Staten Island, New York, April 26, 2003
Home Town Girl Makes Good
Staten Island product Virginia “Cha Chi” Leon played in front of her family, friends, and some local politicians as the New York Sharks (3-0) hosted the Rhode Island Riptide (1-2) in Staten Island. It was the first time ever that the Sharks have played in Staten Island and Leon wanted to make a good impression. She didn’t fail.
Staten Island Borough President James P. Molinaro was on hand to perform the coin toss as part of the Sharks’ Staten Island Night festivities. After he was introduced to the fans and to the teams’ captains, he flipped the coin at midfield. He must have been flipping a lucky coin as the Sharks won the toss for the third time this season and elected to receive.
New York’s first play from scrimmage was a 19 yard pass from Val Halesworth to Valerie Monaco. This put the ball on the Riptide 31 yard line. Leon ran for a short 3 yard gain and then Missy Marmorale blasted through for a 24 yard gain. With the ball on the 4-yard line, the Sharks gave the ball to Leon who was able to score at the 11:49 mark of the first quarter. Halesworth found Monaco open in the endzone for the 2-point conversion and just like that, it was New York 8, Rhode Island 0.
Rhode Island came in to the game coming off a victory to the New Hampshire Freedom and were feeling pretty confident. That is until they met New York’s aggressive defense. It didn’t take long for the Sharks to get the ball back after the kickoff. A quarterback sack on Rhode Island’s 33-yard line caused a fumble which the Sharks recovered. Halesworth then threw a 33 yard pass to Liz Presto and the score became 14-0 in favor of the Sharks with 10:16 left in the first quarter. New York added 2 more points on the coversion when Leon caught a pass from Halesworth.
Leon entertained the crowd some more later in the quarter as she picked off a Riptide pass and returned it 10 yards to the Rhode Island 30-yard line. Three plays later, Jennifer Blum caught an 18-yard pass in the endzone for another New York touchdown. The Sharks failed on the 2-point conversion but the score was now 22-0 with 3:56 left in the first quarter.
The second quarter did not get any better for the visitors. It started with the Sharks having the ball on their own 47-yard line. After 3 passes from Halesworth to Blum for 11 yards, Monica Marsh for 27 yards, and then to Presto for 20 yards, New York had their fourth touchdown of the game. The 2-point conversion failed, so the score was now 28-0.
Rhode Island could not do much offensively. Almost each series they ran, the quarterback was sacked or they fumbled the ball. When all was said and done they were held to -34 yards rushing and 39 yards passing for the whole game. The next series after the kickoff, was no different. Marmorale sacked the quarterback for a 4 yard loss to the Riptide 30-yard line. Rhode Island then fumbled the ball but recovered it for a 1 yard loss. They were forced to punt the ball back to New York where the Sharks quickly scored again.
Halesworth was having one of her best games as a passer. She kept the ball in the air on this series as the Sharks scored their fifth touchdown. The highlight was a 35 yard pass to Presto for a touchdown at 6:26. Halesworth then passed to Monaco for the 2-point conversion and the score became 36-0. Halesworth finished the evening completing 18 of 20 passes for 292 yards.
The Sharks closed out the scoring for the quarter after getting the ball back deep in Riptide territory. Rhode Island had a bad snap on a punt play and the punter was tackled for a 16 yard loss. It only took 4 plays for New York to score their last touchdown of the half. The scoring play coming on a Leon 1 yard run with 58 seconds left in the half. Courtney Eaton then powered her way in to score the 2-point conversion. Rhode Island was swarming her as she neared the goal line, but Eaton just lowered her head and smashed through for the score.
The third quarter started the same way as the rest of the game. On third down, Rhode Island fumbled the ball and Rose Addison recovered the ball for her second fumble recovery in the game. A couple of long passes, one to Blum for 14 yards and the other to Presto for 25 yards put the ball on the visitor’s 1 yard line. Halesworth handed the ball off to Leon and she scored for her third touchdown of the evening. The 2-point conversion pass play failed, but the score was 50-0 with 10:51 left in the third quater.
Halfway through the third quarter, the Riptide finally had something to cheer about. They had an 11 yard run to give them their first first down of the game. Unfortunately they could not build on that and soon the Sharks had the ball back. New York’s drive took 8 plays with a mix of runs and passes with it ending on another 1 yard touchdown run by Leon. That was her 4th touchdown of the game. New York failed to convert the 2-point conversion but the score was 56-0 with only 24 seconds left n the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Rhode Island had another reason to cheer as their new quarterback Erica Statkus threw a bomb to receiver Amy Manfred. Manfred was able to catch the ball for a Riptide 39 yard pass play moving Rhode Island down to the Sharks’ 26 yard line. She might have gone all the way except for a touchdown saving tackle by Chrissy Hilla. But Rhode Island could not repeat the feat and 3 times their passes dropped harmlessy to the ground. On the fourth pass attempt, Leon got her second interception of the game.
The Sharks tried to run out the clock in the fourth quarter by staying on the ground and giving the ball to Teresa Schirrippa. Schirrippa carried the ball for gains of 27 yards, 14 yards, and 9 yards. Eaton then scored the Sharks last touchdown by running it in from the 5-yard line. The 2-point conversion failed, but the score was now 62-0 with only 2:03 left in the game.
Rhode Island tried to come away with something positive about the game. So despite the huge deficit and little time left, the Riptide kept on throwing the football. But to add insult to injury, Toni Salvatore intercepted a pass on the New York 30 yard line to end the game.
New York’s defense remains dominant. No one has scored against the Sharks this year as they earned their third shutout for the season. But when it came time to give out the individual game balls, they went to the offense. One of the game balls went to Halesworth for her incredible passing performance which included a .900 passing percentage, 4 touchdowns, and averaging over 16 yards per pass. The other game ball went to the local fan favorite Leon. She rushed for 4 touchdowns and had 2 interceptions.
With the victory, the Sharks remain in first place, one game ahead of Philadelphia who defeated Albany this week. The Sharks have a bye next week but then go to Albany to take on division rival Albany Night-Mares. The game time is 5pm on May 10th, and will be played at Bleeker Stadium.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rhode Island Riptide | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| New York Sharks | 22 | 22 | 12 | 6 | 62 |
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
NY – (11:49) Leon 2 yard run (Monaco pass from Halesworth)
NY – (10:16) Presto 33 yard pass from Halesworth (Leon pass from Halesworth)
NY – (03:56) Blum 18 yard pass from Halesworth (pass failed)
Second Quarter
NY – (12:43) Presto 20 yard pass from Halesworth (run failed)
NY – (06:26) Presto 35 yard pass from Halesworth (Monaco pass from Halesworth)
NY – (00:58) Leon 1 yard run (Eaton run)
Third Quarter
NY – (10:51) Leon 1 yard run (pass failed)
NY – (00:24) Leon 1 yard run (pass failed)
Fourth Quarter
NY – (02:03) Eaton 5 yard run (pass failed)