Illustration: Northwood Soccer (Instagram).

Over the last weekend, the soccer teams hosted the Black Rock FC Winter Indoor Cup & Showcase in New Hampshire, which took place between the 11th and 12th of February. The team left Lake Placid on the 10th of February and, after a 5-hour bus ride, arrived at Merrimack, New Hampshire.

The first day of the showcase was a challenging beginning for both the U19 team & the U17 team. The U19 team started the weekend with a tough game against High Mowing but could not score. The boys fought hard and created many chances but couldn’t capitalize on them. The U17 Team started off the weekend with their hardest opponent, the New England Revolution, an MLS Academy, and one of the country’s best teams. The game started off with the Black Rock team dominating the first 10 minutes, with Mitch Baker ‘25 breaking the deadlock, opening up the score to make it 1-0 with a beautiful goal assisted by his teammate Leo Doyle ‘25. However, Baker’s goal wasn’t enough to get the win against the Revs, and they came back, scoring two goals, and won the game 2-1. “I felt very excited to play against a top team, and I realized that they’re not better than me, and I’m as good as them, but they just play in an academy,” Machai Davis ‘25 said with a lot of confidence. The U19 team had one last game against Valencia CF, where Black Rock FC came back from behind after being down 1-0 and won the game 4-1. The players who scored: Sam Knauf ‘24, with two goals; Andres Vitteri ‘24, with one goal; and Aly El Mofty ‘23, who scored his first Northwood goal.

The second and final day of the showcase was a thrilling day. The U17 team first competed against IHC. They were exhausted from their previous game and lost the game 4-2. The goals scored by Baker ‘25 and AJ Etumnu Jr. ‘25. The U19 Team wrapped up their weekend with a significant game against the New England Revolution but unfortunately lost 1-0 despite strong performances from Andres Viteri ‘24 and Sachiel Ming ‘24. The U17 team wrapped up their weekend with another game against IHC, but this time came out on top with a 2-1 victory and goals scored by Mitchell Baker ‘25 and Diego Green ‘25.

“Over the weekend, the boys didn’t put out their best performance. We let down our expectations, but fortunately, we got a good understanding of what we need to work on over the next week or so. We will focus on these things in our training to ensure we are prepared for Manhattan. For me, the standout players were Elm Penti ‘24, who made some great saves, keeping us in the games, and Baker ‘25 up top scoring every game,” expressed Koah Paye ‘24.

The Black Rock FC will travel to Manhattan next week.

The Northwood Ski team was active over the break with many different events. The FISU World University games provided an excellent opportunity for student-athletes to see the highest level of college ski racing at an International level. The Ski Team comprises many types of skiing, like Cross-Country Skiing, Ski Jumping, Freestyle, and Alpine ski racing. The Northwood team of 32 student-athletes had the chance to train, forerun, and watch these top-level athletes prepare and compete.

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“The goal of integrating our program within the FISU games proves to be a catalyst to dream big because each of the FISU competitors was previously in the shoes of our student-athletes, and if our athletes stay focused on their goals, they will be able to compete on this International stage,” Director of Skiing Tommy Biesemeyer said when asked what the goal of this program was during the FISU games.

Northwood’s athletes participated in many events and further developed their skiing over this long break. The FIS men and women traveled to Sun Valley, ID, from January 5th – January 16th to have proper training when the training space was limited at Whiteface. The team had full-length GS and SL training sessions along with four FIS races at the end of their camp, where they had Olivia Levesque ’24 score her best FIS result to date, 60 pts. When they returned from Sun Valley, our team foreran the FISU Giant Slalom and Slalom races and had the chance to hand out medals during the medal ceremony.

The U16 group is Northwood’s largest group of snowsports athletes, and these student-athletes were located in Lake Placid during the FISU games, where they stayed with Carrie Wardlaw and NYSEF’s Winter Term. Their training consisted of six weekly training days, where they trained alongside FISU athletes. In addition, some athletes foreran and got additional training runs on the FISU Super G track, where they witnessed some of the iciest conditions we have ever seen at Whiteface. The whole experience provided a large volume of training, challenging situations, and exposure to World Cup conditions, which will pay off for their long-term development.

Northwood’s five cross-country and ski jumping athletes put in long days at Mt. Van Hoevenberg and the ski jumps, where they also foreran each day and trained alongside the world’s best collegiate athletes. The course preparation was immaculate and allowed these student-athletes to benefit from top-level conditions. These opportunities helped Northwood’s nordic athletes develop their fitness and skills.

We had one freestyle athlete travel to Gore Mountain each day with his NYSEF coach, and he also had the chance to forerun each competition, hitting the biggest jumps of his life. This opened his eyes to the next level and inspired him to focus on what he needed to learn to compete at this level. “Seeing him come back each day with a smile on his face inspired our staff to push our kids to set big goals,” Biesemeyer said.

So we are all wondering now what is next for the Alpine ski team. The U18 teams are currently participating in the U18 National qualifiers in Vermont. The U16 Team is training at home and preparing for U16 New York State Championships on March 3-5. The Nordic team is getting ready for Junior Nationals in Fairbanks, AK, and the Freestyle team is training at Whiteface and competing each weekend at Titus Mountain.