SOCCER TEAM'S TRIP TO MARYLAND PRODUCES A PAIR OF VICTORIES
Water Polo team back to winning ways - posts back-to-back triumphs

Oct. 23, 2011

The Soccer team spent the weekend in Maryland and came away with a pair of victories over two quality opponents and are only four victories away from National title No. 7.

The Gray Bees tangled with Walt Whitman on Friday night and put on a show while racking up an 8-0 victory in Bethesda. Christiano Francois hit for a season-high five goals, which included his seventh hat trick, and Pablo Perez hit for the other three scores.

Coach Jim Wandling's team raised their record to 20-0 with a 5-0 victory over Loyola Blakefield during a Sunday matinee. (Read more about the weekend trip...)

The Water Polo team ended a three-game skid with a pair of victories of Pingry and Horace Mann.

In the game against Pingry, the Gray Bees celebrated Senior Day by posting a 15-9 victory over Pingry in their last home match of the season.

Coach Glenn Cassidy's squad put up a huge 7-0 run in the second quarter, which was ignited by Dennis Tassie's goal. By the time the stanza was over, SBP held an 8-2 lead and never looked back.

Isaiah Del Rios led all scorers with 4 goals, while Rameses Spellman added 3 and Tassie chipped in with 2. Click here to view pictures from the Pingry match.

The Gray Bees made it two straight with a 14-11 victory over Horace Mann in The Bronx.

Tassie led the assault with 5 goals, including a hat trick during a 7-goal fourth quarter that snapped a seven-all deadlock after three quarters. David Philemon chipped in with 3 goals and Spellman scored twice for SBP, which beat the New York school, 7-5, in their last meeting earlier this year at home.

ANOTEHR WEEKEND; ANOTHER RECORD VICTORY FOR CHESEREK
Soccer team remains perfect through 15 games; holding steady at No. 1
Water Polo team goes 1-1 over holiday weekend

Edward Cheserek made it 3-for-3 in records this season.

This time, the Kenyan sensation took on Van Cortlandt Park and ate up the venerable 2.5-mile course in The Bronx.

The St. Benedict's junior, who established course records at Garret Mountain and Holmdel Park already this year, posted another standard by taking more than eight seconds off the previous mark by running an astounding 11:55.4 in the Eastern States Championship at the 39th Manhattan Invitational.

The Manhattan Invitational is lauded as the biggest cross country invitational in the U.S., and now the record belongs to Cheserek. He beat the previous record of 12:03.8, established by Joe Rosa of West Windsor Plainsboro North two years ago. Cheserek also beat Rosa's mark at Holmdel the week before.

(Read more about Cheserek's record run in the Manhattan Invitational)

The Soccer team got a breather on Sunday when it hosted Pennsylvania's Roman Catholic at NJIT and cruised to a 10-0 verdict.

Coach Jim Wandling, whose club is ranked No. 1 in the nation, was able to empty his bench against the inferior opponent from Philadelphia.

(Check out the full story of the Gray Bees' victory over Roman Catholic)

Coach Glenn Cassidy's team traveled to Princeton on Saturday and dropped a 15-11 decision to a club team. After a 3-3 opening quarter to Gray Bees fell behind midway through the second period and could never quite catch back up. Rameses Spellman and David Philemon paced the attack with 4 goals apiece.

SBP, however, returned once again to the .500 mark for the season by routing St. Peter's Prep, 16-1, on Monday with a home match in the HAB Pool.

The Gray Bees (6-6) scored 17 seconds into the match, piled up eight goals without allowing any in the first quarter and never looked back. Rameses Spellman led the assault with 4 goals as 10 different players figured in the scoring. Dennis Tassie, David Philemon and Calvin John chipped in with two goals each.

WATER POLO TEAM BACK TO COMPETING AFTER A LONG LAYOFF

Oct. 6, 2011

The Gray Bees water polo team fought through some rustiness at the beginning of the game and managed to double- up Trinity, 14-7, on Wednesday in the HAB pool.

Coach Glenn Cassidy's club, which hadn't played since the Beast of the East Tournament in Pennsylvania 10 days ago, continued to receive solid play from his captains, David Philemon, Isaiah Del Rios and Dennis Tassie.

