CABOT CREAMERY: Player of the Week (7)

Rookie Janea Wilkerson was named the CABOT CREAMERY Playerof the Week by New York Sharks broadcasters Pat Brown and Dave Maxwell for week 7. Janea got her first start at running back and came up with some big yards on crucial plays in the game.

Game Day: Nighthawks at Sharks

Brooklyn, New York, May 22, 2010

It was a carnival-like atmosphere in Brooklyn as the New York Sharks (6-1) got ready to play their 100th game. Well truth be told, it was a carnival atmosphere as the Kings County Fair was being held right next to the Aviator Sports Complex football field. Right behind the stands were rides like the haunted mansion and a huge ferris wheel overlooking the grounds. But for all of the festivities at the grounds, the Sharks needed an opponent to play their historic 100th game. The Baltimore Nighthawks (3-4) had stayed overnight in nearby Newark, New Jersey and were introduced that day to New York city's famous traffic. Though they thought they had left at a decent time, they made it to the ballpark about an hour before kick-off time.

It was a fine evening for a football game. The skies were clear and the temperature was in the low 60's. Wind is always an issue at Aviator but it wasn't too bad this night. It was a festive evening, enhanced by the fair's bright colorful neon lights illuminating the area.

To help commemorate the Sharks' 100th game, New York Sharks' owner Andra Douglas dusted off her kicking shoes and came out of retirement to play. She, along with current player Jen Blum and defensive coordinator Lynn Lewis had played in the Sharks' very first game in 1999. So when the Sharks had to kick-off to start the game, Douglas trotted onto the field as a player for the first time since 2005.

The Sharks defense was in fine form and forced the Nighthawks to go three and out and punt the ball away. New York started their first drive of the game in decent field position on the Baltimore 45-yard line. The Sharks started the drive conservatively with 3 running plays. Two of the handoffs were to rookie Janea Wilkerson in her first start at running back. After getting a first down, quarterback Karen Mulligan ran for a big 17 yard gain to move the ball down to the Nighthawks 16-yard line. Kathy Holloman returned to the backfield and took the next 2 handoffs to get the Sharks down to the 11-yard line. Mulligan then went to the air and connected with Chante Bonds for a touchdown. Kicker Megan Antonucci's extra point attempt was too low but the Sharks were ahead 6-0 with 8:48 left in the first quarter.

On the Sharks next drive, they started from their own 45-yard line. At first the drive didn't look like it was going to get anywhere as Holloman was stopped for only a 1-yard gain and then Mulligan was sacked by Ashley Branch for an 8-yard loss. But on 3rd down with 17 yards to go for a first down, Mulligan went deep and hit Blum for 52 yard gain. This put the ball on the Baltimore 10-yard line. On the next play, Mulligan pitched out to her right to Holloman who threadered her way into the endzone for the Sharks second score of the game. This time the extra point kick was blocked.

New York got the ball back quickly as the defense forced another 3 and out on the Nighthawks. But the Sharks gave the ball back even quicker to Baltimore as they scored on the very next play. Mulligan threw a perfect pass to Lauren Pringle at the 50-yard line. Mulligan hit Pringle right in stride and she raced down the right sideline for a 66 yard touchdown reception. This gave New York a commanding 18-0 lead after the first quarter.

Baltimore's next drive continued to go poorly. Quarterback Lil Drumgold tried to evade a huge rush of Sharks' linemen and made a very ill advisted pass attempt. The pass was intercepted by Sharks' Shana Segers who returned the ball to New York 33-yard line. From here, the New York offense marched the ball down the field. Sticking mostly to the ground, the Sharks were back in the endzone after 7 plays. Three big runs of 17, 14, and 19 yards by Pringle, Bonds, and Mulligan respectively did most of the heavy lifting. The final 4 yards were run in by Mulligan. Antonucci split the uprights on the extra point attempt and New York extended their lead to 25-0.

The Sharks continued to dominate the Nighthawks as they scored 2 more times before the first half ended. The first one came on a 40-yard, 12 play drive that was done by going to the air. The second touchdown came after Drumgold got hit by Ebony Jones and the quarterback fumbled the ball. The Sharks recovered the ball on the Nighthawks' 31-yard line. Four plays later, Mulligan hit Blum for the Sharks' sixth and final touchdown of the day. Antonucci was successful on the extra point to make the score 38-0 at halftime.

