Matthews, Lewis to continue athletic careers in college
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Williamsville North's Casey Matthews, first row, left, and Nicole Lewis signed National Letter of Intents last Wednesday in the North gymnasium. Pictured second row, far left, is Greg and Julia Matthews, Celeste and Ray Lewis and North Athletics Director Steve Ferenczy.

Two of Williamsville North's premiere athletes in diving and field hockey will continue their athletic careers at the Division I level.

Diver Casey Matthews and field hockey goalie Nicole Lewis signed National Letter of Intents for Purdue University and Quinnipiac University, respectively, last Wednesday in the North gym.

Each school is gaining an outstanding athlete and person.

Matthews dominated New York State diving throughout her six-year career. She was a six-time state qualifier in 1-meter diving and won the event her freshman, junior and senior years. Her other place finishes at states were second, third and fifth. She broke state and Section VI records for six dives and 11 dives and set records at every pool she competed at in Western New York. She's also a five-time sectional champion.

Besides her high school accomplishments, she placed seventh for USA Diving in the girls' 3-meter board finals at the world diving championships held in August 2006 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This past summer, she took 17th in 3-meter diving at US Senior Nationals in Stanford, Calif.

"I think there's no question that Casey Matthews is the premiere athlete that has come out of our swimming and diving program," said North swim coach Doug Cassidy. "I've had a lot of high profile swimmers and divers in 20 years but Casey is by far the most accomplished and highest achieving. She has handled what she has done for our program with a tremendous amount of grace and style and always been team-minded first. She's always concerned about fellow athletes, not only other divers, but swimmers as well. Once she is eligible, there's no doubt she will be on the school's Athletic Wall of Honor."

Matthews narrowed her search of colleges down to five - Notre Dame University, Indiana University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Auburn University and Purdue - and then two, Auburn and Purdue, but chose Purdue because of diving coach Adam Soldati, who she had met at nationals and through her club team, Wings Diving.

"He said I would fit in perfectly," said Matthews. "Also, one of the divers, Kara Cool, I went to worlds with in the summer for platform diving."

"It's a nice program and the team is very supportive of each other at practice," she added. "There was a lot of positive energy. And I didn't hear anything bad about the school."

"We're extremely excited to have her as a Boilermaker," said Soldati. "She has a great attitude and good fundamentals."

Cassidy thinks Matthews will do well in college.

"I think she's going to be fabulous," said Cassidy. "She has so much international experience in addition to her scholastic experience that I don't think there's any kind of pressure that's going to be too much for her. She already trained two practices a day with us and Wings. She does physical training and weight training. Anything they throw at her is not going to be too difficult."

Matthews received a partial athletic scholarship. She is undecided on a major.

Lewis has started for the North field hockey team since her freshman year.

She finished her four-year high school career with a 73-7-1 record. She made 371 saves on 403 opportunities and allowed only 32 goals. Her goals against average per game is a mind-blowing .17. She has a 92 percent save percentage and is ranked fifth all-time in the state with 53 career shutouts and fifth for shutouts in a season with 19. She tended net for four ECIC championships, three Section VI Class A titles, two Class A Far West Regional crowns and this past fall, the program's first Class A state title with a 23-0 record.

"Throughout her career, Nicole has put the time and dedication into making herself a better player both during the season and the offseason," said North coach Kris Lapaglia. "She knew since her freshman year that the team was relying on her in order to win the state title. There were a couple of seasons where she did not see a lot of action, but when called upon, especially during playoffs when the competition was intense, she came up with some remarkable saves that allowed our team to

Although Lewis only faced 60 shots last fall, Lapaglia can still recall the save of the season on a corner shot versus Lakeland in the state final.

"If Nicole does not make that save, it changes the whole complexion of the game," said Lapaglia. "So for all the saves she did not have to make this season that one was the biggest and allowed us to solidify the win."

Lewis chose Quinnipiac over Sacred Heart University and the University of Rhode Island because she liked the school size and atmosphere. She also met with the team and coaches over the summer at a field hockey camp and liked them.

Lewis said she will red shirt her freshman year but does expect to see playing time the year after. She will attend Quinnipiac on an athletic and academic scholarship.

Lewis said playing in a winning environment at Williamsville North will want to push her to win in college.

Lapaglia said if Lewis continues to do the things necessary to become a better player, her college career will be successful.

"It is going to be an unusual sight next season not to see her and some of her teammates on the field who have been around for years," said Lapaglia. "She has definitely made her mark on the Williamsville North goaltending record book."

Lewis will major in physical therapy and athletic training and wants to be a physical therapist.

Lewis and Matthews are also good students. Every high school season they have been named scholar-athletes. Both also said they will miss their high school teammates.