Archive: Sports

1998 BOYS SOCCER
Inducted 2017
The team was nominated for the Hall of Fame a few years ago by Adam Heck. Their envelopes were presented by Beth Heck and daughters Madyson and Alexis.

The 1998 Boys Soccer team was the first soccer team to win a soccer Sectional Championship in Lansing school history. Let's hear what the Ithaca Journal had to say in their pre-season article regarding the I A C.

"Last season's 12-5-2 mark earned the Bobcats a Section IV Class C quarter final appearance, where Greene posted a 2-0 win ending Lansing's season. This season, Lansing seems to be prepared for anything."

Journal author Dean Russin continued, "Six seniors lead a cast of 12 returning varsity players captained by midfielder Jamie Maywright and defender Ben Hardie. Senior John Lugiano, 1997's leading scorer among Lansing's returners (8 goals and 12 assists), will accompany sophomore Jamie Wright and junior Ben Frahm on the front line as forwards. These three forwards combined for 27 goals and 22 assists last season and should provide the bulk of the scoring again this fall. In addition to what appears to be a rock-solid offense, the defense returns three starters from the '97 squad that will shut down opponents before reaching goalkeeper Jim Volbrecht, who recorded 119 saves and 5 shutouts last season."

The Bobcats opened the season by winning the Sherburne-Earlville Kick-Off Tournament, defeating Morris 8-0 and Bainbridge-Guilford 5-0, riding two shutouts by goalie Jimmy Volbrecht.

In their next 11 games they went 8-0-3, before losing back to back games to Southern Cayuga and Marathon, to finish the regular season with a 12-2-4 record.

The Bobcats opened their Section IV run, being seeded 5th. Their first round match-up was with Oxford, and the Bobcats won 2-0. Oxford, a 12 seed, was the Small School Champion from the MAC, the Mid-State Athletic Conference.

Jamie Maywright put the Bobcats ahead 1-0, but three minutes later Oxford tied the score on a penalty kick.

In the closing minutes of the contest, Jon Van Duren placed a far-post runner in the top corner of the net, off of a Ben Frahm pass for the decisive score.

"He was in the right place at the right time," Lansing Coach Adam Heck said. "He was just kind of right there and had nothing else to do with it, so he just put it in the net". Lansing out shot Oxford 17-5 and in corner kicks 5-1. Volbrecht had 3 saves, as his defense was tight.

Lansing was then matched up against IAC Large School Champion Newark Valley, 14-4-1, who was seeded 4th. Newark Valley advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating Candor 4-1.

Intense physical play by the Bobcats caused Newark Valley to self-destruct mentally as the Bobcats won 4-0.

Coach Heck said, "We've been talking all year about keeping our composure and coming into this game, we knew it was going to be very physical".

In the first period, from the far left side of the field, Jamie Maywright lofted a long pass to the far post. Ben Frahm clipped it with a perfectly-timed slide, beating goalkeeper Dave Gorsline to the upper right corner for a 1-0 lead with 21:24 remaining in the half.


Next, it was Charlie Zabriskie on a direct kick just outside the 18 that was redirected to a Lansing player right off of the goalie.

Gorsline managed to get a hand on the ball before Zabriskie touched it across the goalmouth to Jamie Maywright.

Maywright then sent a shot and a Newark Valley defender into the back of the net.

Josh Varga netted the third goal off of a Jamie Wright crossing pass to make it 3-0.

Jon Lugiano capped the scoring with 7:22 remaining, when a wind aided kick from the 50 took one giant bounce in the Newark Valley box to back-up keeper Jeremy Bovair, who couldn't get a handle on the ball. Lugiano hooked a short, sliding shot around the keeper for the final score. Lansing out shot Newark Valley 20-10 and out corner kicked them 5-0.

Shorty Volbrecht had 4 saves as he pitched a shut-out.

With the win, Lansing moved on to play the Large School Mid Athletic Conference Champion Greene, the #2 ranked team in New York State.

The location of this Sectional semi-final contest……….. Greene, on their home field.

On a frigid Tuesday afternoon, this game was scoreless at the end of regulation play. Greene's top player, Jordan McMullen, entered the contest with 34 goals for the season and over 100 goals for his career. McMullen experienced a difficult day being guarded by Lansing's Steve Daniels. With McMullen's speed and skill, he threatened on every touch, but failed time after time to find the net. Greene's Jared Raimo delivered the jolt that put Greene up 1-0, 4:46 into the first overtime period, when he pooched a shot, just over the reach of Volbrecht.

But just over a minute later, the Bobcats Ben Frahm struck back to tie the game at 1.

The game tying play resulted from a perfectly executed separation of three Lansing players from 30 yards out.

The trio converged on a loose ball and when John Lugiano gained control, the other two slanted out to open passing lanes to either side of the senior forward.

Lugiano hooked a pass to the far post, making Greene goalie Stan Fendryke hesitate on a decision to come out of his position or stay at home. After taking two steps in pursuit of the pass, Fendryke returned to the goal mouth, just in time to get a hand on Ben Frahm's rocket shot. But it wasn't enough to stop the shot from entering inside the opposite post. In the second overtime period, it was Ben Frahm again, taking a long pass from Defenseman Alex Wilson.

Frahm wound up unmarked with the ball, gathered himself from penalty-kick range and poked a shot to the upper right corner that hit the crossbar and spun backwards over the goal line for the game winner.

