Author: Dave Facinoli

Dave Facinoli grew up in Prince George’s County, Md. and attended Friendly High School. After attending Prince’s George Community College and James Madison University, where he covered sports on both college papers, he launched a local newspaper career that included roles as the sports editor of the Alexandria Gazette, the Arlington Sun Gazette and GazetteLeader, and other local papers.

Sports

Arlington resident helps Univ. of Connecticut basketball team win national crown

By Dave Facinoli
Azzi Fudd (courtesy of U.Conn athletics)

She once helped an Arlington youth team win a national flag-football championship. And now, Azzi Fudd has a college-level national basketball championship to her credit.

Last Sunday (April 6), the Arlington resident scored 24 points and grabbed five rebounds to help the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team win the Division I NCAA national championship with an 82-59 victory over the University of South Carolina in the 2025 title game.

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Sports

Barcroft Park has been G.W.’s baseball home for 32 years now

By Dave Facinoli
G.W. hosted VCU on April 6 (staff photo by Dave Facinoli)

Sometimes overlooked in the crush of Arlington springtime sports is George Washington University’s home baseball season at Barcroft Park.

In a long-standing agreement with Arlington, George Washington has been playing home games at the artificial-turf Tucker Field venue at Barcroft Park since 1993.

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Sports

Rain threat doesn’t dampen mood at Little League opening-day event

By Dave Facinoli
The Rangers play a makeshift game (staff photo by Dave Facinoli)

The potential for foul weather kept some of the crowd away, but otherwise the annual Arlington Little League opening-day ceremonies went as usual on Sunday (April 5).

The afternoon event began with the traditional parade of dozens of teams through a tunnel of players from varsity high-school baseball and girls softball teams in Arlington onto field No. 1 at Barcroft Park.

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Sports

Baseball roundup: Wakefield, Yorktown take rivalry contests, O’Connell gets wins

By Dave Facinoli
Wakefield's Cort Bringham pitches (staff photo by Dave Facinoli)

In recent Liberty District high-school baseball games between Arlington rivals, the host Wakefield Warriors topped the Washington-Liberty Generals, 8-5, then the Yorktown Patriots downed visiting Wakefield, 9-3.

For Wakefield (2-4, 2-3) against W-L, Cort Bringham was the standout. On the mound, the right-hander worked 6 1/3 innings of two-hit ball (one earned run), fanned five and walked two to get the win. With the bat, Bringham had three hits, with a double, and drove in three runs.

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Sports

Yorktown girls lacrosse team starts 7-0 despite tough schedule

By Dave Facinoli
Yorktown plays defense against Woodson (staff photo by Dave Facinoli)

The Yorktown Patriots’ undefeated season through seven matches is extra-notable due to the difficult schedule the girls high-school lacrosse team has played so far.

The defending Virginia High School League Class 6 state champion has faced and defeated perennial powers like the Langley Saxons, Oakton Cougars, Robinson Rams, Battlefield Bobcats and C.G. Woodson Cavaliers.

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Sports

Host W-L teams finish first in county track-and-field meets

By Dave Facinoli
Ian Crowley, left, and Ella Kaplan helped lead the W-L teams (courtesy of W-L track & field)

Gabriela Netwall winning multiple girls events and Ian Crowley doing the same for the boys helped the two host Washington-Liberty Generals teams win the annual Arlington County outdoor track-and-field meets.

The girls won with 200 points and the boys with 191. Both Wakefield Warriors squads placed second in the high-school meet.

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Sports

Marymount’s flag-football team stands 9-0 with as many shutouts

By Dave Facinoli
Marymount flag players (courtesy of Marymount athletics)

Not only is the Marymount University Saints’ flag football team undefeated this spring — the second-year squad has not allowed a point through nine games.

The Division III squad has outscored its opponents, 310-0, with its most recent win a 39-0 victory over Holy Family University in Philadelphia. Marymount’s closest game was a 12-0 road win over Eastern University.

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Sports

Washington-Liberty boys team off to strong start in lacrosse action

By Dave Facinoli
Washington-Liberty plays defense (photo by Chris Connor)

With a 6-2 record through eight boys lacrosse matches, the Washington-Liberty Generals are enjoying one of their best starts in program history.

Among the high-school team’s victories were a 11-7 win over private-school Sidwell Friends along with triumphs over Northern Virginia public-school squads West Springfield, 13-8, Marshall, 16-3, Falls Church, 16-5, and South County, 6-3.

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Sports

Overlee hires familiar face as team’s summer swimming coach

By Dave Facinoli
Overlee will have a new head coach this summer (staff photo by Dave Facinoli)

The Overlee Flying Fish will be led by one of their own and a very familiar face when the Northern Virginia Swimming League begins its summer season in June.

The team’s new head coach will be Ryan York, who swam for Overlee from age 6 to 18, with the 2021 season his last, then was an assistant with the team the past two summers. He set team records for Overlee and also was a lifeguard at the pool.

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Sports

Yorktown swimmers, divers chosen to Class 6 all-state teams

By Dave Facinoli
The Yorktown girls had multiple all-state selections (staff photo by Dave Facinoli)

A number of members of the Yorktown High School girls swimming and diving team recently were rewarded as Class 6 all-state selections from their performances during the 2024-25 season.

They helped Yorktown win a third straight Virginia High School League state championship this past season.

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Sports

Arlington high-school sports schedule for April 11-17

By Dave Facinoli
Wakefield and Washington-Liberty will be playing in spring-break baseball tournaments (staff photo by Dave Facinoli)

Spring break will mean a bit of a layoff for some high-school sports teams, while others will be participating in spring-break competitons over the next 10 days.

Some of that spring-break action will take place locally, while some teams will be participating in out-of-town tournaments.

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