Philemon and Del Rios keyed decisive showings in the 1st and third quarters against the New York City school. Despite looking sluggish at the start, the Gray Bees opened a 4-1 lead after the first quarter, getting a pair of goals from both Del Rios and Philemon.

The two seniors each scored twice more during a 6-1 third quarter uprising when SBP put up a seemingly insurmountable, 12-5, lead. Philemon finished with 5 goals, while Del Rios added 4. Tassie and Andrew Caetano chipped in with two scores apiece.

"We came out very flat in the first half, despite the score (6-4 lead). We looked like a team that just had a 10 day hiatus," admitted Cassidy. "We lost a little focus during the week off and that could have cost us big. But I think the players realized that and I was proud of the effort to regroup and finish strong."

The Gray Bees take on a club team from Princeton on Saturday before coming back Monday to face St. Peter's.

CHESEREK BEGINS HIS YEAR TEARING UP ANOTHER COURSE IN RECORD FASHION
Soccer team makes it 11-for-11: now has eye on No. 1 ranking
Water Polo team competes in Beast of the East

Sept. 26, 2011

What a way to begin the 2011-12 campaign.

Edward Cheserek, who won the national title in the 5K last spring after finishing second in the Nike Cross Country Nationals in the fall, began his assault on a number of cherished records when he obliterated the course standard at Garret Mountain on Saturday.

Cheserek, who seems to set records every time he steps on a course or track, opened his junior year by running a 14:53 to claim the title at the Passaic County Coaches Invitational. The time was nearly 23 seconds faster the previous best of 15:15.5, which was established in 2003 by one of New Jersey's all-time greats, Mohamed Khadraoui of Paterson Kennedy.

(Read more about Cheserek's stunning pace at Garret Mountain)

Cheserek will now take aim at the record on the famed Holmdel Park course this coming Saturday when he competes in the Shore Coaches Invitational. Another of the state's all-time legends, Joe Rosa of West Windsor-Plainsboro North, currently owns the standard at the Monmouth County course with a 14:56, which he ran in 2009. Cheserek will also be after Rosa's 2.5-mile mark of 12:03.8 at Van Cortlandt Park a week later (Oct. 9) in the Manhattan Invitational.

"Edward continues to amaze everyone," said St. Benedict's coach Marty Hannon. "The record at Holmdel will be a big challenge! We will see."

The Soccer Team played Saturday night and put forth perhaps their best all-around game of the season, posting a 5-0 verdict of Pennsylvania's Central Dauphin at NJIT.

Miguel Alves scored twice, once in each half, to pace the attack for coach Jim Wandling's club. Christiano Francois, who made it 10-for-10 by scoring at least once in each game thus far, Pablo Perez and Jorge Acosta each scored single goals.

With a 5-1 victory over Old Bridge on Monday, the Gray Bees, currently ranked second in the country, have a shot to take over the No. 1 spot when the latest ESPN rankings are revealed later on Tuesday (Sept. 27). That's because the Sacramento Jesuit of California, the season-long holder of the top ranking, posted a tie on Friday night.

The Water Polo Team, after losing twice Friday in the opening day of the Beast of the East Tournament in Pennsylvania, came back strong on Saturday in the "Flight 4" bracket.

Coach Cassidy's club beat Central York (14-4) and Mechanicsburg (10-5) to advance into the championship game of the bracket. But the Gray Bees dropped a 12-11 sudden-death overtime decision to Episcopal Academy.

SBP nearly the won the game in regulation, but Dennis Tassie's apparent goal came just after the final buzzer sounded and was disallowed. The teams were forced into two, 2-minute overtime periods deadlocked at 9-9.

Both teams scored once in each extra session to force the sudden-death. Tassie won the swim off in the final stanza and the Gray Bees got two shots off, but neither found the mark. After the teams traded offensive attacks without any success, Episcopal managed to slip behind SBP's defense off a break and scored the game-winner with 45 seconds left to pull out the victory.

"It was a great effort by the kids and they never gave up," said Cassidy. "It really was an incredible game. While I'm extremely disappointed by the outcome, I couldn't be prouder of the kids."

