Sewickley Herald notebook: Quaker Valley hockey tough to beat
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Sunday, January 5, 2025 | 11:01 AM
Quaker Valley’s Jace Vasbinder celebrates with teammates after scoring against Shaler on Nov. 21 at Alpha Ice Complex in Harmar. Vasbinder had 17 goals after 14 games.
Quaker Valley was the only undefeated team in the PIHL Class A Gold Division in games played through Dec. 31, as the Quakers were 14-0 and entertained a slight lead over second-place Chartiers Valley (10-1).
After 14 games, the Quakers had surrendered just 14 goals behind spectacular goaltending by senior Landon Buterbaugh (8-0, 1.25 GAA) and junior Ian Lorang (6-0, 0.67 GAA). Lorang had four shutouts and a .960 save percentage.
Offensively, QV had accounted for a division-high 89 goals as four players — juniors Max Modrovich (17 goals), Jace Vasbinder (17) and Ben McHenry (12) and freshman Matthias Lezama (16) — had scored a total of 62 times.
Shaler (10-3), Montour (8-4) and Plum (7-6) rounded out the top five in the division standings at the beginning of the new year.
Five Quaker Valley players were selected in Class A for the 2025 PIHL all-star games: Buterbaugh, Jacob Keisel, McHenry, Modrovich and Vasbinder.
C.J. Wright of Sewickley Academy also was chosen as a Division 2 all-star.
NHS welcomes members
A total of 80 Quaker Valley students — many of whom are athletes — were inducted into the National Honor Society this fall.
The school’s newest NHS members include Ariana Ahmed, Bruce Anderchak, Ainsley Anderson, Ana Luiza Bacchi, Parker Barnes, Tyler Bell, Braxton Brown, Matthew Buhr, Margaret Burns, Gina Cafarelli, River Capek, Grace Carver, Levi Carver, Vivian Cherock, Patrick Connors, Emma Currier, Mat Danna, Ryan Dusch, Reagan Eichert, Meredith Fallgren, Mackenzie Felouzis, Mia Floro, Krista Foster, Gabriella Frank, Dylan Franks, Olivia Galluzzo, Mia Gartley, Annalise Happe, Lauren Happe, Clara Herman, Cecilia Heurich, Kendra Hines, Sutton Hoehl, Cecilia Holte, Olivia Hoose, Corben Hopkins, Natalie Iliff, Andrew Irving, Isabella Jarrett, Livia Jobbins DeAlbuquerque and Jayden Juliano.
Also inducted were Todd Kagle, Makenna Kamnikar, Jacob Keisel, Ryan Kempton, Donika Keo, Hunter Kronk, Emma Leghorn, Jane Lenhard, Charlotte Liao, Katherine Linge, Ian Lorang, Makenna Magness, William Miller, Lily Millet, Violet Muders, Jonathan Munn, Asher Muretisch, Finnegan Musial, Joseph Nastasi, William Newlin, Ella Palmer, Eoin Parnell, Laila Pasko, Kyle Rader, Alina Radermacher, Sally Riordan, Lily Roberts, Lucy Roig.Bradley Semonik, Berlynn Sopko, Deklen Trzaska, Jace Vasbinder, Alex Vescio, Leah Weisser, Alexa Westwood, Gemma Wiegand, Willy Winnowski, Alex Yancheski and Colin York.
QV boys cruise
The Quaker Valley boys backcourt was near-unstoppable Dec. 13 against visiting Carrick.
Junior guard Zach Washington racked up 23 points to lead the Quakers to a 62-49 nonsection win in a boys basketball matchup.
Washington was complemented by sophomore guard Sam Chapman with 14 points and freshman guard Nic Cohen, who added 11.
Diemert honored
Quaker Valley senior Jack Diemert was named to the Western Hills All-Conference team on defense.
The 5-9, 175-pound Diemert, a fourth-year starter in the QV wrestling program, was selected to the all-star team as an athlete.
Getting better
Quaker Valley junior Mimi Thiero may be 6-5 and near-unstoppable on the basketball court at times, but there still are some tweaks to her game that she anticipates improving.
“I have been working on my ability to play multiple positions,” she said, “and on my (basketball) IQ.”
QV girls earn win
Quaker Valley’s girls basketball team rebounded from a 47-43 overtime loss to Beaver Falls in its Section 1-3A opener Dec. 12 to defeat Sto-Rox, 61-16, four nights later in Game 2 of league play.
The Quakers improved to 1-1 in the section and 3-4 overall after an 0-2 start.
“In the beginning of the season, we faced some really hard competition which set us up for success in the section,” said QV’s Rose Cline, a 5-7 sophomore guard.
Eden boys roll on
Four players reached double figures for the Eden Christian Academy boys basketball team in a 72-33 section win Dec. 17 over Propel Braddock Hills.
Sophomore guard Mason Dean netted a team-high 17 points for the Warriors. Senior forward James Wilkin collected 11 while freshman forward Samuel D’Ippolito and freshman guard Brady Salvia added 10 apiece.
Eden has nine freshmen and eight sophomores in its boys varsity basketball program this season.
Did you know?
• Quaker Valley graduate Ellie Cain is a freshman runner in the Washington University of St. Louis women’s track & field program. Cain is competing in the 400- and 800-meter events during the indoor season.
• In WPIAL girls tennis, QV’s Kirsten Close and Avery Allan won the 2024 doubles championship to end a five-year run of Knoch tandems consisting of five different players from 2019-2023.
Tags: Quaker Valley
