St. Thomas Aquinas Boys Soccer 2009 Team News - Dover, NH- Go STA Soccer.com

In the Senior Day game against Milford
Cam Palczynski and Joe Lee scored their first varsity goals.

In the Kingswood game the following players all scored their first varsity goals:
Dave Tirrell, Dave Ham, Peter Roginski, and Mike Kubiczki

The End of Season JV Play-off at Oyster River has been cancelled because of weather

14-Oct   Wednesday     Game vs. Coe Brown
15-Oct   Thursday     Practice 3:00 - 5:00pm
*Pasta Dinner at Coppinger's after
16-Oct Friday Game vs. Milford (Senior Day)
22-Oct     Thursday       Game vs. Kingswood
23-Oct     Friday   Game at Portsmouth - 5pm

* The Coppingers will host a pasta dinner on Thursday 10/15 after practice. Parents are also invited.

The Boys Varsity Team would like to thank everyone who came to Oyster River to support us.

This coming Friday October 16 is Senior day.
Before the start of the Milford game
we will honor the Seniors and their parents
as they play in their last regular season home game.

Seeking to put distance between themselves and a pack of Class I pursuers, Hanover registered a definitive 3-0 victory over a very capable Kearsarge team Tuesday night at Merriman-Branch Field.

In winning their fourth straight match, the Marauders pushed their record to 8-1-1 and solidified their hold on second place in the NHIAA standings. When the Heal Point standings are published later today, they will show a widening gap between penthouse dwellers St. Thomas and Hanover, and the remainder of the elite teams in Class I, including Souhegan, Coe-Brown, Lebanon and the ever-dangerous Oyster River. Kearsarge will drop back into that pack, and Hanover will focus on maintaining their pressure on St. Thomas, who dropped a point Tuesday with their 4-4 draw against Hollis, their second deadlock of the season.

UPDATED (9-18-09): Traffic Restrictions to Bedford High School and Lurgio Middle School:

Beginning Monday, September 21st through Friday, October 2nd, Nashua Road will be closed between Rte. 101 and the Little League Complex. Access to the Bedford High School and the Little League Complex will be via County Road or Wallace Road.

For Directions to the school take Rt 101 West (after the lights where Rt 101 takes a left)

Take a left on Liberty Hill Road then a Right on County Road then a Right on Nashua Road. School will be on left.

or Left on Meeting house road (Light before Nashua Road) then a right on Liberty Hill Road then a Right on County Road then a Right on Nashua Road.

On Monday September 28th your team captains
Doug Crow, Ken Grade & Ross Suleski
along with Coach Suleski
will join Andy Schachet on WTSN's High School Sports night.
The show will air at 6:30pm from the Loft at Strafford Farms, Dover.

Family and friends are welcome to attend and enjoy a meal.
10% of your check will be donated back to St. Thomas if you tell your waitress/waiter
you are there for St. Thomas Soccer on the WTSN show.

A great chance to see your team captains in their first radio interview
and help out your school.

On Friday September 18th the Varsity team will to go to Boston University.
The white bus will Leave St. Thomas at 5pm.
The team will get a tour of the BU Athletic facilities.
We will stay to watch the BU men's soccer team play Boston College in their cross city rivalry.
The game will be televised on Fox Soccer channel.
Game is at 8pm we will get back to St. Thomas around 11pm.
BU is coming off a tie against UMASS and wins over Providence, UCONN and #1 Ranked St. John's.

In our game against Kingswood Friday when Jamie Gagnon scored his first varsity goal he entered the team record book being a player to score in a Varsity Football game (Kicking P.A.T. against Stevens) and a Varsity Soccer game in the same season.

This was done 2 years ago when Thomas Keene scored in Varsity golf and Varsity soccer.

The main reason is I would like the players to see the field. This is where the State Championship will be played this year for all 4 classes. I also would like them to see a college game. This is not mandatory as I will be asking you to use private transportation.

SNHU will play Franklin Pierce and it will be a very good game. The game is at 7pm.

(I realize this is a school night so if players want to leave after halftime that is alright.)

Take I-93 to NH exit 9N onto US3/RT 28 heading north.
At the first intersection, go left onto West Alice Drive, which becomes Donati Drive at the sharp curve.
Follow Donati to the end, and then go right onto Bicentennial Drive.
Follow Bicentennial to the stop sign
Take a right onto North River Road.
The university is 1/4 mile down the road on the left.