Isaiah Del Rios totaled 9 goals in the tournament, one more than Tassie. David Philemon and Rameses Spellman finished with 8 scores apiece, while Oliver Brillant and Kevin Gaspar continue to shine in goal.

AFTER SLOW START, WATER POLO TEAM RIGHTS THE SHIP
Cassidy's team wins two straight to reach .500 mark

Sept. 22, 2011

The Gray Bees water polo team could have lost hope after dropping their first two matches of the year.

But, instead of getting discouraged, coach Glenn Cassidy's club re-grouped, started to come together as a cohesive unit and has reeled off successive victories over Pingry and New York's Horace Mann.

"We weren't working as a team and didn't seem ready when the season started," said senior captain Dennis Tassie. "It was our own fault and it was our jobs to start playing together as a team."

St. Benedict's started heading in the right direction with a 15-8 victory over Pingry on Tuesday in the first road match of the season.

Another senior captain, David Philemon, led the assault with 8 goals - 2 more than his season total coming into the game in Martinsville. Isaiah Del Rios chipped in with four goals and Tassie added two as the Gray Bees led wire-to-wire.

"A much needed win and an encouraging way to start a busy week," said Coach Glenn Cassidy. "The team played together and worked until the end."

The Gray Bees came back yesterday (Wednesday) and picked up their first home victory of the year with a tightly contested, 7-5, verdict over Horace Mann. Tassie snapped a 5-5 standoff in the fourth quarter with a goal off a lob with 4:22 left in the game.

Philemon's third-goal of the game with 2:03 remaining, coupled with a collapsing defensive effort in the middle and fine goaltending of Olivier Brillant, who made two crucial saves in the final stanza, helped preserve the victory.

Del Rios, the final tri-captain, scored two more goals in the outing, while Kevin Gaspar joined Brillant with quality goaltending.

"I'm happy with the way we backed up our two losses," said Cassidy. "We still have a lot of improving to do and have a tough weekend ahead of us. But winning a couple is a good sign."

Cassidy's team now travels to Pennsylvania to take part in the two-day Beast of the East Tournament, beginning on Friday with a 5:20 p.m. start against a powerful Greenwich team in the first game at Gov. Mifflin High. The rest of the tournament schedule will be determined by the outcome of each game.

--By Ron Jandoli

FALL SPORTS SEASON NOW IN FULL SWING FOR ALL 3 TEAMS

Sept. 18, 2011

St. Benedict's water polo team had a week off before playing their second match of the season. And, although the Gray Bees were more competitive, coach Glenn Cassidy's club dropped a 14-8 decision on Friday to Malvern Prep in the HAB Pool.

The Gray Bees kept in close against Malvern, trailing by only one, 7-6, at the halftime break. Rameses Spelling scored 3 of his 4 goals during the opening half, while teammate Dennis Tassie hit for two scores.

And like their season-opening loss Germantown, the Gray Bees went an entire quarter without scoring, which ultimately spelled the demise of Cassidy's team for the second straight outing. This time SBP was shut out, 4-0, in the third quarter by Malvern and could never recover.

Spellman leads the team in scoring through the first two matches with 7 goals, just one more than David Philemon. Tassie and Isaiah Del Rios have scored twice each, while Antonio DeSousa has added one goal.

The Gray Bees hit the road for the first time when they travel to Martinsville to take on Pingry on Tuesday (Sept. 20) at 4 p.m.

The Gray Bees soccer team traveled to Philadelphia over the weekend and came away with the championship in the Penn Charter Invitational (read more...)

The cross country team has competed twice in the early going, but has done so without the services of the nation's top runner this year, Edward Cheserek, who will open his season in next weekend's Passaic County Coaches Invitational on the course at Garret Mountain.

Without their all-star, the Gray Bees opened the season in the Randolph Invitational last weekend. Adebayo Eisape ran very well in the varsity race, coming in 19th and winning a medal. Darien Edwards placed in 32nd in the JV race, while Joshua Martins came in 20th in the Freshman race.

Coach Marty Hannon's team came back this weekend and competed in the Catholic Conference Bernie Magee Class Race at Warinanco Park. Eisape placed 24th with a personal best time of 17:47.3. Edwards also came in with a PB when he crossed the line with a 19:56.6.