Hartwick Wins with Sachem Pride

It looked like a flashback moment from 2010. Phil Schaefer, in traffic, made a pass to Cody Ciolino, who buried a shot near the cage. Only now they play for Hartwick, not Sachem North.

“You can’t make it up,” Ciolino said.

They are two of the seven Sachem alums, from East and North, playing at Hartwick this season. They both start alongside East alum Harry Hughes to make up an all-Sachem attack line that has enough punch to make the entire Empire 8 conference nervous and unsettled every time the Hawks play.

On Saturday, Ciolino’s goal was the game-winner with 44 seconds left in a 10-9 victory over Farmingdale, a homecoming of sorts for the many Long Island natives on the Hartwick roster. Hughes, Ciolino and Schaefer all scored three goals each in the win.

“There’s nothing like playing on Long Island,” said Schaefer, who is notable from his Sachem days for scoring the game-winning goal in a monumental victory over top-ranked West Islip in overtime during the 2010 season. “We had a whole bunch of people from Sachem here and to have everyone’s support is awesome.”

Sachem alums accounted for either an assist or goal on all 10 goals scored by Hartwick on Saturday. At any given time during the contest, there were at least four Sachem alums on the field. Farmingdale's Ricky Morales, a junior from Sachem North, also played.

The ability to sustain team chemistry has been awfully easy for Hartwick the last few years with the influx of players who hail from the same hometowns.

“We have it down already,” Ciolino said. “It makes the transition easy from high school.”

That’s exactly how it looked when Ciolino rifled off a shot past the Farmingdale goalie in the final minute of the game.

“I’m nothing without that pass,” he said. “I was in the right place at the right time.”

“He’s a hell of a crease player,” Schaefer added. “I knew he’d be there.”

Spoken like true teammates.

Sachem alums playing at Hartwick

Sachem alums playing at Farmingdale