Wednesday, May 2, 2018: NYSPHSAA announces 2018 hall of fame class

   Leading off today: All-time international soccer great Abby Wambach headlines the class of inductees in the 2018 NYSPHSAA Hall of Fame, the New York State Public High School Athletic Association announced Wednesday.

   Wambach, New Rochelle cross country and track coach Persio "Andy" Capellan, Mount Markham boys soccer coach Charles Engel, Centereach field hockey player Tracey Fuchs, Section 4 administrator Ben Nelson and Queensbury three-sporter Heidi Mann Vittengl were chosen through a two-level process beginning with a screening committee and then a selection committee. Nominations were endorsed by each inductee's NYSPHSAA section.

   The induction ceremony is slated for July 25 in Lake Placid in conjunction with the NYSPHSAA Central Committee's annual meeting.

   Wambach was a fixture on the U.S. Women's National Team and became international soccer's all-time leading goal scorer en route to two Olympic and two FIFA World Cup championships. The six-time U.S. Soccer athlete of the year and 2012 FIFA World Player of the Year retired in 2015 with 184 goals.

   Wambach was a standout soccer at basketball player at Our Lady of Mercy. A five-year varsity player, she was Gatorade's New York player of the year in 1997 and NSCAA National Player of the Year in soccer during her senior year. She scored 34 goals as a senior and 142 for her career before going on to a standout career at the University of Florida.

   Capellan began coaching football and girls track at Stuyvesant in the PSAL before arriving at New Rochelle, where he has led his teams to 54 league titles and 39 Section 1 Class A championships. His outdoor track teams have won every sectional title since 1991, and Capellan has also coached 43 individual NYSPHSAA state champions.

   He continues to coach girls cross country and track.

   Engle is the winningest boys soccer coach in NYSPHSAA history. He New York State. He was the first boys varsity soccer coach at Mount Markham, which was formed by the 1969 merger of Leonardsville and Mount Markham. Over a 48-year career, he went 654-233-44 record with 13 Section 3 championships and four trips to the state final four. Following his retirement in 2016, he was presented Section 3's Allen Gilberti Lifetime Achievement Award.

   Fuchs is the state's all-time field hockey scoring leader with 171 goals, including 82 as a senior in 1984. After helping Centereach to NYSPHSAA championships in the first two years of the tournament, she went on to be a three-time All-American at UConn, where she was the national player of the year in 1987. She went on to represent the U.S. in two Olympics and four World Cups. She coached the national junior team from 2005-09 and was named head coach at Northwestern in 2009.

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   Nelson began his association with the state association as a basketball, cross county and track coach at Oxford, where he became AD in 1988 when Alton Doyle was selected as executive director of the NYSPHSAA. He was named the Section 4 executive director in 1998 (he's the state's longest-tenured person in that position) and has been heavily involved in statewide administration and in attracting various state championship events to the Binghamton area.

   Mann Vittengl was one of the most accomplished three-sport athletes in the state when she graduated in 1982 and went on to the University of Florida. She set a Section 2 record with 25 field hockey goals in a season, tallied 1,660 career points in basketball and compiled a staggering outdoor track resume. She set her first state pentathlon record as a sophomore and won a junior national

championship in the heptathlon as a junior. She went on to win an array of honors in the sport at the University of Florida.

   What a day, part I: Hutch-Tech senior Nia Price had a memorable day on the softball diamond, slugging five home runs and driving in 12 runs Tuesday while helping sweep Buffalo Emerson by scores of 10-5 and 17-2 in a doubleheader.

   Price homered twice in the opener and three more times in Game 2, with all five blasts going to center field. She has a total of six homers in her team's 2-1 start to the season.

   What a day, part II: Franklinville senior Ally Haskell pitched a perfect game in the opener and a no-hitter in the second game as the Panthers swept Cattaraugus/Little Valley 6-0 and 1-0.

   Haskell struck out 11 in the first game and her sister Danielle went 3-for-3 with a triple and home run. The only baserunners against Haskell in the second game reached on errors. She struck out 12 and went 2-for-2 at the plate.

   Victor wins showdown: Top-ranked Victor got a hat trick from sophomore Camden Hay and edged Webster Thomas 10-9 in a showdown between the state's top two boys Class B lacrosse teams. Alexander Mabbett scored twice for the Blue Devils, winners of three straight NYSPHSAA championships.

   Senior Trevor Ford's four goals led the Titans.

   Mabbett's goal gave Victor a 10-6 lead with 24.1 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Ford scored twice in the final four and Thomas had a final possession but was unable to get off a shot.

   Victor is in the middle of a demanding stretch of games, and coach Jim Andre expressed concern about some decisions he saw and penalties his team took.

   "The final score was a positive but we're going to start our practice tomorrow and Thursday with a fix-it period," he told the Democrat and Chronicle. "It's going to take quite a while. We have some things to work on."

   More lacrosse: Senior midfielder Patrick O'Brien scored with :23.8 to go as Syracuse CBA edged Homer 9-8. As was the case with Webster Thomas, Homer had entered the contest undefeated.

   CBA carried an 8-4 lead into the fourth quarter, but Homer tied the contest with 2:20 to go.

   "We got the ball into (Homer's) corner and got the ball to Pat," coach Ric Beardsley told Syracuse.com. "Pat dragged the ball to the corner and we set up an invert with him. He kind of drained the clock down or close to it. Pat decided it was the time to go for it. It was a great leadership move for Pat."

   The contest matched up a pair of No. 4 state-ranked squads -- Homer in Class C and CBA in Class D.

    • The Baldwinsville girls rallied from four goals down in the second half and defeated Fayetteville-Manlius 14-13 on an overtime goal from Maria Henwood. Teammate Katie Pascale had forged a tie with 1:42 remaining in regulation.

   Monday action: Trevor Robinson pitched a perfect game with 17 strikeouts as Bloomfield defeated Dundee 3-0 in baseball. Robinson also contributed two hits at the plate.

   More later (hopefully): There's a slew of other stuff I wanted to mention, but I'm short on time and this blog is already long enough to challenge the average attention span. That being said, I may follow up with a second blog later Wednesday.