Sports 01-20-2011

Winthrop girls hockey team improves to 8-1

The Winthrop Lady Bulldog hockey team reeled off two more impressive victories to improve to 8-1 on the season this past week.

Saturday’s 2-1 triumph over Springfield Cathedral marked a milestone for the Lady Bulldogs and clearly established them as one of the top teams in the state. Cathedral had defeated Winthrop in both of their contests last season, but Saturday’s game proved to a different story.

The final score was nowhere near an indication of Winthrop’s dominance, as the Lady Bulldogs outshot Springfield 48-27. Still, after an unassisted power play goal by McKenzie Clark in the first period and a marker by Cathedral in the second, the score was tied at 1-1 as the clock wound down to six minutes to go in the final frame.

But that’s when Winthrop’s MVP candidate, defenseman Taylor Brown, unloaded a hard slapper from the point that finally beat the Cathedral goalie, who to that point had put a lid on her crease after Clark’s tally in the first period.

Cathedral showed why it perennially is one of the better quality teams and battled hard to the end. With two minutes to go, a Cathedral skater broke in alone on Bulldog goalie Katie Burt. However, Burt stoned the Cathedral player to save the victory.

“The team played a great game,” said WHS head coach Anthony Martucci. “Katie Burt made a big save at the end and showed why she is one of the top goalies in the area.”

Two nights earlier, the Lady Bulldogs had their way from the opening face off to the final horn with a 5-0 win over Shawsheen Tech. Winthrop outshot its opponent by a whopping 51-10 margin and never was seriously challenged. Brown, who has eclipsed the 75 point career mark (which is quite an accomplishment for a defenseman), lit the lamp twice. Teammates Caroline McKinnon, Hannah LoPresti, and Chelsey Bartlett also scored goals.

Playmakers on the night included Courtney McTague with two assists and Bartlett, Brown, Anna Fucillo, Kara Donati, and Casey McNulty with one assist each.

Burt earned the shutout in between the pipes and now sports a sterling goals against average in the range of 0.75.

Martucci also lauded the play of junior forward Amanda Cordes. “Amanda is playing very unselfish hockey for us and is making a huge contribution every night with her hard work and great forechecking,” said the coach, who noted that she drew two penalties in the Shawsheen game.

Martucci and his crew have a big week on tap. They host Wilmington Saturday at 4:00 at Larsen and then travel next Wednesday to Lynn to take on St. Mary’s at 4:00. Winthrop presently is rated number three in the hockey polls, behind Woburn at No. 2 and St. Mary’s at No.1. Wednesday’s contest figures to be one of the biggest regular season games on the North Shore this year.

Boys basketball team rolls past two opponents

After an up and down start to the season, the Winthrop High boys basketball team may be hitting its stride after two convincing victories over Northeastern Conference rival Salem and non league foe Malden this past week.

“I think we’ve realized that we have to play every possession as if it were the last possession of a close game,” said WHS head coach Dave Brown. “No one can afford to take a play off when they are on the floor.”

Friday’s 79-65 win over Salem, which was ranked 11th in the state coming into the contest with a 6-1 record in NEC, saw the Vikings take control at both ends of the floor from the outset and never let up. Winthrop grabbed a 40-19 lead by halftime and held a 25 point advantage after three quarters.

A balanced scoring attack proved key to the Viking victory as five players reached double figures. Quinton Dale turned in a fine all around performance with 20 points, six rebounds, and six steals. Joe D’Amore hit for 16 points; Taj Generazzo added 12 points to go with nine assists and six rebounds; Michael Griffin popped in 14 points, pulled down five rebounds, and dished out four assists; and J.P. Doherty chipped in with 10 points.

Anthony Hatzisavas, who is becoming a major force for Winthrop in the paint after returning from back surgery, made a major contribution and grabbed eight rebounds.

