It’s not just football that has enjoyed stunning success this fall season at Ithaca.
Ithaca’s soccer team enjoyed another strong season under coach Doug Strait. The Yellowjackets finished the season at 12-4-2, losing in the district semifinals.
“Last year we were 4-12, so it’s quite a turnaround,” Strait said. “The guys worked really hard. We had a good group of guys who worked together. We had some good numbers this year. We had 27 players overall. That’s a lot of players.”
The Ithaca defense was impressive, as the Yellowjackets allowed only 18 goals all season. The team had nine shutouts.
Top players included senior captains Alex Vanderploeg and John Derry, a defenseman.
“I had five starting seniors. They contributed to how we did all year,” Strait said, also referring to Brett Boucher, Seth Casey, and Mario Cuapio.
Cuapio “was a real catalyst for us in scoring goals,” Strait said. “He really set up a lot of goals, along with Alex. Koby Lee was a freshman.”
The season ended in the district tournament. “I felt bad, Alex had an injury 10 minutes into our district semifinal game,” Strait said. “It really played a part in us not advancing.”
Vanderploeg, also a placekicker for the football team, has played soccer for 13 years. He was a center midfielder for the Yellowjackets, who scored 13 goals and had nine assists.
He describes the difference in kicking a soccer ball compared to a football. “It’s kind of the complete opposite,” he said. “In soccer, I’m trying to keep the ball down when you’re shooting. In football, you have to get it up there. It’s different technique everytime I switch sports.”
It’s been a fun fall for Vanderploeg. “Having success on both teams makes me excited every day to got to practice,” he said.
The cross country teams at Ithaca also continue to do well.
Tim Lambrecht’s boys’ team was rebuilding after graduating five of the top runners last year from a squad that was a power. He has some runners at Lansing Community College this year.
“We’ve had a solid season,” he said. “We’ve focused on personal improvement. We wanted to be in the top half of the league. We were fourth.”
John Lambrecht, Coach Lambrecht’s son, and James O’Boyle were the top two runners for Ithaca.
The Ithaca girls have been ranked as high as fifth in the Division 3 polls. A major highlight for coach Gene Lebron’s team was winning the Alma College Invitational. Courtney Allen placed second for Ithaca in 19:18 while Kurstin Kalisek was seventh in 20:01.