approached every practice with a sense of trepidation about the looming workout (a good thing), and finished each day with a sense of accomplishment. Individual Champions in the League Championships were Anouk Ackerman in the 1600M and 800M, and Scott Lee ‘11 in Shot Put. Jesse Gonzalez had a tremendous day at the League Championships, qualifying for the CIF Prelims in three events, along with Scott and Anouk in the events they won. Elena McGahey ’13 qualified in the 3200M.