Eat at Wendy's - Help the NHIAA and get a $10.00 off coupon at Sports Authority.

Check out this link

Soccer Pitch is a blog by Manchester Union Leader sports writer Eric Emmerling,
who covers high school soccer in the granite state.

Here is what he had to say about St. Thomas last week:

Sophomore rookie Jeff King assisted on each of Ross Suleski’s two goals this season, helping the Saints win their first two of the season.

Suleski, an all-state striker and the team’s leading scorer last season, headed home a King pass late in the first half of the club’s season opener, a 1-0 win over rival Oyster River of Durham last Friday. On Tuesday, King netted his first varsity goal before setting up another Suleski score in a 2-0 win over Coe-Brown of Northwood.

Senior keeper Ken Grade with help from defenders Niko Rignoli, and Mike Fort owns two shutouts this season, giving him 16 overall in his two-year career at the net.

The St. Thomas varsity team was named as one of the top four teams in class I today by the Manchester Union Leader.

"Teams to watch this season in Class I: Hanover, St. Thomas, Lebanon and Bedford"

Also in the article 15 players from Class I were named as "Players to watch" this season,
Three of them were from St. Thomas.

Keeper Ken Grade with 14 shut outs over 2 years
Returning All State midfielder Doug Crow (3 g 13 a)
Returning All State Forward Ross Suleski last seasons Class I point leader (15 g 14 a 44pts)

St. Thomas and Oyster River in their season opener played with pink "Select the Cure" soccer balls
which help raise money to fight cancer.
The game was dedicated to everyone who has been touched by Cancer.

Final total
$252.00 from raffle going to the National Breast Cancer Foundation from both Oyster River and St. Thomas.
$36.00 from Select on behalf of St. Thomas for the pink "The Cure" Balls
$50.00 for Kicks For Cancer from the wrist bands

Noreen was the volunteer who ran the scoreboard for the weekend.
When the Golf Channel cameras showed the scoreboard she was in the shot with headphones on.

St. Thomas Soccer team wishes Coach Scott & Noreen Suleski a Happy 25th

Coach Scott and Noreen Suleski celebrate 25 wonderful years.
Of course Coach is running practice this week and Noreen is volunteering all week at
the Solheim Cup in Illinois, so this is a long distance card.

Summer camp starts tonight at 4pm at St. Thomas. Please arrive early so you are dressed and ready at 4pm.
Remember to bring Water, a #5 Soccer ball, Cleats and Shinguards.

This year we will try using Twitter to send team wide announcements.
We will also also be looking to post real time game scores from the bench.
This will be helpful for people who can't attend away games or relative who live out of state.

There is still room for a players to attend the summer soccer UNH Skills camp.
If you can't attend all 5 nights you can attend 4 or 3 nights for a reduced rate.
Just contact Coach Suleski to make arrangements.

Today Coach Suleski went to Pembroke Academy to the NHIAA Preseason Rules Review.
The auditorium was filled with NH soccer officials and High School coaches.
We went over rule changes and interpretations by the NHSOA and the NFHS.
Everyone is looking forward to another exciting season of High School soccer in New Hampshire.
Only 22 more days to go.

Saturday morning after breakfast we held a team yoga stretching session in the dorm kitchen/lounge.

Then we watched the girls Lions Cup match. The NH girls were down 2-0 at halftime and came back to win 4-2.
St. Thomas was represented by Alyssa Smith in goal.

Asst. Coach Scott Suleski Head Coach Scott Zipke Asst. Coach Bill Goodrich
St. Thomas Saints (I) Hopkinton Hawks (M) Gorham Huskies (S)

The center referee for our game was Otis Worth - He refereed our State Final game against Hanover.
It was a great game, but NH lost 3-1.
It was a great experience to work with most of the best players in NH and be a part of what the Lions are doing.
I also had a wonderful time sharing stories and learning from some great coaches.

Friday afternoon - the last of 7 practices over 3 days - The NH Twin State Boys team finishes with an inter squad scrimmage.
Some of you will remember the players on the right - Yosef Oshyack (Hanover) and Ben Anthony (Conval).

Friday night the Lions had a cook out and then an awards ceremony to honor the players from all the teams.

Lion Stan Patch at the podium headed up their presence at the camp. The Lions worked hard with the coaches and the staff
from Franklin Pierce to make sure everything ran smoothly.

Going into tomorrows game, which is the 35th annual game since 1975, the NH boys team leads VT 16-11 with 7 draws.
However last year VT won 3-0 after draws in '07 and '06. Last NH win was 2-0 in 2005.

