Seton's teams bound for states

Dan Vander Woude found himself in an unusual position when he arrived at work Monday.
The Seton School athletic director spent his day working the phones to get sites situated and transportation plans in place as the Conquistadors prepared for a history-making milestone in their spring sports season.
For the first time since the Manassas-based private Catholic school opened in 1975, Seton is sending four teams to the state tournament in the same season.
From Richmond to Roanoke back to Manassas, Seton's baseball, girls soccer, boys lacrosse and boys tennis teams begin first round play today in their respective divisions of the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association.
It's a big achievement for a school of just over 350 students.
"I've been on the phone all morning trying to handle the logistics, but it is a good thing to have this many teams still playing," Vander Woude said.
In the Division 2 state boys tennis tournament, No. 3 Seton hosts No. 6 Walsingham Academy from Williamsburg at 4 p.m. at Osbourn High School.
In the Division 3 state baseball tournament, No. 7 Seton travels to No. 2 Steward School in Richmond for a 4:30 p.m. game.
In Division I girls soccer, No. 5 Seton travels to No. 4 Trinity Episcopal in Richmond for a 5 p.m. game.
And in the Division 3 boys lacrosse state tournament, No. 4 Seton plays at No. 1 Roanoke Catholic at 4:30 p.m.
The boys lacrosse, baseball and girls soccer teams have been to states before, but, in two cases this weekend, they had to undergo some tough tests to ensure a trip back to states.
In boys lacrosse, only the top four teams in Division 3 advanced to the state tournament. On Saturday, Seton played Wakefield for that final spot.
The Conquistadors trailed 6-5 with five minutes to go before Pat Kenna tied the game up with 16 seconds remaining.
Kenna's brother Nick scored the game-winning goal with two seconds left to give Seton a 7-6 victory in the semifinals of the Delaney Athletic Conference.
With rain shortening the schedule, it was agreed there wasn't time to play a final so Highland, the regular-season champion, represented the DAC as the top seed.
In girls soccer, Seton (16-0-1) defeated Wakefield 3-2 in the second sudden-death overtime period in the DAC Tournament final. The Conquistadors trailed 2-0 before rallying to victory when Monica Der-Boghossian scored off a pass from midfielder Anna Laudiero.
In baseball, Seton (7-7), the DAC regular-season champion, lost to Quantico in the tournament final, 6-3 in extra innings.
Aided in large part by the play of brothers Michael and Peter Salomon, the Conquistadors are sending their first-ever boys tennis team to states after they captured the DAC regular-season and tournament titles. Seton won the tournament championship Saturday with a win over Fredericksburg Academy.
Vander Woude cites two reasons for Seton's unprecedented success.
In the past, the Conquistadors have excelled in one or two sports in the spring, primarily because they were top heavy that year in veteran players. But this year, the talent pool is deeper across all the sports.
"There's more balance between the junior and senior classes so we have a variety of student athletes out there who are team leaders," Vander Woude said. "It's rare at a school this small to have it spread out like that and have the team leaders."
Vander Woude also credited the coaches and in particular their ability to have in some cases assistants helping out.
Although the girls soccer team graduated a number of seniors from last year, they were able to put together an unbeaten season in large part because of head coach Edwin Duran and assistants Maureen Duran and Bob Fioramonti.
Maureen Duran is Edwin's wife and like her husband played soccer in college.
In baseball, first-year coach Dan Gossin has been assisted by Tom Minarik and Jake Daniel, a former Seton baseball player.
Andy Cooper is in his third year coaching the boys lacrosse team. Ray Kenna and Jack Jackson round out the lacrosse coaching staff, while Linda Laudiero is in her first year coaching the boys tennis team.