Sports 12-20-2018

WHS sports roundup

WHS boys hockey team hosts Peabody Saturday

The Winthrop High boys hockey team will host Peabody this Saturday afternoon to open its 2019 Northeastern Conference North Division schedule. Face-off at Larsen Rink is set for 1:30 p.m.

Coach Dale Dunbar’s Vikings are off to a nice 2-1 start this season, defeating non-league rivals Portland, Maine in the season opener and Northeast Regional before falling to Mansfield this past Saturday.

In the 7-1 victory over Portland at Larsen two weeks ago, senior captain Sam Yarrow (four goals, two assists) and senior linemate and assistant captain Luke Evangelista (three goals) provided the offensive punch for the Vikings.

Assistant captain Corey Cherico and captain Brian Chalmers earned two assists apiece with Drew DiMento also adding an assist. Assistant captain and goalie Ryan Skoczylas went all the way in net, turning aside 20 Portland shots.

Last Wednesday, Winthrop shut out Northeast Regional, 6-0, at the latter’s home rink in Malden. Yarrow, assisted by Mark Van Buskirk, and Joe Deeb, assisted by J.D. Parker, gave the Vikings a 2-0 lead in the opening period.

Senior captain Chris Finn, assisted by Joe Holgersen, and Evangelista, assisted by DiMento, lit the lamp in the middle period. Evangelista and Cherico added some extra insurance tallies in the final period.

Skoczylas and Ryan Hovermale shared the duties in goal to record the shutout against the Golden Knights.

The Vikings traveled to the Foxboro Sports Center this past Saturday to take on the Mansfield Hornets, a Division 1 team that is ranked 12th overall in the state.

After spotting Mansfield a 3-0 lead in the opening period, the Vikings stung back, scoring a goal in the second period (Evangelista from Holgersen) and tallying another early in the third (Evangelista from DiMento and Kevin Dorr) to close the gap to 3-2.

The Vikings had some excellent chances to tie the game, but could not find the back of the Hornets’ nest. With Winthrop pressing forward, Mansfield scored a goal with two minutes to play to make it 4-2 and then added an empty-netter for the 5-2 finale.

Next Thursday evening (Dec. 27), Dunbar and his crew will host Falmouth (Maine) High School at Larsen Rink. Face-off for the game is set for 6 p.m.. The boys’ contest is the second half of a doubleheader, with the Winthrop and Falmouth girls facing off earlier at 3:30 p.m.

The games were made possible through the efforts of former Winthrop High Athletic Director James Coffey and present WHS Athletic Director Matt Serino.

 

WHS girls hockey

tames Lady Panthers

The Winthrop High girls hockey team ended four years’ worth of frustration at the hands of Northeast Hockey League rival Beverly in a big way with a dominating 9-3 triumph this past Saturday.

“It was a great win for us,” said WHS head coach Anthony Martucci, whose squad now stands at 2-0 on the season. “We had not beaten Beverly in four years — we were 0-7-1 — so we wanted this one badly.”

The Lady Vikings controlled the contest from the outset, outshooting the Lady Panthers 19-6 in the opening period to take a 2-0 lead into the locker room at the first horn and never looked back.

Although the middle period was a shootout, Winthrop had the bigger guns to advance their lead to 6-3 at the second intermission and then tacked on three unanswered tallies in the final period for the 9-3 finale.

Senior captain Bella Perrotti scored two goals and assisted on two others to lead the Lady Viking offensive barrage.

“Bella’s goals were awesome, two great shots. But it was a pass on the power play that was really pretty, a perfect pass to Abby Stafford for a one-timer that opened the scoring,” noted Martucci.

Stafford also contributed in a big way to the win with a goal and an assist.

Freshman Mia Martucci scored her first career high school goal on a highlight-reel move on a Beverly defenseman and then going top shelf to beat the Beverly goalie. Mia finished the game with a goal and three assists.

Emma Carleton was another multiple-point scorer with two goals and an assist. One of Emma’s goals was a blast from just over the blue line.

Olivia Driscoll likewise contributed two goals and an assist.

“So far this season, Olivia has been fantastic,” lauded Martucci. “She is a tireless worker and a very smart hockey player.”

Emma Holmes scored another goal, the second in two games for the eighth grader.

WHS goalie Summer Tallent earned the win in between the pipes, turning aside 14 Beverly shots.

“Summer is the ultimate competitor,” said Martucci. “She brings it every single day. Practices, games, all the time — you get Summer’s absolute best.”

Martucci also praised the performance of his blue line corps.

“Our defense has been solid in the first two games,” said the coach. “The best part about our play so far is that we are getting a lot of the girls some ice time. We are very deep back there with Bella Perotti and Abby Stafford leading the way. We have Liv Holmes, Kayla Morrill, Elle English, Kirsten Griffiths, Brooke Costin, and Abby Holmes all getting some significant ice time.

