Sports Report February 20, 2024

For information on membership, sponsorships, spirit items, digital tickets, VSN subscription, and more, please click here.

Many thanks to the following Green N White Club corporate sponsors for their support this year:

Bollinger Shipyards

LaFleur & Laborde

Tulane Doctors

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The Chloe

CMS's Services LLC

Dawn Services

First Horizon Bank

Landry & Swarr LLC, Attorney-at-Law

Manning Passing Academy

Ashley and J.T. Nesser

Taceaux Loceaux

Walker & Dunlop

Woodward Design+Build

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Auto-Chlor, Bayou Hot Wings,

C. Collection, Betsy and Gary Laborde,

Marquette Transportation, Midway Pizza,

K. Miller Gem and Jewelry Brokerage,

Moses Engineering, NOLA Chill, Seatrax,

Stretch Zone, tasc Performance,

Vendisco Culinary Services, Villere & Co.

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Black Bay Energy Capital,

The Chicory House | The Garden District Book Shop,

Deirdre and Hal Moffett, Entablature - Design/Build,

Amy Farnsworth Designs, Lovell and Company

Baseball

After a successful pre-season with several scrimmages, Newman’s 2024 baseball season opens this week with away games against Archbishop Hannan on Wednesday and Bonnabel on Friday. 

This year’s Diamond Greenies are led by Senior Captains Peter Loop, Clayton Stevens and Jack Nesser, who are returning contributors from last season’s squad. As is always the case, success in baseball begins with pitching, and the staff ace is likely to be Sophomore Christian Sauska, who has put in a ton of offseason work and is expected to be a force on the mound and at the plate for the Greenies. Other key arms that are sure to see pitching action include Seniors Brendan Blackburn and Connors Palmer, Juniors Henry Cook, Tyler Zweifler, and Fulton Price, and Sophomores Dylan Kolenovsky and Charles Wilson, who will also be our starting catcher.

At the plate, the Greenies are counting on a big season from Senior Ethan Dulitz, who crushed the ball this summer and has committed to play college baseball at Millsaps. Seniors Jacob Dusansky and Guy Guidroz, Junior Alex Dulitz, and Sophomores Jack “Goose” Falgoust, George Loop and Collier Villere are also expected to contribute in the field, at the batter’s box and on the base paths. 

Please come out and cheer on the Diamond Greenies in what will be another fun season of baseball!

Boys Basketball

In last Friday’s District Championship game, Newman hosted long time rival, Metairie Park Country Day School. The Greenies were on a seven game winning streak heading into the game, so the team was focused and excited for the match up.  Before this contest, Newman dominated MLK High School 66-28 gaining great momentum heading into the District Championship game. The Greenies championship level of play proved to be overwhelming to County Day who started the game very confident making a few shots. Once Newman settled down, we quickly took control of the game. The first quarter ended with Newman leading 19-11. Country Day cut the lead down to six, thanks to an 8-0 run to begin the second half. The Greenies turned defense into offense, fueling an 11-3 run to answer the surge of the Cajuns. Newman pulled away in the fourth quarter to secure a 19-point victory and the District 10-2A Title. Final Score: Newman 71, Country Day, 52. Newman scoring was led by Todd Jones Jr., 19 pts, Randy Livingston Jr., 18 pts, Chris Birden Jr., 10 pts, Chris Cenac Jr. and Tayden Langdon, 9 pts.

Now, it’s on to the playoffs, where Newman, the two-time defending State Champion, is the #1 seed, has a first round bye, and will face a round 2 contest against the winner of the first round match-up between #16 seed Thomas Jefferson and #17 Houma Christian. Go Greenies!

Girls Basketball

The Newman Greenies played their 2nd round playoff game against St. Thomas Aquinas at home on Monday night. The game was televised on VSN. The first quarter led off with a couple baskets by both Anaya Yanusah and Sanaa Bean. The Greenies defense was fantastic forcing many turnovers and with Bean protecting the paint the visitors could not get a good shot up without it getting swatted. Bean had 3 of her game high 6 blocks in the first quarter. At the end of the first quarter the Greenies led 10-4. Along came the second quarter and so to came the turnovers. The Greenies only scored 1 basket by Kaia Wells but the number of turnovers allowed St. Thomas back into the game. By halftime the Greenies trailed 15-12, and the Greenies had 15 turnovers. 

Along came the third quarter with Bean and Yanusah scoring for the Greenies, but the St Thomas team forced more turnovers and started hitting 3 pointers. By the end of the 3rd the score was 29-20, with the Greenies trailing.  In the fourth, the Greenies hustled and gave it their best effort but it just was not the Greenies day shooting. Newman went 0-12 from long range and 1-9 on free throws for the game, and could never overcome the St. Thomas lead.

We want to recognize our 4 senior players for their great efforts. Thanks to our star Anaya Yanusah who always gives it her all and reminds many of Charles Barkley! It was great watching you play and we hope to see you at the next level continuing your career. Thanks to our great point guard Talia Parnes for her leadership on the court . We really missed her contribution the past month with her ankle injury, especially her fantastic scoring. Next thanks to Maddie Herbert for her elite defense and hustle. Sorry you got injured in the playoff game. We wish you a speedy recovery. It feels like the game turned when you went out. Finally thanks to Camille McCann for her hard work on both offense and defense. You were a great spark this season especially with your offensive rebounding and scoring. 