Monday’s 74-38 runaway triumph over Malden once again was under Winthrop’s control from the opening tap. D’Amore was high scorer with 21 points and pulled down six rebounds. Griffin turned in a stellar all around performance with 16 points, seven assists, and six rebounds.

Dale hit for 13 points and grabbed 10 caroms, while Hatzisavas almost had a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds.

“We’re playing with a lot of effort, as well as not making the sort of mental mistakes that cost us in our earlier games,” said Brown, who also noted approvingly that his team sank 18 of their 21 free throw attempts in the Malden game.

The Vikings now stand at 6-4 on the season at the halfway mark. They will be seeking to stay on a roll with what looms as a tough game at Revere Friday evening, followed by two non league contests at home on Monday against St. Clement’s and Wednesday against Innovative Charter School.

Girls track team wins third straight

The Winthrop High girl track team had an easy time of it against Salem last week, leaving th Witches in their dust by a score of 66-19, to record their third straight victory. The Lady Vikings captured first place in seven of the nine individual events and also won the 4 x 400 relay.

First place finishers for the Lady Vikings were Julia Wallace, who led a sweep in the high jump with a leap of 4-6; Ashley Jurovich with a shotput toss of 26-9.75; Katie Cochrane in the 55 meter hurdles in 9.8; Christina Russo in the 55 meter dash in 7.7; Haley Benson, who led a sweep in the 600 with a run of 1:54.7; Jordan Griffiths in the mile in 6:44; and Kaitlyn Hersey in the two mile in 13:36.1.

The 4 x 400 relay team won its race in 5:00.4, which was about four seconds faster than Salem’s 5:04.5.

Adding three points to the Winthrop score sheet for their second place efforts were Christina Russo with a high jump of 4-2; Elizabeth Anderson with a heave in the shotput of 25-7; Carly O’Keefe in the 300 in 50.6; Maria Rago in the 600 in 2:04; Amy Sena in the 1000 in 3:55.8; Amanda Hersey in the mile in 7:13.8; and Wallace in the two mile in 15:58.9.

Third place points were contributed by Katherine Hetherton in the high jump with a leap of 4-2; Jessica Dowson in the 55 hurdles in 10.3; Lexi Vaccaro in the 55 dash in 7.9; Kristen Lanza in the 600 in 2:06.6; and Corey Charis in the 1000 in 3:57.5.

The track girls traveled to Lynn English last night (Wednesday).

Hockey team wins pair

The Winthrop High boys hockey team improved to 6-2-3 on the season with a pair of impressive victories over Northeastern Conference rivals last week, blanking Marblehead 3-0 and blasting Lynn 8-1.

Coach Dale Dunbar’s squad has one game on tap in the week ahead when they play at Swampscott Saturday afternoon.

Gymnastics team shows strength, improvement in opening meets

Although the Winthrop/Lynn English combo gymnastics team dropped a 132-126 decision to a strong North Andover squad this past week, there were a number of highlights for the Lady Vikings.

Winthrop started out strongly, winning the vaulting competition by a score of  34.0 to 33.45. Leading the way was Capt. Danika Dell’Anno, who took first place with a 9.3. Coming in fourth and fifth were teammates Jessica Fahey and Caitlyn Page.

Capt. Fahey then took first place honors for the Vikings on the uneven bars with a score of 8.1. Carolyn Hetherton put together a great bar routine to take fourth place.

Both teams had trouble staying on the balance beam with North Andover edging out the Vikings 31.3 to 30.65. Lynn English junior Sam Amico stayed on the beam for Winthrop, taking first place with an 8.0. Sophomore Marissa Perrotta took second with a 7.9 with Brandi Holland right behind her with a 7.15.

However, the floor exercise was totally dominated by North Andover with three girls scoring in the 9.0’s. The strongest Viking challenger was Dell’Anno with an 8.2. “The North Andover team showed a lot of poise on the floor,” said WHS coach Melissa Wiles. “They had very strong tumbling skills, the best we’ve seen this season.”

