Buffalo, NY- With the Empire State games coming back in 2010 to Buffalo, NY, a mix of ten former and current student-athletes from Dowling College would compete in five different sports at the Games.
Former All-Conference member and Women's Basketball MVP
Christie Marrone continued her strong play on the court, this time in the Women's Basketball Open Division.
Marrone started out the week by recording a game high 17 points, including four three-pointers, in Long Island's 63-36 victory over the Adirondack region.
A day later,
Christie would score in the double digits once again, this time racking up fifteen points including nine from three-point range. Her efforts helped Long Island take a 73-58 win over Hudson Valley. On Saturday, Long Island would suffer their first loss of the Games despite a game high 20 point performance from
Marrone. New York City would win with a 64-42 final. A second 20-minute "mini game" would be played between the two teams later in the day, with New York City coming out on top 36-23. Marrone would score a game high 9 points.
In the bronze medal match against the Central Region, Long Island would keep it close behind
Marrone's 19 points, but would eventually take a 4th place overall finish with a final score of 80-85.
Dowling Softball third baseman
Danielle Messina helped the Long Island team earn the silver medal at the Games, tallying 4 hits, 3 runs, and an RBI in 15 at-bats during the two days of competition. As a freshman at Dowling this past spring,
Danielle helped her team advance to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year by starting in all 61 games and amassing 38 hits and 4 homeruns during the season.
Dowling Men's Rowing had a strong showing in two different events over the weekend as the representative of Long Island, taking the bronze medal in the Men's 4+ event with
Shayne Lewis,
Matt Rousseau, and
Adam Berger (stroke seat) pushing past the finish line in a time of 6:01.11.
Michelle Traynor would be the coxswain for that boat.
In the Men's Open 8,
Lewis,
Rousseau,
Berger, and
Traynor would once again take the bronze, capping off a solid weekend for the Golden Lions.
Dowling Soccer would have the strongest showing at the games for Long Island, with
Brianna Campisi, a redshirt freshman for Dowling in 2009, joining the Long Island squad for Women's Open competition. However, it was the Long Island Men's team with
Steven Schneider,
Robert Miller, and
Corey Desmond all teaming up to take a first place finish and earning them each a gold medal by defeating the Adirondack region with a final score of 2-0.
The journey wasn't easy for the men as they dropped their first match of the Games to the Western Region in a shootout. Facing New York City a day later in a do or die situation, Schneider would connect for the game winner in the first half to put Long Island on top, 1-0, advancing them to the Gold Medal game on Sunday.
Schneider came through once again versus the Adirondack region, putting Long Island on the board at the 18 minute mark.
Desmond would stay strong in the net, recording 2 saves to shut out his opponent, giving Long Island the gold medal with a final of 2-0.