Senior Night

Thursday night, St. Francis celebrated Senior Night for 16 senior fall sport athletes and two exchange students.  This marks one of the largest groups of seniors for any season in recent memory at St. Francis.  The following is a list of those who will were honored:

Soccer - Riley Gregor, Jose Zapata, Abas Isgowe, Cole Von Feldt, Gray Thurstone, Kenny Gray, Joe Harlan, Mohammed Alwan, Jack Hanekamp, Graham Cote and Simon Spengler (exchange student).

Field Hockey - Kinsey Morrison, Alma Herovic, Stuart Matson, Eliza Jay, Olivia Beres and Fatima Ceballos (exchange student).

The field hockey team played host to rival North Oldham.  There's plenty of history between these teams as they've met at least once the past five seasons.  While St. Francis held an early edge, the Mustangs have gained ground over recent years and the match has brewed into a great rivalry between the two schools.  North Oldham actually beat the Wyverns last year in their only match.

The game started fast for St. Francis; the team came out attacking offensively and scored an early goal when Page Dabney slammed one into the back of the net in the first five minutes of the competition.  The teams battled on and the Wyverns bent but did not break as they took a 1-0 lead into halftime. Following the break, the Wyverns picked up where they left off in the first half, on the attack.  Deep into the second half St. Francis struggled to get the ball out of their end of the field. Eighth grade goalkeeper Natalie McClain battled in the cage, turning back shot attempt after attempt.  With 30 seconds remaining in the game, North Oldham found the back of the goal to push the match into sudden death overtime.  Early in overtime, senior defender Alma Herovic went down after taking a ball to the foot, and left the game.  Her absence meant a lot for the Wyverns who surrendered the game-winning goal shortly after her injury.  The Wyverns played an absolutely tremendous game and should be proud of their effort.  

The soccer team took on Whitfield Academy.  They bucked their season-long trend and came out strong in the first half, jumping to an early lead in the first four minutes with a goal by Abas Isgowe, coming from a perfect give-and-go assist from fellow senior Cole Von Feldt. They generated many more opportunities in the first half, taking 17 shots and 10 on goal, but failed to find the back of the net and took a 1-0 lead into halftime. The seniors came out strong again in the second half with another left-footed blast from Abas into the side netting, off an assist from Riley Gregor. The team battled to protect the lead, but fatigue set in as two late goals were surrendered, resulting in a hard-fought 2-2 tie. Senior goalkeeper Kenny Gray had another outstanding week, with 25 saves between this game and the one on Tuesday.

Soccer

On Tuesday the soccer team traveled to Marion County for a late game under the lights as part of the Breast Cancer Awareness and Survivors event. The team fell behind early and struggled to generate any offense against an aggressive offsides trap strategy. They recovered nicely and learned how to attack the trap to generate more chances in the second half, but unfortunately the team came up short in a 4-0 loss.

The team has great momentum and a positive attitude heading into the district tournament next week. Go Wyverns!

Field Hockey

On Tuesday night, the field hockey team hosted Manual for their annual district match.  Manual has a strong program and held the edge much of the match, taking 18 penalty corners to our one, but the Wyverns held tough.  The final score was 4-0. Natalie McClain had 14 defensive saves in the goal.

District Tournament Update

The soccer team will open the district tournament next week at duPont Manual Stadium on Burnett Ave.  They play Central on Monday night at 6:00 p.m.  The winner of the game will take on top-seeded Manual in the district championship.  The winner of the opening-round game against Central will also advance to play in the regional tournament October 21-25.  In their regular season match this year, Central and St. Francis played to a 2-2 tied at the end of regulation.  St. Francis will be the home team for this match.  

Field hockey district tournament games will be played at duPont Manual's Rachel Baker Field.  We will be the 3 seed after finishing 2-2 in district play this year.  While the opponent of the match is still not known, we will play on Tuesday, October 22nd at 5:00 p.m.  A win will allow us to advance to the district championship Wednesday at 6:00 p.m.

Cross Country

9th grader Chris McDearman, our lone runner, has competed in several meets so far this year.  Last night at the Providence Invitational he finished 71st in the varsity meet against some very good competition.  He ran a personal-best 24:40 for the 5K event on a fairly hilly course.  Chris has fought through some bizarre setbacks this year:  a jersey falling off throughout the race; five beestings while he ran, finishing with a host of bees inside his clothing; torrential rain washing out a course; and, last night, a fall on the course leading to being kicked by another runner.  Through it all, Chris has persevered, and has continued to lower his times. Hisr last meet before the regional competition is the Private School Championship at McNeely Lake (site of the bee stings) on October 22nd.  I have been assured the bees are gone, but I may not tell Chris just so he'll run faster to avoid them.

Basketball

This week the boys' and girls' varsity coaches and teams held training camps for Lower and Middle School basketball players.  Tuesday and Wednesday, over 30 students participated in drills and competitions.  The coaches would like to thank all those who attended and encourage them to come out to support the varsity teams this winter.  The event was such a success that the coaches talked about hosting similar events a few more times during the school year.  Plans are in the works for summer basketball camps as well.  

On Saturday, the boys' and girls' 7th and 8th grade players will participate in the same event.  This event is open to 6th grade players as well and will be held at St. Stephen's Family Life Center (1508 W. Kentucky St.), 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.  Please feel free to show up and pay at the door if interested, or email Tony Butler at tbutler@stfrancisschool.org.  

Basketball officially kicks off for the varsity teams on Tuesday, October 15th.  Boys' practices will be held from 3:45-5:30 p.m.; the girls will practice 4:00-6:00 p.m.  

Any athlete that does not have a complete physical will not be able to participate until the form is completed and turned into the athletic office.  

Parents - The next Parent Discussion Group is Friday, November 1st at 8:15 a.m.  We will be discussing the Madeline Levine book Teach Your Children Well (which was one of the faculty summer reading options this summer). I have seven copies of the book in my office.  Please let me know if you would like to borrow a copy. Levine introduces the idea of helping children achieve "authentic success" and the culture of stress for children and adolescents in our society today.  She gives important developmental information and clear ideas of how to help your teenager achieve "authentic success".  You don't have to read the book to join in on the discussion. If you would just like to read the portion of the book that is applicable to adolescents, that is an option as well.

Our Parent Discussion Group this month discussed the academic, social, behavioral, and emotional characteristics of the high school years. Thank you to all of the parents for making it such an interesting and lively discussion!  A topic that came up was the issue of social invitations from new friends, particularly when parents may not know the other parents.  As a school, we always encourage parents to reach out to one another regarding invitations, details, supervision, expectations, etc. Earlier this school year, Emily Boyle emailed the link to our 2013-14 Student Directory, which has phone numbers and email addresses.  If you don't have the email, you can contact Emily and she will resend the link.

I hope to see a number of you in November!