"It feels great and I'm speechless right now", Lansing head coach Adam Heck said after his Bobcats had just defeated the #1 seed in Section IV and #2 ranked team in the State. Heck continued, "We wanted it from last year. All year, my kids said we want to play Greene. They ended our season last year and now we have gotten revenge".

That exhilaration didn't last long, as the Bobcats were headed to the Section IV finals to meet their nemesis, Southern Cayuga.

Earlier in the season Southern Cayuga tied Lansing 5-5, after leading the Cats 3-0. Lansing, with 4 unanswered goals from Ben Frahm, Brad Connors, Jamie Maywright and Jamie Wright took a 4-3 lead. The Chiefs came back to tie the game at 4 and John Lugiano scored putting the Bobcats up 5-4. But Lansing couldn't hang on and gave up a goal to Jim McGarr with 5:30 remaining, for the 5-5 tie.

Three weeks later, Lansing would taste defeat for the first time, losing to Southern Cayuga 2-1. Charlie Zabriskie scored the lone goal for the Bobcats.

With the memory of those two games in their mind, Lansing knew the Section IV title game, to be played in Oneonta, would be a physical match-up.

With two well balanced teams, the game was evenly played at both ends of the field. Midway through the first half, John Lugiano was able to find the back of the net with a well-placed hard kick from Jamie Wright.

With both teams equally strong on offense and defense, Lansing was able to hold off the Chiefs until the waning moments of the second half, when a Southern Cayuga corner kick was headed into the net. But the shot was hit by Steve Daniels hand and veered away from the net.

With the hand ball in the penalty box, Daniels was given a red card and had to leave the game. Southern Cayuga then lined up for a penalty kick by Jim McGarr, only to be denied by a lunging Jim Volbrecht, to keep Lansing's 1-0 lead.

Keeper Jim Volbrecht said, "Coach Heck gave me an idea where McGarr likes to shoot. I followed coach's instructions and was able to make the save".

Lansing played the remainder of the game one man short because of the red card penalty. But despite the one man advantage and a persistent attack, Southern Cayuga was unable to get the ball in the net and Lansing came away with the 1-0 win at the final whistle for the Section IV Class "C" title. Once again Coach Heck's defense was outstanding, with Ben Hardie, Alex Wilson, Sam Fenton and Steve Daniels shutting down the opponent.

After defeating three teams ranked higher than their humble #5 seed, Lansing returned to Oneonta for a NYS Public High School Athletic Association Regional quarter final contest against Coach Heck's alma mater, Hamilton High School. Hamilton's record 18-1-1 and a #2 State ranking. They were also the defending Class D State Champions.

The Emerald Knights were able to strike early in the second half, taking a 1-0 lead, on a ball that keeper Volbrecht was unable to punch over the cross bar.

Lansing gave the Emerald Knights a scare midway through the second half, when a Hamilton player was called for a hand ball in the box that resulted in a penalty kick for Lansing.


Junior midfielder Brad Connors set up for the kick, and fired a shot to the high, right side past Hamilton keeper Rick Hoopes to tie the game at 1. Two minutes later Hamilton scored and then added a third goal with 11:42 left to put the game away.

Lansing ended the season 16-3-4 and finished #6 in the final NY State Class C rankings. Lansing outscored their opponents 61-27. They recorded 10 shutouts, a testament to their strong defensive core of Ben Hardie, Steve Daniels, Alex Wilson and Sam Fenton. The Bobcats also qualified as an All-Academic Team.

There were also players that didn't make the headlines but contributed in other ways; with hustle, passion, determination and knowledge of the game. Those included Matt Aasen, Matt Brown and Jonas Ely-Rubik.

I would like to share an email I received from one of your teammates. It reads:

'I won't be able to make the ceremony, but it's fun to think about that season. Stephen's hand ball that sent us to the States. Ben's concussion, when he went out to play the second half, after the game was over. Long, slow distance runs, 2 against 2 heading tournaments, Jimmy's monster punts, Hardie's Silver Fox and Coach Heck laughing, yelling and crying all within 15 minutes.

"I wish he was here to celebrate. I hope you are all well. Let me know if you are ever in Charlottesville, VA.

"Brad Connors"

Individual honors came Lansing's way with 3 first team I A C selections in: Defender (Jr) Steve Daniels, Striker (Sr) John Lugiano and mid-fielder, co-captain and (Sr) Jamie Maywright.

Four (4) Bobcats were named as second team I A C All-stars: Midfielder (Jr) Brad Connors, defender, co-captain and (Sr) Ben Hardie, Goal Keeper (Sr) Jimmy Volbrecht and striker (So) Jamie Wright.

Nineteen (19) years after this team won the Section IV Class C title, a number of players are still ranked in various top 10 categories.

Goal Keeper Jim Volbrecht ranks #3 in career saves with 269. Jamie Wright ranks #1 in career goals with 59. Brad Connors ranks tied for #8 in Career Assists with 27 John Lugiano ranks tied for #8 in Career Assists with 27 Matt Brown ranks #7 in Career Assists with 31. Jamie Wright ranks #5 in Career Assists with 32. And Jamie Wright ranks #1 in Career Points with 150.

The Team Captains were Ben Hardie and Jamie Maywright

Lansing's Head Coach was Adam Heck Assistant Coach Josh Lacey Managers Nick Dhimitri and Ryan Moore

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