Leading off today: Williamsville East officials have thrown in the towel on the 2019 girls soccer season, which was brought to a halt last week by long-term suspensions to 13 of the 21 players on the roster.
Team members and their parents were informed of the decision by school officials during a Monday meeting, The Buffalo News reported.
"We regret the need to take this action but our investigation showed that a number of team members engaged in behavior that clearly violated the athletic contract," district Superintendent Scott Martzloff said in a news release.
Williamsville athletes and their parents sign a code of conduct that extends to students' behavior outside of school during the season. Violations result in immediate suspension from practice and competition for five weeks.
Given the length of the suspensions and the lack of enough junior varsity players prepared to move up, the school finishes with a 4-3-1 record (the losses were forfeits) and will not attempt to defend its Section 6 Class A-1 championship. They were ranked 12th in last week's New York State Sportswriters Class A ratings.
Wild game, dramatic finish: Kashwar Biswas scored for Ellenville in the final seconds to give the Devils a 5-4 victory over Spackenkill in boys soccer.
Spackenkill broke to a 2-0 lead in the first 12 minutes and both teams rallied from two-goal deficits.
Jake Spero's penalty kick in the 75th minute pulled Spackenkill even in the 75th minute.
More boys soccer: Brian Coughlan had two goals and one assist as Pearl River downed previously unbeaten Nanuet 4-1.
John Hayes added one goal and two assists for the Pirates, who bounced back after their first loss of the season.
Impressive season in progress: After reaching the 2018 Section 3 Class C final, Clinton's field hockey team is off to an 8-0-1 start with just one goal allowed.
The Warriors's latest win was a 1-0 triumph over Canastota to extend its streak to 458 scoreless minutes for opponents. Goalie Sydney Bialek recorded her eighth shutout and sophomore Masha Lyubezhanin's first career goal accounted for the scoring before torrential rain prompted officials to end the game with 12:12 remaining.
Clinton has outscored opponents 29-1. The one goal allowed to Mount Markham came on that team's only shot of the game.
Clinton has a showdown game coming Oct. 8 vs. Holland Patent (6-0-1). The squads played to a scoreless tie in their first meeting.
As impressive as the field hockey team is, it's not the school's only girls squad off to a great start.
The girls soccer team is 5-0-1 and began the week ranked fourth in the state in Class B. The cross country team is 6-0 in duals and is ranked No. 7 in the state in Class C. And the tennis team has gone 11-0 and captured a pair of Center State Conference tournament titles.
Ready for Prime Time: The Niagara Falls basketball program will be the subject of a 30-minute documentary on ESPNU on Friday at 8 p.m.