All four seniors helped lead our girls team to many victories and their leadership and hard work will be recognized for years to come. 

Lacrosse

Following an impressive first week of competition at Lupin Field, the Greenies traveled up to North Louisiana this weekend for the “Red River Massacre”, walking away with 2 lopsided and dominating wins against historically strong Shreveport opponents.

On Friday night, the Greenies easily handled Caddo Magnet, outscoring the Mustangs 18-1.  Max Kukuy stuffed the stat sheet with 6 goals. The balanced Newman offense also saw contributions from 8 other players, including multiple goals each from Eli Friend (3), Voss Finkelstein (2) and Patrick Landry (2), and additional single goals from William Mahfouz (including 4 assists), William Long, Chris Connolly, Andy Friedman and Price DeMeyers (including 3 assists). George Pipes also turned on his “beast mode” at The X, winning 8 face offs in the contest.

The Greenies turned it around quickly and were back at it on a chilly Saturday morning at Freedom Fields in Bossier City against the C.E. Byrd Yellow Jackets.  Just as they did on Friday night, Newman took control of the game early and never allowed their opponent to get into the flow of the game.  On offense, Max Kukuy and Eli Friend continued to fill up the net, scoring 8 goals and 7 goals, respectively. William Mafouz and Andy Friedman completed the offensive onslaught by the Greenies, contributing one additional goal each. Meanwhile the defense feasted on the Yellow Jackets’ offense, allowing only two shots on goal, both saved by senior goalie McCall Engelhardt. Final score – Newman 17, C.E. Byrd 0. 

Newman Lacrosse headed back to New Orleans on I-49S leaving its Shreveport opponents behind with a 35-1 goal differential on the weekend and an impressive 3-0 start to the season.

Up next, the Greenies face UMS-Wright in Mobile, AL on Saturday at 1:00pm.

Boys Soccer

On Saturday evening (2/17), the #5 seed Newman boys (14-3-2) hosted a Division IV semifinal game against Episcopal School of Baton Rouge, the #8 seed, in a match covered by NOLA.com here and broadcast on VSN here.  In the 12th minute, Boyce Batten raced up the right sideline and earned a corner kick with a cross that was deflected off a Knights defender.  Rylan Claverie proceeded to launch a left-footed corner kick that sailed just over a leaping defender and onto the head of Alex Dulitz, who sent the ball into the back of the net.  The goal was Dulitz’s 8th of the season and Claverie’s 8th assist of the year.  The Greenies played against the strong wind in the second half, but defended well throughout.  With only 10 minutes left in regulation, however, Episcopal floated an inswinging corner kick that a crashing Knight was able to body into the goal for a stunning equalizer.  

With the score still knotted 1-1 at the end of regulation, the game proceeded to two 10-minute overtime periods followed by two 5-minute golden goal (sudden death) periods.  When neither team scored in the extra time, despite the Greenies having a 5-1 shot advantage, the match was settled with a best-of-five shootout from the penalty kick spot.  With Episcopal in the shootout lead at 4-3, Newman goalkeeper Journey Manson made a remarkable diving save to his right to keep Newman in the match.  Equal to the task, however, the Episcopal goalkeeper was able to swat the Greenies’ final kick off the right post and away to secure the Knights’ win.  

With the victory, Episcopal will proceed to the state championship game on Wednesday, and the Newman boys finish the season at 14-4-2. Congratulations for a terrific season to the boys, especially senior captains Batten, Manson and Luke Mobley.  Many thanks to coaches Tooraj Badie, Avery Kindler and Tejan Salaam and team moms Dani Batten, Erica Mobley and Niobe Manson for their hard work and dedication.  The future is bright.  Go Greenies!

Girls Soccer

In the Division IV semifinals on Saturday (2/18), the Newman girls (#3 seed) bussed to Shreveport for a cold and windy clash with the #2 seed, Loyola College Preparatory High School (14-5-2).  The game was streamed on YouTube here and covered by the Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate here.  For the first half hour, the teams were mostly even, with the Flyers getting heavy flak from central defenders Sarah Gibbs Smallpage, Claire Charpentier and Sydney Gallagher.  

The play of the match came in the 31st minute, after Lili Arjmand was tripped running down the right wing 20 yards from the goal line.  At the urging of Coach Doug Freese, who was recently named WGNO’s Coach of the Week, Genevieve Plaisance launched the ensuing free kick just over the wall of defenders toward goal and into the rush of Greenies attackers, led by Sara Cordova.  Though Cordova was closely marked on the far side by a Flyers defender, she managed to get her leg up in the scrum and the ball landed in the back of the net for the exciting game winner.  With the wind comfortably at their backs in the second half, the Greenies shot down the Flyers attackers, preserving the 1-0 semi-final road win and punching their tickets to the state championship game.

With the victory, the Newman girls improved their record to 16-4-2, and will play for its second consecutive state championship title against the #1 seed, Episcopal School of Baton Rouge, on Wednesday (2/21) in Hammond’s Strawberry Stadium.  The game is a rematch of last year’s championship match against Episcopal (22-0-1), which Newman won by a score of 4-2.  Tickets can be purchased here, and the game will be broadcast on the subscription service NFHS Network here. Kickoff is set for 5pm.  

Let’s go Greenies!

Upcoming Schedule

See the latest Newman sports schedule here. 

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