Albany, New York, May 10, 2003
It was a lovely warm day in Albany, New York. A perfect day for Albany’s Tulip Fest and a perfect day for football, unless you played for Albany. This was supposed to be a big game between two division rivals. The Sharks remembered the tough game they played here last season, but host Albany Night-Mares (0-3) was just no match for the New York Sharks (4-0) this year.

The game started off well for Albany as they won the toss, but it was downhill from there. The Night-Mares started the game with the ball on their own 35-yard line but were forced to punt on fourth down. They got a good punt from punter Raelynn Peasley that gave New York the ball on their own 36-yard line.

As soon as New York got control of the ball, they went to work. Virginia “Cha Chi” Leon started it off with a nice 22 yard run. This was then followed by two passes from quarterback Val Halesworth to Valerie Monaco and just like that the Sharks were on the board. Missy Marmorale ran it in for the 2-point conversion to make the score 8-0 at the 11:38 mark in the first quarter.

The defense not wanting to be shown up sacked Albany quarterback Danielle Wroblewski on the next play from scrimmage. They then stuffed running back Lisa Williams for no gain at Albany’s 17-yard line. On third and long Halesworth picked off a Wroblewski pass and ran it into the endzone for another New York touchdown. Leon then scored on the 2-point conversion with a run up the middle. The score was now 16-0 with 9:40 left to go in the first quarter.

The Sharks got on the board again at the 7:01 mark in the first quarter. After stopping Albany on 4 plays, the Sharks scored on a 30-yard pass from Halesworth to Jennifer Blum. The 2-point conversion failed but the score was 22-0 and the rout was on.

New York’s defense again responded to the offense scoring with a touchdown on their own. The Night-Mares had the ball on their own 30-yard line when their quarterback was being tackled by Vivian Alberty. This caused the ball to come loose and Karen Mulligan scooped it up and ran it in for a touchdown. Marmorale was stopped at the goal line on the 2-point conversion but the score was now 28-0 with 4 minutes left in the first quarter.

The rest of the game continued to be more of the same. Albany could not move the ball and the Sharks were able to move it almost at will. In the second half, the Sharks had most of their rookies playing and even they could not be denied getting into the endzone. Rookie running back Teresa Schirrippa who has shown flashes of brilliance shined in the second half. She not only scored her first touchdown of the season, but scored 3 more after that. A fifth touchdown run was called back due to a Sharks penalty. In total the Sharks scored a team record 14 touchdowns. They scored on the ground, in the air, and with their defense. The final score was 98-0.

New York’s defense continues to dominate. The Sharks picked up their fourth shutout in as many games this season. They again held an opponent to total negative rushing yards for the game and the total number of yards rushed against the Sharks for the season is negative.

The offense also continues to dominate but it is also getting better. With the rookies playing more in the second half, we got a glimpse of the wealth of talent on the team. Granted the Night-Mares were pretty worn out by the fourth quarter, but the desire burned strongly in the rookies as they broke tackle after tackle to get into the endzone.

Game balls were given to the defense for another shutout, another to Monaco for her numerous catches, Blum for 2 touchdown receptions, and the last one to rookie Schirrippa who scored 4 times. The announcement of the last game ball, caused the team to loudly cheer for the “Little Shark”.

With the victory, the Sharks remain in first place, one game ahead of Philadelphia who defeated Rhode Island this week. The Sharks will play the Philadelphia Liberty Belles next week at Staten Island in a very big division game. If the Sharks can beat Philadelphia, New York will clinch the Mid-Atlantic Division title. So come on out to Monsignor Farrell High School and root on the Sharks in their bid to repeat as division champions. Game time is at 7:30pm and former WNBA star Kym Hampton will be singing the National Anthem.

Scoring Summary

First Quarter
NY – (11:38) Monaco 15 yard pass from Halesworth (Marmorale run)
NY – (09:40) Halesworth 17 yard interception return (Leon run)
NY – (07:01) Blum 30 yard pass from Halesworth (run failed)
NY – (04:01) Mulligan 18 yard fumble recovery (run failed)

Second Quarter
NY – (14:47) Monaco 46 yard pass from Halesworth (Monaco pass from Halesworth)
NY – (11:40) Presto 36 yard pass from Halesworth (run failed)
NY – (07:15) Blum 27 yard pass from Halesworth (Leon run)
NY – (01:10) Halesworth 1 yard run (kick failed)

Third Quarter
NY – (14:09) Presto 45 yard pass from Halesworth (Eaton pass from Halesworth)
NY – (8:28) Halesworth 30 yard run (kick failed)
NY – (01:45) Schirrippa 33 yard run (Schirrippa run)

Fourth Quarter
NY – (14:16) Schirrippa 40 yard run (run failed)
NY – (07:49) Schirrippa 5 yard run (pass failed)
NY – (01:43) Schirrippa 29 yard run (Presto pass from Eaton)