With the game firmly in the Sharks control, it was just a matter of will New York get their 41st shutout. It started to look that they would as the defense kept the Nighthawks at bay. But late in the fourth quarter, Drumgold hit Nolan for a 45-yard touchdown pass. The extra point attempt failed so the final score was Sharks 38 - Nighthawks 6.

The game was history in the making. The victory helped keep the Sharks in the playoff hunt, but the game itself put the Sharks in the history books as the first women's team to play 100 games. Their record for their first 100 games is 82 wins, 40 wins by shutout, and 18 losses.

The New York Sharks will travel to Pittsburgh in 2 weeks to take on the Pittsburgh Passion (4-3) in a battle for the last playoff spot. A Sharks victory will clinch them a berth in the second season, while a Passion win could put Pittsburgh in. New York beat Pittsburgh earlier this season in an exciting come from behind win in Brooklyn, 12-8. But the Passion have been playing tough of late and are looking to reach the playoffs for themselves.

Kick-off will be at 7:05pm (EDT). If you cannot make it to the game, listen to Pat Brown and Dave Maxwell describe all of the action on WFNradio.

Baltimore Nighthawks 0-0-0-6: 6
New York Sharks 18-20-0-0: 38

Scoring Summary

First Quarter
NY - (08:48) Bonds 11 yard pass from Mulligan (Kick failed)
NY - (04:46) Holloman 10 yard run (Kick failed)
NY - (02:50) Pringle 66 yard pass from Mulligan (Kick failed)

Second Quarter
NY - (12:03) Mulligan 4 yard run (Antonucci kick)
NY - (05:02) Bonds 2 yard pass from Mulligan (Kick failed)
NY - (02:28) Blum 9 yard pass from Mulligan (Antonucci kick)

Fourth Quarter
BAL - (08:45) Nolan 45 yard pass from Drumgold (Kick failed)

Top 5 Out of 100

The New York Sharks played their 100th game this past Saturday. To commemorate the feat, we have come up with a list of the top 5 games the Sharks have played. They are as follows:


5) May 8, 2004 - New York Sharks vs. Chicago Force
4) June 7, 2008 - D.C. Divas vs. New York Sharks
3) April 3, 2004 - Atlanta Xplosion vs. New York Sharks
2) July 6, 2002 - New York Sharks vs. Austin Outlaws
1) December 11, 1999 - Minnesota Vixens vs. New York Sharks

Countdown to 100 - Sharks Greatest Game #1

In determining the New York Sharks greatest games, you have to set down a list of guidelines of what constitutes a great game. Some of the criteria were: was it a close game, was there a record setting performance, did the Sharks win, was it a come from behind victory, was they any significance to the game, etc. Many of the games selected so far had many of these ingredients, but the one chosen as the best of the best has it all.

There is something about the first being the best and the New York Sharks first game ever was the best. Not only did the Sharks win by only 6 points, they came from behind in the second half, the backup quarterback engineering the winning drive, and this game helped catapult the forming of a women's professional football league.

In 1999, two women's football teams, Minnesota Vixens and Michigan Minx, were created in the mid-west. They barn stormed around the country playing each other to see if there was any interest in women's tackle football. Their promoters had heard of a women's flag football team from New York that had won a national championship and challenged the team, the Long Island Sharks to play the Minnesota Vixen in a tackle football game. There were not enough players on the Sharks to form a complete team so they enlisted players from other flag football teams in the New York city area.

With less than 2 months to prepare and using borrowed equipment they transformed themselves the flag football team into a tackle football team. And on a very cold and windy December 11th, the two teams met at Mitchell Field in Uniondale, Long Island.

For most of the Sharks this was the first time they had ever played a game with the pads on and it took some getting used to. The wind was howling with gusts up to 40 mph and most of the plays were on the ground. The Vixens had 4 games worth of experience and were able to draw first blood. They scored their touchdown in the beginning of the second quarter to lead 6-0.

The score remained 6-0 at halftime as the Sharks struggled to get any offense going. In the third quarter there was a quarterback change with Val Halesworth taking over. The change seemed to spark the team as she led them down the field to tie the score. The big play coming on a 71-yard pass completion to Nathalie Jufer.

The Sharks defense continued to play tough and kept the visitors out of the endzone. As the third quarter came to a close, Halesworth again connected with her receiver for a touchdown. This time it was a 17-yard strike to Val Monaco. This made the score 12-6 and that is the way it remained to the final whistle.

There were only 300 fans that lasted through the bad weather to watch the game, but the enthusiasm generated from the event set the stage to create a whole league for women's football in 2000.

