The Bishop O’Connell girl’s basketball team completed its turnaround season this past Friday losing to Liberty Christian, 61-58, in the semifinals of Virginia Independent School Division I State Tournament.
In a back-and-forth game that had eight ties and nine lead changes, the Knights (17-13) led by one heading into the fourth quarter, but a late lay-up by Liberty Christian’s Hanka Musa put the Bulldogs on top for good.
Seniors Sarah Jones (18 points), Kelly Horvath (12 points), Shannon Tumelty (12 points), and Meg Lagos (11 points) led O’Connell in scoring. Although it didn’t take home a state title, O’Connell improved its win total by 12 games this year after not qualifying for the state tournament, winning just five times a season ago.
<b>Goal of Year for Curaca</b>
This past weekend at the US Youth Soccer Awards Gala in San Jose, Calif., Yorktown High School student Marcus Curaca was named the recipient of the Goal of the Year award.
Curaca, an Arlington native, netted his goal of the year while playing with his travel team, Venom, in the 2008 Jefferson Cup in Richmond. The score was 0-0, only a few minutes remained in the game and the team needed a win to move on in the tournament. Though he had never done it in a game, or practiced it for that matter, Curaca scored the game-winning goal with a bicycle kick.
Check out video of the goal at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1LVEGD0FEg.
Curaca attends Yorktown High School in Arlington and will graduate in 2011. He holds a 3.8 grade point average while taking some Advanced Placement courses as well as being on the Honor Roll. He received First Place in Engineering in the 2006 Regional Science Fair and is a member of the Hispanic Leadership Conference. Curaca played high school basketball in 2007 and was part of the Virginia Northern District Olympic Development Program (ODP) Pool in soccer.
The Arlington Venom play year-round soccer, including Region 1 in the spring. The Venom compete in numerous nationally recognized tournaments such as the CASL Raleigh Shootout and Jefferson Cup. For the first time this winter, Venom traveled to Orlando to compete in the Disney Showcase at the Wide World of Sports. They advanced to the semi-finals, taking third place in the Predator Division.
<b>Radloff Makes NCAAs</b>
William and Mary Tribe swimmer Katie Radloff will compete for All-American honors in the 2009 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships beginning on March 19 on the campus of Texas A&M University. Radloff, an Arlington native, will swim in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle events.
The junior qualified in a tie for 18th in the 50, 19th in the 100 free, and 52nd in the 200 free. At the CAA Championships recently, Radloff won all three events, setting the CAA conference, CAA championship meet, William and Mary school, and Jim McKay Natatorium records in all three events. In total, Radloff took home six gold medals and a silver medal at the CAA Championships this season.
Radloff becomes the only swimmer, male or female, to ever get invited to the NCAA Championships three times. Last year at the NCAA Championships, Radloff set a then school-record in the 100 free, placing 20th. Radloff finished 34th in the 100 free and placed 51st in the 200 free.