Coming Up: New England NightMare

The New York Sharks (1-1) will be hosting their 13th season opener this weekend. This is the longest streak in women's football. They will be playing divisional foe the New England NightMare (0-2) at Moore Catholic High School in Staten Island. Game time is 3:00pm (EDT).

The Sharks are looking forward to coming home as they come into this game tied for second place with the Boston Militia (1-1). In their last game against the Militia in Boston, the Sharks were beaten decisively 28-7. The New Yorkers hope to re-group with some home cooking and playing a struggling New England club.

The NightMare were 2-6 in their inaugural season last year but their sophomore year is not going so well. They have lost both of their games played so far and have yet to score. Their last game in Philadelphia resulted in a 52-0 loss. But before the Sharks assume a notch in the win column, the NightMare lost to the current first place and undefeated North Eastern Nitro (2-0) by the slim margin of 13-0.

Still the Sharks have to like their chances playing their first game in front of their fans and the return of running back Kathy Holloman. The former University of Connecticut track star adds another weapon to the Sharks backfield to go along with Odessa "Yellowshoes" Jenkins. Holloman was a big cog in New York's playoff run last year but was literally knocked out of the playoffs with a concussion against the Pittsburgh Passion. She has yet to play this year as she had prior commitments.

Besides the football game, the Sharks will be honoring their mother's and grandmother's before the game and at halftime, they will be holding a Punt, Pass, and Kick contest for girls aged 8-17.

If you cannot make it to the game, you can still follow all of the hard hitting action on IYMSportsRadio.com. Pat Brown and Dave Maxwell will provide the call with the pre-game show starting at 2:30pm (EDT). You can contact the broadcast booth by joining in the discussion of the game on our Facebook page.

Gameday : Sharks at Militia

Somerville, Massachusetts, April 16, 2011
It was a dark and stormy night, and while the rain clouds didn't burst until after the game, the Boston Militia (1-1) rained on the visiting New York Sharks (1-1). The game started with overcast skies, temperature in the low 40's and wind gusts over 10 mph. Boston won the coin toss and elected to receive.
The Sharks were looking forward to this game. A win against a division rival would greatly increase the Sharks chances of getting to the playoffs but they were also looking to get some revenge against a team that knocked them out of the playoffs last year. And to top it all off, the Sharks were riding a 4 game losing streak to the Militia.

The game did not start off well for the visitors. On the first play from scrimmage, former Shark and now running back Chante Bonds for the Boston Militia dropped a sideline pass for no gain, but New York was called for off-sides and that put the ball at the Boston 42-yard line. From here Boston kept running the ball against New York as they marched down the field. Another off-sides penalty on the Sharks and the Militia were deep in New York territory. Boston quarterback Alison Cahill then went to the air and found another former Shark Adrienne Smith open for a 19 yard gain to the Sharks 16-yard line. Cahill tried to go to the air on the very next play but New York linebacker Darleen Hall chased the quartrerback out of the pocket and to the right sideline. From there Cahill was able to scamper down the sideline and just made it into the endzone for the first score of the game.

The Militia drew first blood and made it look easy. It only took them 8 plays to cover 63 yards and they never got into a third down situation. Ashely Snyder kicked the extra point and the score was 7-0 in favor of the home team with 9:36 left in the first quarter.
New York tried to answer right back by coming out throwing. Quarterback Karen Mulligan hit wide receiver Lauren Pringle for a nice 13 yard gain, but then had 3 incomplete passes that forced the Sharks to punt.

Boston put on a good rush during the punt and Sharks punter Joy Dollison had to rush her kick. That plus she was kicking into a strong wind, the ball only went 10 yards, giving Boston the ball on their own 39-yard line.

Again Boston stayed on the ground and methodically moved down the field. Once they got into Sharks territory, Cahill again went to the air for a 30 yard pick-up. Cahill then handed the ball off to Bonds who ran up the middle for a 16 yard touchdown. It was another 8 play drive by the Militia and after another Snyder extra point, the Sharks were down by two touchdowns at the end of the first quarter.
As Yogi Berra would say, it was deja vue all over again as Boston scored on 8 plays on their very next drive. This time all 8 plays were on the ground as the Militia front line just pushed the New York defensive line around as backs Donaldson and Stacey Tiamfook picked up multiple double digit gains on their carries. The scoring play was a quarterback sneak by Cahill from the 2-yard line. After the extra point, Boston had a pretty commanding 3 touchdown lead with 7:01 left in the first half.

The game was quickly sliding away and it didn't make matters any better when the Sharks fumbled the ball back to Boston, giving the Militia a first down at the New York 34-yard line. But this time the defense was able to keep Boston out of the endzone. The Militia did try for a 40-yard field goal attempt but the windy conditions blew the ball short and to the left of the goalposts.