CABOT CREAMERY Player of the Week (6)

In a game where the New York Sharks were spanked and spanked good, it was difficult to pick out a player to give the Cabot Creamery Player of the Week award to. After much deliberation, New York Sharks broadcasters Pat Brown and Dave Maxwell decided to give the award to the Sharks defense. The defense played well considering they were on the field for most of the game and often times Boston started their drives in New York territory.

Game Day: Sharks at Militia

Countdown to 100 - Sharks Greatest Game #2

The 2002 season started off with tragedy for the New York Sharks. Their beloved teammate Sharon Pascale died in a car crash on Christmas Day. The team was going to dedicate this new season in a new league in memory of her.

From day 1, the Sharks dominated every team that they played during the regular season. The defense was almost perfect, giving up only 2 scores all season while the offense averaged over 43 points per game. While the Sharks were the eastern division champions, out west the Austin Outlaws were pretty dominating themselves. The two teams were to meet on a Independence Day weekend for the first IWFL National Championship game to be held out in Ashland, Oregon.

This was the second time around for the Sharks in the playoffs. In 2000 they were co-leaders of their division but lost in the opening round of the playoffs.

It was a very hot day at gametime. It wasn't humid but the air was so dry that you couldn't sweat, any perspiration would evaporate almost immediately. It didn't help matters as the Sharks were wearing black uniforms.

New York lost the coin toss but Austin chose to kick the ball. It was a choice that the Sharks made the Outlaws soon regret. The Sharks offense was led by star quarterback Val Halesworth who was the league's leading passer, but the Sharks also had a potent running attack with Courtney Eaton.

On the opening drive, New York moved the ball mostly on the ground. The drive almost came to a stop as the Sharks had a crucial fourth down on the Austin 30-yard line. New York went for it as Halesworth looked to make a pass. Austin's defensive line broke through and chased Halesworth out of the pocket. When it looked like they were going to catch her, she tried to throw a pass but started to fall as she threw. Nonetheless, the football found it's target, Eaton at the Austin12-yard line. New York moved the ball all the way down to the 3-yard line when it was fourth down. Relying on a surge by her offensive line, Halesworth followed her blockers into the endzone to give the Sharks the lead.

Austin's offensive strength was their running game. Margaret Pace was handed the ball time after time and she was able to move the Outlaws down the field. But once they got into the red zone, the Sharks defense put up a wall and denied Austin from scoring. This was a good thing, but New York now had to start their drive deep in their own territory and they could not find much success. Sharks head coach Nick Giannatasio then ordered Halesworth to run out of the endzone on fourth down to take a safety instead of going for the punt. Since the Sharks rarely punted all season, he had more faith in his defense than in his special teams.

This made the score 8-2 and that is the way the score was at the end of the first half. Both defenses were able to stop the potent offense of the other side.

When the Outlaws won the coin toss in the beginning of the game, they chose to kick the ball instead of saying they wanted to defer to the second half. This meant that the Sharks could choose what they wanted for the beginning of the second half, and they chose to receive the ball. The Sharks again made Austin pay for their mistake by scoring on their opening drive of the second half. Mostly keeping the ball on the ground by giving it to Eaton and Virgina "Cha Chi" Leon the Sharks scored another touchdown. The 2-point conversion was successful on a pass from Halesworth to Lori DeVivio. This made the score 16-2, early in the third quarter.

Austin was starting to feel the championship slipping away. On the ensuing kick-off, kick returner Monica Gauck tried to get her team back in the game with a nice return but as she kept trying to get more yardage, she fumbled the football and the Sharks recovered it.

Another Outlaw mistake and the Sharks quickly took advantage of it. This time they went to the air and Halesworth connected with wide receiver Val "Peanut" Monaco twice for gains of 25 and 19 yards for the Sharks third score of the game. New York went for the 2-point conversion and Monica Marsh caught the pass to give the Sharks a 24-2 lead.

From there the Sharks defense continued to shut down the Outlaws. They did not allow Austin to score but they did set up the last score of the game. Playing safety, Halesworth intercepted an Austin pass at New York's own 20-yard line. The Sharks offense lost some yards on the drive and were forced to punt deep in their own territory. On fourth down, the long snap sailed over the punter's head resulting in another safety for the Outlaws, but that was all they would score.

The final score was 24-4 in favor of New York. The Sharks had just won the biggest game of the year and now had the title of national champions. It was a bittersweet moment as they had done it without their teammate Sharon, but they kept the vow that they made in February to win it for her.

For more details on the game, visit the Sharks' gameday write-up.

Next week at #1, Smackdown