“Casey Petersen and Fallon Hurley also have been working very hard and pushing for ice time on the back end,” Martucci continued. “We are very lucky to have so many strong defensemen.”

The Lady Vikings were scheduled to host Marblehead last night (Wednesday) at Larsen Rink. They will host Falmouth (Maine) next Thursday afternoon during the vacation week. Face-off for that game is at 3:30 and is part of a hockey doubleheader with the boys’ team against their foe from Maine.

 

Lady Vikings win

season opener,

defeat Beverly

 

The Winthrop High girls basketball team opened its 2019 season with a hard-fought, 42-38 victory over Beverly under new head coach Rick Pulsifer.

Although the Lady Vikings led at all of the intervals, the contest was a closely-contested affair from the opening tip to the final buzzer.

Winthrop grabbed a slight edge at the end of the first period, 9-7, and increased their advantage to 26-20 at the intermission.

The Lady Vikings held a slight advantage in the third period to leave matters at 34-25 entering the final eight minutes.

However, the Lady Panthers refused to give up and fought back with some timely shooting, eventually moving out to their first lead of the contest, 38-36, with just under a minute to play.

It now was the Lady Vikings’ turn to show some grit. With just under 30 seconds remaining, Winthrop had possession, but pressure defense by Beverly resulted in a loose ball. Sophomore Grace Galuris raced to the ball, scooped it up, and started driving to the basket.

When Grace found herself double-teamed, she dished a pass to sophomore Lily Pulsifer, who was on the baseline. Lily stepped back behind the three-point arc and drilled a trey to put Winthrop up by one, 39-38.

The Lady Vikings then employed a box-and-one defense to try to shut down Beverly’s hot shooter,  Anderson, who already had burned Winthrop for 15 points.

The Winthrop defensive scheme forced the Lady Panthers into a pair of rushed shots and the Lady Vikings grabbed the rebounds. Beverly intentionally fouled Winthrop sophomore Maura Dorr, who showed no signs of pressure at the line and calmly swished two free throws to give Winthrop a 41-38 lead.

After a missed shot and another intentional foul by Beverly, Dorr was back at the charity stripe, where she hit the front end of her one-and-one with three seconds to play to put the game on ice.

Dorr ended up with 18 points on the night. Fellow sophomore Caroline Earl also reached double figures with 10 points and Galuris struck for eight to lead the WHS scoring attack.

The Winthrop junior varsity Lady Vikings, under the direction of new head coach Ben Cimmino, also enjoyed a successful evening, defeating Beverly, 23-16.

The JV squad trailed 6-0 at the end of the first quarter. Winthrop was getting good looks at the basket, but could not get anything to fall, as their shots rimmed out.

Although the Lady Vikings’ shots started to to fall in the second period, they trailed at the half, 13-7.

However, the Winthrop defense stepped up in a big way up after the intermission, holding Beverly to only three points in the entire second half and outscoring the Lady Panthers,16-3, to go on and win the game, 23-16.

Leading scorers for Winthrop were sophomore Lily Skomro and freshman Emma Forsyth with five points apiece. Freshmen Sam Galuris and MacKenzie Acevedo both chipped in four points.

The Lady Vikings were scheduled to play at Lynn Classical this past Tuesday and will host Lynn English tonight (Thursday). They will play in the Pope John XXIII Christmas Tournament next week on December 27 and 28, opening with a contest against North Reading.

 

Boys basketball

battles Beverly

 

The Winthrop High boys basketball team traveled to Northeastern Conference power Beverly this past Friday, battling hard for most of the way before eventually falling by a score of 75-58.

“We were in it until early in the fourth quarter,” said WHS head coach Dave Sacco. “We shot the ball well, but just couldn’t get stops on the defensive end.”

Senior Chrono Washington led the Vikings in the scoring department with 24 points. Also reaching double figures were junior Engjell Ramadan with 20 points and sophomore Cam Conway with 10 points.

The Vikings opened their season with a non-league encounter against Malden Catholic last Tuesday. Winthrop was within striking range midway through the third period, but MC pulled away for an eventual 78-41 victory.

The Vikings were led by Conway 15 points and Ramadan, who had a nice double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

“We battled them until the three-minute mark in the third quarter when we were down eight with a chance to cut it to six,” Sacco. “However, we couldn’t convert and from that point, the wheels fell off pretty fast.

“We have a lot of new faces on the roster,” added Sacco. “We graduated 10 seniors and have only one player back from last year’s team with varsity experience. We’re very young and inexperienced and in our league, guys are going to have to grow up fast and on the fly.”

