Schools
Bridgemen, Lady Bridgemen Spring Into Action
Fort Lee High School's spring sports season has arrived.
The weather is getting nice, professional baseball is just around the corner, and the sports season is just about underway.
Fort Lee offers five spring sports, and the teams are ready to make a big run this season.
The Bridgemen baseball team will be looking to be on the defensive this season now that their spring training in Florida is over and the regular season is here.
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“Pitching and defense will be the key to our success, as well as our senior leadership,” said head coach Mike Raftery. “Practices and scrimmages are going well; the team is improving every time we hit the field.”
Key returners for coach Raftery are Kristopher Doidge, Ross Fasman, Nikola Gogic, Justin Parra, Miles Reme and Nick Gentile.
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The baseball team will not be the only team looking to make some noise with a bat, as the Lady Bridgmen softball team are ready to chase their goals as well.
Assistant coach Stacie Zafiris is pleased with what she has seen thus far during practices and can see what are likely to be keys to the season.
“Leadership and work ethic has been key thus far,” said Zafiris. “In addition, seeing how quickly the underclassmen adapt to their positions. Practices have been going extremely well. The team has been practicing hard and really focusing on getting better. We have been fortunate to have some great weather, which has allowed us to spend more time outdoors. In addition, we had about 11 scrimmages, which allowed us to get accustomed to playing as a team.”
Key returning players include senior captains Megan Gimson and Jillian Scrivanich, as well as senior players Nikki Farber and Anthe Nikolaidis.
The Bridgemen tennis team will be looking to win their division for a second consecutive season, and they feel they have the talent to do just that.
“I think the strength of the team is now in our singles players right now, but the real key to a very successful season will be the performance of our doubles teams,” said head coach Phil Zappel. “We are trying to develop chemistry between our number 4-7 guys right now. As they gain confidence and experience, the team will grow stronger as a whole.”
Speaking of doubles, the Bridgemen have a very strong team looking to build on past success.
“Andrew Lee and Yuki Takahashi are both seniors, and they will be playing at the number one and two singles spots,” said Zappel. “They have been a very good doubles team together for the past two years. They are the captains this year and were co-MVPs last season. Andrew and Yuki were First Team All-Division and Second Team All-County last year with an overall record of 15-2.”
The spring track team have their sights set on keeping the momentum going after a great indoor season, and head coach Ed Garrison is looking forward to what’s ahead.
“Our goals are to compete for the Big North American Division 7 Championship, score in the Bergen County Relays and Individual Championships and advance our athletes to the New Jersey State Meet of Champions in June,” said Garrison. “I am looking forward to watching the present senior athletes, who were the first athletes that I had coached at Fort Lee jell with the underclassmen into what could be a division championship team.”
The co-ed golf team are also hoping to make some noise in their division, and head coach Bob Ciccone is not quite sure what to expect from the team. At practices, the golfers have been working on their swings, the game and course management.
It should be a fun and interesting spring for the Bridgemen and the Lady Bridgemen.
Rosters
Girls Golf
Competing for playing spots will be:
Freshmen Harry Jin, Sung Kyu Ro and Rachel Wi; sophmores Eric Ha, Brian Jee and Andy Choi
Tennis
Andrew Pie Cheng Lee, Yuki Takahashi, John Santa, Daniel Hong, Alan Yueh, Austin Pearl, Mathias Wainer, Masayoshi Miura, Nicholas Wong, Louis Rozen Hays, Neil Acharya, Brent Katz, Philip Young Jou Lee and Taiga Akiyama
Track
Taichi Arotomo, Chris Ashman, Jenya Dyagilev, Yu Yu Fahmy, Frankie Goris, Soichiro Itagaki, Tyler Sanders, Jonathan Spenst, Sam Topaz, Masaru Yamaguchi, Nakim Yamaguchi
Baseball
Kristopher Doidge, Michael Erenberg, Ross Fasman, Nikola Gogic, Justin Parra, Miles Reme, Evan Sophias, Adam Tannenbaum, Hyder Ahmed, Patrick Darcy, Cody Elkhechen, Nicholas Gentile, Alex Levy, Rickey Pasternak and Alex Ritter
Editor's Note: Patch will provide the Lady Bridgemen softball roster as soon as it's available.