The NH All Star team is busy practicing for the Lion's Cup Twin State Game against Vermont.
The facilities at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, NH are beautiful.

Main entrance to Franklin Pierce University Entrance to Sodexho Field the 130' x 80' Turf Field

View from the upper grass soccer practice field (Which is better than any high school game field we have ever seen)

After today's afternoon practice I'm walking back to the dorm - Yes we are staying in the dorm across campus furthest from the fields- I pass a group of bicycle riders checking into the dorm closest to the field. Next to the truck with the big banner announcing the "TourdeCure 2009" Ride for the Cure for American Diabetes Association is the truck for Jerry's Bike Barn and Coach Jerry Morin is standing next to it. He and his son are riding in the event. They just rode in from Killington VT. The overall ride is 550 miles from Woburn, MA where they started at 8am on July 11. The route goes from Woburn, MA to Biddeford, ME. Then to Bartlett, NH across 302 to Montpelier, VT. Through Killington, VT to Franklin Pierce in Rindge, NH then on back to Woburn, MA. How's that for a long ride. Web site for the New England Classic and their blog page

Today coach Suleski is heading to Franklin Pierce College to coach the NH All Stars in the Lion's Cup Twin State Game against Vermont. Both Men's and Women's teams from NH and Vermont will be having "Three a Days" on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with the Game taking place on Saturday, July 18th.

This week coach Suleski is in Bethlehem, PA with his wife who is working as a volunteer for the Women's US Open Golf Tournament.
Noreen is a Clubhouse Marshall escorting players from the 18th green after they finish their rounds.

Noreen in uniform. Noreen with Laura Diaz

I know at the end of the school year we looked at getting new uniforms for the Varsity Boys and Girls for the 2009 season. When we went to order the Adidas Uniform that everyone liked we found out they were being discontinued. Thanks to Mr. Leary's great negotiating skills with Nike we will be getting new uniforms for the start of the season.

The new soccer ball is the SPALDING TF5000

Spalding TF 5000

Spalding's latest innovation.
TOP OF THE LINE GAME BALL. Hand stitched, FIFA, NFHS approved.

The Spalding TF-5000 is engineered to meet stringent FIFA and NFHS specs to maintain precise shape, balance, bounce, and ball trajectory in the most demanding weather conditions. The TF-5000 replaces the older TF-2000 model ball.

COVER: Ultra durable machine stitched PU cover.

BLADDER: Nylon windings and butyl bladder.

CONSTRUCTION: FIFA and NFHS approved. Meets all official size and weight specifications for CIF high school play.

IDEAL FOR: Top-level competitive outdoor play.

FIFA approved.

Starting with the 2009 Fall sports season the NHIAA will be using Class I sports as a test for weighting the strength of schedule for seeding in the play-offs (called heal points). This will cover all Class I sports. Fall - Boys and Girls Soccer, Golf, and Field Hockey. Winter - Boys and Girls Basketball, Spring - Baseball, Softball, Boys and Girls Tennis. This means the normal standing on the NHIAA site will not be correct when we get to the end of the season. Our teams final standings will be based on how hard our schedule was and how well the teams we played did. This will allow schools to play teams in other classes which may save on travel costs and not hurt them in the play-offs seeding. Heal points will be added based on strength of schedule.

If you remember the 2008-09 boys basketball season. They finished 5-13 and missed the last play-off spot to Souhegan who finished 6-12 and beat St. Thomas. Under the weighted schedule system St. Thomas had a much harder schedule. They played the top 8 teams 11 times and also played Dover in Class L and Groton-Dunstable in MA who finished in the top of their league. St. Thomas also beat 2 play-off seeded teams. Even though Souhegan beat St. Thomas, they had no wins against play-off teams and only played 7 of their games against the top 8 teams. Under the new system St. Thomas would have won the 16th play-off spot. While that might seem like a good thing, imagine if you were the Souhegan team knowing you had the 16th spot in the standings, but not being in the play-offs when the bracket was announced. Oyster River who finished in 3rd place 16-2 would have been seeded number 1 having played the toughest schedule. Pembroke who finished 17-1 would have been seeded third.

What does this mean for us as a soccer team. We just have to play well enough so we are not fighting for the 15th or 16th spot. If we are good enough and playing together as a team we will not have to worry about our spot, we will earn it. We just won't know who we are playing until the bracket is announced.