Sacco and his squad were set to play Lynn Classical this past Tuesday and will travel to Lynn English tonight (Thursday).

 

Four Lady Vikings

win in Medford meet

 

Although the Winthrop High girls indoor track and field team came up on the short end of a 47-38 decision to Medford last week, a number of Lady Vikings turned in fine performances.

Four Winthrop girls won their individual events:  MarykatePote in the shot put with a toss of 28′-1″; Daniella Zanelli in the hurdles in a time of 8.5; Devon Barry in the 1000 in a clocking of 3:55.2; and Camilla Miranda-Llovera in the two mile run in 13:02, which was a full minute faster than Camilla’s nearest competitor.

The Lady Viking 4 x 400 quartet also was victorious, edging their Medford counterparts by a slim 1/2 second in an exciting race, 5:07.3-5:07.8.

Three Winthrop girls placed three points onto the WHS side of the scoresheet with second-place finishes: Olivia Brandi-Miller with a high jump of 4′-2″; Clare Nargi in the hurdles in 9.1; and Nora McCarey in the 300 dash in 46.2.

Adding single points to the Winthrop total with their third-place finishes were: Alexandra Gibbons in the 300 in 47.7; Ella McCarey in the 1000 in 4:06.8; Brianna Marley in the mile in 6:52.8; and Anyra Silva in the two-mile in 15:38.

The Lady Vikings took on Somerville this past Tuesday. Their next dual meet will be after the holiday on January 3 against Saugus.

 

WHS boys do well

in meet with Medford

 

The Winthrop High boys indoor track and field team captured first place in four events in their meet last week with Medford in which the Mustangs prevailed by a score of 55-29.

The four winning performances for the Vikings were: Julian Osorio in the high jump with a leap of 5′-2″; Cam Martin in the hurdles in 8.9; Bobby Hubert in the dash in 6.0; and Cormac MacPhail in the 1000 in 2:47.9.

Kim Haddar and Ryan Kfoury scored three points for Winthrop with second place efforts, Haddar with a high jump of 5′-2″ and Kfoury in the 300 dash in 41.8.

Three Vikings grabbed third place to score a point for Winthrop: Brandon Preble in the shot put with a throw of 32′-8”; Matt Skoboleff in the 600 dash in 1:36.9; and Ryan Cash with a mile run of 6:05.4.

The Vikings were set to be back in action this past Tuesday against Somerville and will face Saugus for their next dual meet on January 3.

Winthrop girls hoop plays well in OT loss to Classical

By Cary Shuman

The future may be now for the Winthrop High School girls basketball team.

Led by a talented sophomore class, the Lady Vikings took an always-tough Lynn Classical team in to overtime before falling to the Lady Rams, 50-48, Tuesday night.

Winthrop trailed by seven in the fourth quarter before sophomore guard Carolyn Kinsella launched the comeback with a drive for a basket. Sophomore Caroline Earl hit a two-pointer before she followed with a stop-and-step basket (“We call that the Earl Step,” said head coach Rick Pulsifer) to tie the game at 37-37.

Classical surged ahead in the final minutes, but sophomore Lily Pulsifer connected on a clutch three-pointer with 18 seconds left to tie the game at 43-43, ultimately necessitating overtime.

Classical took the early lead in OT, but once again it was Kinsella leading the comeback with two free throws and a three-pointer.

But Classical was able to hold on when sophomore Maura Dorr’s left-handed 10-footer missed connection right at the buzzer.

Dorr was outstanding in defeat for the Vikings, finishing with a game-high 15 points on the heels of an 18-point performance in a season-opening win over Beverly. Earl had nine points while Kinsella also scored nine, including a nifty steal and coast-to-coast basket. Senior Emma Turner also played well for Winthrop.

Classical Coach Tom Sawyer was impressed by the new-look Winthrop contingent.

“They remind me of those old Winthrop teams when they had that outstanding class that came through,” said Sawyer. “They start four sophomores and they’re talented kids. We knew last year they were really good as freshmen. They had us down 10-0 in a game last year.”

Rick Pulsifer, who has succeeded Kristin Degou as Winthrop’s head coach, was pleased with his team’s effort against Classical, one of the top teams in the Northeastern Conference for the past few years.

“That was a great game and to start four sophomores and battle a team as good as Classical is, it was a good overall effort,” said Pulsifer. “Lily nailed a big shot for us to push the game in to overtime. Three of our sophomores started last year and we have good depth with eight sophomores, so the future looks bright for Winthrop basketball.”

Meanwhile, Maura Dorr has emerged as a player-to-watch with a total of 33 points in two games. “Maura is an incredible athlete and even when she’s not scoring points, her defense is causing problems for opposing teams,” said Pulsifer.