With the first half coming to a close and New York down by 3 scores, the Sharks were desperate to put up a score. Relying on the arm of Mulligan and running back Odessa Jenkins, the Sharks were able to march down the field into the Boston red zone. But time was running out, the Sharks were on the Boston 6-yard line but there was only 24 seconds left in the half. Mulligan threw a pass to a wide open Val Halesworth but she was only at the 5 yard line. She thought she had some running room and ran back to the middle of the field towards the endzone instead of heading for the sideline. She was tackeld at the 2-yard as time quickly ticked away. New York quickly rushed to the line of scrimmage and Mulligan was able to spike the ball with 0.5 seconds left on the clock. With the clock stopped, the Sharks were able to get their field goal unit onto the field, but the wind affected this kick as well and it went wide right as time expired.

The Sharks made some adjustments in the second half and played much better, but being down by 3 touchdowns was too much. On offense, New York was able to move the ball mostly through the air but when they got into the red zone, they just could not punch it in for the touchdown. And being down by 3 touchdowns, they had to forego the field goal attempts.

The defense played much better but they did have one lapse. Similar to a play in Philadelphia, the secondary let a wide receiver get behind them and like in Philadlephia, the opposing team's quarterback burned the Sharks. This time it was Smith who went deep and scored on a 73 yard pass play. Snyder kicked the extra point and the Militia pushed their lead to 28-0.

It looked like New York might get shutout when they got the ball on their own 25-yard line with less than 2 minutes left to play in the game. With nothing to lose, Mulligan came out firing. She threw for 9 straight plays and connected on 5 of them. The big play was a 33 yard gain to Jen Blum on a 4th down and 14 yards to go. Mulligan threw a perfect pass down the right side line that Blum made a nice grab before being forced out of bounds at the Boston 15-yard line.

Mulligan then hit Pringle with a pass down the middle to the 2-yard line, but Pringle fought her way the last 2 yards to get the New Yorkers on the scoreboard. Joy Dollison spllit the uprights for the extra point and the Sharks avoided getting a zero for the game. The final score was 28-7 in favor of the ladies from Beantown.
This was another tough loss at the hands of the Boston Militia. Boston dominated most of the game and this stretched the Sharks losing streak to 5 games against Boston. Before this losing streak, the Sharks had beaten a Boston team 9 times in a row.

The Sharks have a week off before they finally head home to play their 13th home opener on April 30th. The Sharks are back in Staten Island as they will play the New England NightMares (0-2), kick-off is at 3pm (EDT) at Moore Cathollic High School. If you can't make it to the game, you can still follow all the action on IYMSportsRadio.com as Pat Brown and Dave Maxwell describe all of the action. Plus you can join us in talking about the game as we will comment live from the broadcast booth during the game on our Facebook page in the discussion section.

	1	2	3	4	Final
New York Sharks	0	0	0	7	7
Boston Militia	14	7	0	7	28

Scoring Summary
First Quarter
BOS - (09:36) Cahill 21 yard run (Snyder kick)
BOS - (01:42) Bonds 12 yard pass from Cahill (Snyder kick)
Second Quarter
BOS - (07:01) Cahill 2 yard run (Snyder kick)
Fourth Quarter
BOS - (07:13) Smith 72 yard pass from Cahill (Snyder kick)
NY - (00:21) Pringle 15 yard pass from Mulligan (Dollison kick)

History: Boston vs. New York

There are no two cities with a bigger sports rivalry than New York and Boston. This past weekend, Fenway Park was jammed full from the populace of Red Sox Nation as the hometown team took on the hated New York Yankees. Despite an 0-6 start, the boys from Beantown took 2 out of 3 games and Red Sox fans started climbing back on to the bus. The rivalry between these two great cities doesn't stop with just baseball, the Bruins-Rangers, Patriots-Jets, and Celtics-Knicks also bring packed stands. Well, maybe not so much with the Knicks.

The rivalry even transcends into women's football. Starting back in 2000, the New York Sharks played their first regular season game against a team from Boston, the New England Storm. The game was a hard-fought battle that was tied 8-8 at the half. The Sharks took the lead on a 40-yard touchdown run by running back Nathalie Jufer and the defense made it stand up for the rest of the game for a New York victory on the road.

It didn't take long for Boston to get its revenge as the two teams met again the following weekend in New York. This time the Storm prevailed 3-0. It was a bizarre field goal as the visitor's kicker missed the first time but the Sharks were called for a penalty. Boston kicked again and missed again, but New York was called for another penalty...again. Well the third time was the charm and that gave the win to Boston.

The two teams met again in the playoffs that season up in snowy New England. The Sharks tried their best but fell short 10-7. The Storm then went on to play the Houston Energy for the WPFL Championship Game, but lost.

