Retooling Braves facing challenges after losing top players

BANGOR – It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

His team went 23-6 and won its seventh conference championship in the last 10 years. He had eight players – three of them starters – coming back.

Rebuilding, or at least retooling, was the last thing on Warren Caruso’s mind, but that’s exactly what Caruso’s Braves will have to do with seven of their top eight players from last season no longer available.

“We face numerous challenges with the attrition we’ve had,” said Caruso. “Right now, we’re just trying to be focused. It’s going to be a slower process of learning than what we’re used to, but we’ll have to throw people in quicker than we or they expected to.”

In addition to the losses of second-team NAIA All-America power forward Randy Fletcher, NAIA All-America honorable mention Ryan Rivera, and key reserves Nate Cyr and Brad Galley to graduation, Husson must find a way to offset the permanent or temporary losses of seven others expected to contribute.

The Braves are 1-1 with a win over Saint Joseph’s College and a loss to Colby last week.

“I really liked the way we played Friday, but I really didn’t like the way we played Saturday,” Caruso said. “And that may be the way we’ll be for awhile, but we’ve faced adversity before and everyone does at some point in the season.”

Sophomore standout guard Jason Harvey, who is looking to transfer to an NCAA Division I school, is gone; 6-foot-11 senior graduate Nikos Armenakis is out for the season with a torn meniscus; incoming freshman Nick Henry of Penobscot will miss the season after tearing an anterior cruciate ligament in one knee during a pickup game; freshmen Matt Mulligan and Taka Ono, whose broken ankle and sprained foot injuries, respectively, have caused them to miss much of the preseason, will be slow coming back; and sophomore forward Phil White and freshman Tyler Muzzy of Greenville won’t be academically eligible until the end of the semester.

At least the cupboard isn’t completely bare for the Braves. Caruso does have two solid players to build around with senior co-captains and guards Scott Cunningham and Dwayne Ailey. Throw in 6-7 junior center Scott Griffin, a former starter who took last season off to concentrate on his academics, and 6-7 junior forward and 3-point shooter Buddy Leavitt, who transferred from the University of Maine last season, and the Braves’ fortunes don’t look quite so dismal.

“Right now, we’ll have to be a lot slower and half-court-oriented than we normally are,” said Leavitt, who will have to play in the paint more this season. “I’m working a lot more on my inside game, more than I ever have in my life.”

Presque Isle’s Griffin averaged 10 points and 7.5 rebounds per game his sophomore season while Guilford’s Leavitt averaged 6.6 points and 4.3 rebounds in 16 games last season.

Another welcome addition is former Nokomis High star Jeff White, who transferred from the University of Southern Maine, but didn’t play last season due to injuries. White, who started 42 of the 45 games he played for USM while averaging 10 points, five rebounds and four assists, is a 6-4 forward who has good perimeter shooting and excellent passing skills.

In the last three seasons, Husson has belonged to three different conferences. This year, the Braves enter the North Atlantic Conference, where they are picked to finish second behind favored Lasell College (Mass.).

UMFK soccer players honored

Juan Murphy and Jess Gagnon of the University of Maine-Fort Kent earned recognition this fall as top soccer performers in the Sunrise Athletic Conference.

Murphy, a sophomore forestry major from Buenos Aires, Argentina, was named the Sunrise Defensive Player of the Year. Gagnon, a junior forward from Fort Kent, earned Sunrise Offensive Player of the Year honors and was a first-team all-star.

UMFK also placed senior Andrew Clavette of Madawaska and Aadil Mootassem, a junior from Tangier, Morroco, were All-Sunrise first-team picks. Sadat Abdulkarim, Gintarus Lenkutis and Derrick Cooper were named to the second team.

On the women’s side, Gagnon was joined on the all-league first team by senior Megan Foreman of Fort Kent. Amy Kelly and Sara Quint were selected for the second team.

Mosley earns all-star recognition

Christie Mosley of Hampden, a freshman on the Wilson College (Pa.) field hockey team, was named to the Atlantic Women’s Colleges Conference first team for her efforts this fall.

Mosley, who played at Hampden Academy, led the Phoenix and ranked second in the conference in assists with seven. She also scored six goals to finish with 19 points.

“Christie is an unselfish player who looks for the open teammates and maximizes [2-on-1] opportunities,” said Wilson coach Shelly Novak. “She was a large contributor to our team’s success.”