In the opening week of the season, Winthrop came out on the short end of a 132-122 contest at Peabody. However, there were some highlights for Winthrop. Captain Danika Dell’Anno broke Winthrop’s vault record with an impressive 9.35 score. Captain Jessica Fahey provided the team with a solid performance in the all around.

However, the talk of the meet was eighth grader Caitlyn Page. “Nobody has ever walked into the gym one week before the first meet after a two and one half year layoff and competed,” said Wiles. “It usually takes a few weeks to get into any kind of shape to throw routines. We are all pleasantly surprised at how fast Caitlyn got herself ready.”

Winthrop broke into the win column with a victory over Marblehead by a wide margin of 126.85 to 106.95. Leading the scoring in all four events was Senior Captain Danika Dell’anno with high scores on the vault (9.3) and floor exercise (9.1). Right behind her was fellow  Capt  Jessica Fahey who took second place in the all around, scoring an 8.45 on vault and an 8.3 on the floor.

Brandi Holland from Lynn English had an impressive meet competing in three events and taking fourth place on vault and the floor. Also turning in strong performances for Winthrop were Carolyn Heatherton, Samantha Mooney, Marissa Perrotta, Dakota Squire, and Caitlyn Page.

Winthrop then faced a strong Beverly squad last Monday night, losing by a score of 137.85 to 128.75. “Even though we lost, our team improved by more than two points,” noted Wiles.  “As long as the girls continue to improve we’ll get our share of wins this season.”

Dell’Anno continued to be the highest scoring all around for Winthrop, taking a second place in the meet. “There’s a reason why Danika was awarded the hardest worker for three  years in a row,” said WHS head coach Pete Gobiel. “She has been working out twice a day since last season with her ultimate goal to make the National High School Team. She has a lot of work to do, but she’s on track so far this season.”

Also performing well against Beverly was Samantha Amico from Lynn, who competed  on three events despite having had a bout with the stomach bug. Samantha scored an  8.2 and an 8.1 on vault and floor.

Fahey had strong scores on vault (8.4), beam (8.4), and floor (8.3). Taking a second place for Winthrop on balance beam was Marissa Perrotta with an 8.0.  Brandi Holland had another strong meet with scores of 8.3 on vault, 7.3 on bars, and 7.05 on beam.

The Lady Vikings hosted Salem last night (Wednesday) and then travel to Danvers on Saturday.

WHS girls fall short   to Salem

The Winthrop High girls basketball team dropped a 36-26 decision at Salem last Friday night. The contest was a defensive struggle throughout, with Winthrop grabbing a 6-4 lead after the first quarter.

However, the Lady Witches moved out to a 16-12 advantage at the half and increased the margin to 27-16 after three frames.

Although the Lady Vikings made a run in the final period, they were unable to get closer than five points. Johnna Fisher led Winthrop with 16 points. Temison Meggison added four, Angelina Favaloro had three, Liana Ferullo put in two, and Niki Tsiotis sank a free throw to complete the Winthrop score sheet.

“We need to find a level of consistency,” said WHS head coach Ignacio Oyola. “We play well in stretches, but we have to do it for all four quarters.”

The basketball girls host 10-0 Revere this Friday and are off until they play next Thursday at Hull and then next Friday at Lynn English.

Ekidat wins again for boys track team

Jordan Ekidat high jumped to another victory for the WHS boys track team in their meet last Monday against Salem. Jordan leapt five feet, seven inches to claim the top spot.

He also added a point to the Winthrop scoresheet with a third place in the 55 meter hurdles in a time of 7.1 seconds.

Other point scorers on the day for Winthrop were Paul Correale with a third in the shotput with a toss of 35-2.75 and Justin Casilla with a third in the 300 dash in 44.9.

Other members of the Viking team who competed in the meet were James Carroll and Chris Miccihi in the shotput; Trevor Heatherton in the hurdles; Tom Flaherty in the 300; and Mario Mazzone in the 600.

The boys traveled to Lynn English last night (Wednesday).

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