From 2001 until 2006, the rivalry cooled off. During that time the team from Boston changed names, changed ownership, changed leagues, and changed players many times. The Sharks dominated the New Englanders during that stretch going a perfect 9-0 with 7 shutouts. They outscored Boston 255-18.

But starting in 2006 the games with the now Boston Militia started to be more competitive. Boston was still on the short side of the score but they were getting a few points of their own. It wasn't until 2008 when Boston got their first victory over New York in 8 years by the score of 28-14.

That game seemed to be a watershed moment as Boston has won 4 games in a row against New York. Their last victory was last year as Boston knocked New York out of the playoffs in the IWFL Divisional Playoff game.  This Boston went on to the IWFL Championship Game and won.

This week the rivalry starts up all over again as the New York Sharks take on the Boston Militia up in Massachusetts this saturday, April 16th.  The Sharks are coming off a solid victory over the Philadelphia Liberty Belles while Boston came away with a loss from the D.C. Divas.  This should be a good game as both teams are fighting for the WFA North Atlantic Division title.  If the Sharks can hand the Militia their second loss of the year, the Boston women will be in a hole as big as Boston's boys of summer.

Kick-off between these two old foes will be 6pm (EDT) at Dilboy Stadium in Somerville, Massachusetts. If you can't make it to the game, you can still follow all of the action live as Pat Brown and Dave Maxwell will call the game on IYMSportsRadio.com.

Game Day: Sharks at Liberty Belles

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 2, 2011
The New York Sharks (1-0) kicked off their record setting 13th season against an old foe, the Philadelphia Liberty Belles (0-1). The Sharks had played against the Liberty Belles eight seasons ago when both teams were in the IWFL. They played twice that year and New York shut out the Liberty Belles, 48-0 and 58-0. This time the Sharks were playing a Philadelphia team that went undefeated during the regular season last year to win their division in the WFA.

It was a nice cool April evening as the team's kicked-off. The Sharks lost the coin toss and the Liberty Belles elected to receive the ball. Philadelphia had a decent kick-off return and started their drive on their own 40- yard line. The home team looked a bit tentative on offense and quickly went 3 and out and were forced to punt.

The Sharks caught a break on a short punt that took a very favorable bounce for the visitors and New York started their possession on the Liberty Belles 40-yard line. New York's offense also started off quite tentatively and after 2 running plays they had only picked up 2 yards. On third down, New York went to the air and quarterback Karen Mulligan threw deep to the right sideline for wide receiver Lauren Pringle. Pringle caught the ball at the 15-yard line but had one foot out of bounds for and incomplete pass. The Sharks new head coach Darnell Stapleton then decided to roll the dice and go for it on a fourth and 8 yards to go. He thought it was a good bet as his defense had stopped the Philadelphia offense cold on the previous possession.

On fourth down, Mulligan again went to the air and again went looking for Pringle on the right side of the field. It was basically the exact same play and this time Pringle caught the ball at the 10-yard line and ran into the endzone uncontested. Place kicker Joy Dollison then came into to kick the extra point and New york had quickly drawn first blood to take a 7-0 lead only 3:37 into the game.

On the Liberty Belles next possession they got a nice 19 yard run by running back Jeanette Hibbs. She was able to get into New York territory but then Philadelphia's quarterback Mikaelyn Austin missed handing the ball off to runner Diamond Jones and the Sharks recovered the fumble.

New York could not capitalize on the turnover even though they were able to move the ball to the Philadelphia 32 -yard line. Again the Sharks tried to go for it on fourth down but this time the Libery Belles made the stop. But any high they got from the stop quickly turned to a low as the home team fumbled the football away again. This time Hibbs got hit at the line of scrimmage by safety Odessa Jenkins and linebacker Darleen Hall recovered the bumbled ball.

Starting in excellent field position on the Liberty Belles 35-yard line, Mulligan quickly connected with receiver Jen Blum for a 5 yard gain. Blum was on the receving end of another pass and New York had a first down at the Philadelphia 30-yard line. Gearing up for the pass, the Liberty Belles blitzed on the next series of plays. Their aggressiveness caused the Sharks drive to stall. It was now fourth down on the home team's 27-yard line and the sharks braintrust decided to go for it again. The over eager Belles went off-sides and put the ball on the Philadelphia 22-yard line. It was still fourth down, but this time coach Stapleton shouted for the field goal unit to take the field.

A New York Sharks field goal is a rare thing. It has been attempted less than 5 times over the past decade and only once have they made one. But coach Stapleton confidently sent out his place kicker Dollison and she calmly booted a 39 yard field goal to extend the Sharks lead by 10 points with only seconds remaining in the first quarter.

In the middle of the second quarter, the Sharks defense forced Philadelphia to punt again after only 3 plays. On the punt, Jenkins picked up the ball on the New York 25-yard line and ran to her left. She was met quickly by the Liberty Belles defense but Jenkins shedded the tackle and ran across the field to the right side. There she found a hole with the help of a block by Toni Salvatore. Salvatore got the worst of the hit as she was stunned, but it freed Jenkins all the way to the Philadelphia 40-yard line. From there it only took one play as Mulligan found a wide open Pringle down the middle for a touchdown. Dollison hit her second extra point of the evening to give New York a 17-0 lead.

It looked like the Sharks could coast to an easy win as the defense continued to shut down the home team. But Philadelphia made a big adjustment and went with a trips formation. The Liberty Belles would line up three receivers to the left but then put one of them in motion. Twice they did this and each time they handed the ball off to Kimberly Colyar who ran to the right and she picked up gains of 12 yards both times. Philadelphia tried to change things a bit by handing the ball to Hibbs for a run up the middle but she was stopped cold for a 1 yard loss. Still lining up in the trips formation, the Liberty Belles went to the air as Austin rolled to her right and threw to a wide open Hibbs who caught the ball on the 5-yard line and walked into the endzone. Kick Hibbs split the uprights and the Liberty Belles were back in the game with 3:19 left in the half.

New York answered right back as Jenkins was handed the ball and she just ran right up the middle and it was like Moses parting the Red Sea. She ran 74 yards in to the endzone and after another Dollison extra point, the Sharks regained their 17 point lead with 2:19 left in the half.

On their last possession the Philadlephia offense seemed to have found something that worked and they kept right at it. Staying in the trips formation they marched down the field in less than two minutes. A big personal foul against the Sharks helped too and it all culminated with a 1 yard run by running back Jennifer Rosario to put Philadelphia back on the board again. A Hibbs extra point and the home team was now only down by 2 touchdowns at halftime.

New York started the second half with the ball. On this drive, Jenkins showed why she was the league's MVP last season. The Sharks starting from their own 44-yard line, the just kept giving the ball to Jenkins. She banged out gains of 12 yards, 4 yards, 3 yards, 6 yards, and 16 yards. There was a short pass to Val Halesworth for a 7 yard gain, but then it was back to Jenkins to pick up the final 3 yards for the score. A Dollison kick and the score was now 31-14 with 9:37 left in the third quarter.

New York tacked on another 3 points when Dollison connected on her second field goal of the evening. It had taken the Sharks 9 years to get their first field goal ever in 2008 and in the span of only 30 minutes, Dollison had made two. This made the score 34-14 with 3:34 left in the third quarter.
Looking at a 3 touchdown deficit, the Liberty Belles opened up their offense and came out throwing on almost every play. They did not have a whole lot of success but were able to put up one final score when Colyar caught a 9 yard toss from Austin but then split the New York defenders down the field for a 57 yard touchdown reception. Philadelphia went for the two point play but the pass was dropped in the endzone and that was the last score of the game.

The New York Sharks started off a new season in a new league and with a new head coach and came away with that old familiar feeling of a win. Coach Stapleton was congratulated by his players with a ceremonial ice water bath from a Gatorade bucket. This was a nice win as the Sharks did not know what to expect from the WFA teams. Philadelphia was a playoff team last year and New York was able to hold their own and on the road.

The New York Sharks will travel north to New England to take on their divisional rival Boston Militia (0-1). The Sharks are looking for payback as Boston knocked New York out of the playoffs last season in the first round of the playoffs. Boston will be looking for their first win of the season as they lost a hard fought battle in D.C. Kick-off will be at 6:00pm (EDT). If you cannot make it to the game, listen to Pat Brown and Dave Maxwell describe all of the action over the Women's Football Network on IYMSportsRadio.com.

	1	2	3	4	Final
New York Sharks	10	14	10	0	34
Philadelphia Liberty Belles	0	14	0	6	20

Scoring Summary
First Quarter
NY - (11:23) Pringle 38 yard pass from Mulligan (Dollison kick)
NY - (00:44) Dollison 39 yard field goal
Second Quarter
NY - (09:16) Pringle 40 yard pass from Mulligan (Dollison kick)
PHA - (03:19) Hibbs 28 yard pass from Austin (Hibbs kick)
NY - (02:19) Jenkins 74 yard run (Dollison kick)
PHA - (00:54) Rosario 1 yard run (Hibbs kick)
Third Quarter
NY - (09:37) Jenkins 3 yard run (Dollison kick)
NY - (03:34) Dollison 31 yard field goal
Fourth Quarter

PHA - (11:47) Colyar 57 yard pass from Austin (pass failed)