WHS Sports Roundup

Stiglets Leads WHS Girls to Win Over Marblehead to Clinch NEC South Title

Junior Madison “Maddie” Stiglets turned in one of the all-time great individual performances in Winthrop High sports history to lead the WHS girls basketball team to a 44-40 victory over Marblehead this past Saturday afternoon.

The triumph clinched an undisputed championship of the South Division of the Northeastern Conference for the Lady Vikings, who finished their NEC schedule with a 9-4 record. Winthrop stands at 14-6 overall.

Stiglets, the Lady Viking point guard, poured in 25 points, 17 of which came in the second half, including 13 of her team’s 17 points in the decisive final quarter when Winthrop erased a 32-27 deficit after three periods.

Stiglets gave a preview of coming attractions when she gave Winthrop an early lead, 5-3, when she scored on a put-back off a teammate’s miss and sank her first of four three-pointers from the corner.

Two free throws by Kaylee Farrell, who also reached double figures on the day with 13 points, boosted the Lady Vikings into a four-point advantage, 7-3. After a Marblehead trey, Grace Fleuriel swished a shot from the free throw line to make it 9-6.

However, the visiting Lady Magicians finished the period with a two-pointer and a three-pointer to take an 11-9 advantage at the first buzzer.

Marblehead, which had defeated Winthrop in the teams’ first meeting, 45-29, in early January, appeared poised to take control in the rematch, enlarging its lead to 25-16 with two minutes left in the half.

Farrell scored five points and Fleuriel hit two free throws to keep Winthrop’s deficit under double-digits.

However, the Lady Vikings closed out the half in strong fashion, with Stiglets hitting a three and Reese Brodin putting in a hustle basket when she beat a Lady Magician downcourt and followed up a teammate’s miss on a breakaway just before the buzzer to leave matters at 25-21 at the intermission.

The third period was a defensive struggle, with the Lady Magicians outscoring the Lady Vikings, 7-6, to take a 32-27 advantage going into the final eight minutes. Winthrop’s points came via a traditional three-point play by Stiglets when Maddie made a runner and was fouled; a nice back-door pass from Fleuriel to Farrell as Kaylee was cutting along the baseline from the corner; and a free throw by Stiglets.

The Lady Vikings — which is to say, Stiglets — wasted no time in erasing the Marblehead at the start of the. Maddie opened the period with a three-pointer and teammate Farrell put-back an offensive rebound to draw Winthrop within a point, 32-31.

Stiglets then hit a bank shot to give the Lady Vikings’ their first lead since the opening period, 33-32, with 6:19 left in the game. A steal by Stiglets of a Marblehead pass led to a foul and free throw and, after a Lady Magician turned the ball over on a travel, Maddie drained a trey from the corner to boost Winthrop into a 37-32 lead with 6:00 to go.

Marblehead responded with a pair of buckets inside, but Stiglets stopped the visitors’ surge by sinking another three-pointer, leaving Winthrop ahead, 40-36, with 2:45 on the clock.

But the Lady Magicians still had some tricks up their sleeve. A three-pointer and a free throw drew Marblehead back to level at 40-40 with 1:11 to play.

A questionable offensive call by the ref on Fleuriel gave the ball back to Marblehead with 59 seconds left and the Lady Magicians called a time-out during their ensuing possession with 44.7 ticks left on the clock.

Marblehead shot an airball as the shot clock wound down and Fleuriel grabbed the ball. Winthrop then patiently worked the ball around as the seconds ticked off. The ball went inside to Fleuriel, who was just inside the elbow, and Grace once again flipped a pass to a cutting Farrell along the baseline.

Despite having two Marblehead defenders draped over her, Kaylee gave an up-and-down fake to shake them off and put in the basket to give Winthrop a 42-40 lead with 15 seconds to go.

On the ensuing Marblehead possession, Stiglets made a steal and was fouled with 6.3 seconds remaining. Maddie stepped to the foul line and calmly swished both free throws for the eventual 44-40 final score.

A Marblehead desperation shot went wide of the mark, setting off a jubilant celebration by the Lady Vikings at mid-court.

This past Tuesday, the Lady Vikings hosted Revere on Senior Night. After presentations were made to the Lady Patriot seniors, the three Winthrop members of the Class of 2022 were honored for their contributions to the WHS girls basketball program: Julia Marcoccio, Emma Forsyth, and Sam Galuris,  

Both the players and their families stepped to mid-court, which was festively adorned with columns of gold, blue, and white balloons for the occasion, and the trio of seniors were presented with flowers.

The Lady Vikings had little trouble in gaining their 14th victory. Winthrop moved out to a 14-2 lead after one period and led 19-12 at the half. The Lady Vikings then went on an 11-0 run after the intermission to expand their lead to 30-12, essentially putting the game away.

Winthrop is scheduled to wrap up its regular season in the coming week with contests against non-league rivals Chelsea today (Thursday) and Northeast Regional on Tuesday at noon.

The girls presently are ranked 23rd in the MIAA’s Division 4 power ratings.

Three More Wins for WHS Girls Hockey Team

The Winthrop High girls hockey team kept its unbeaten record intact with three victories this past week over a trio of Northeastern Hockey League (NHL) opponents to remain in sole possession of first place in the NHL.

Last Wednesday the Lady Vikings hosted Marblehead, always a tough opponent, and eked out a 1-0 victory.

The contest was not as close as the final might indicate. Winthrop held a large advantage in terms of possession and shots on goal, but eight penalties prevented the Lady Vikings from establishing any semblance of momentum. 

Emma Holmes provided Winthrop with the game-winner with an unassisted goal midway through the second period. Emma is the top scorer for the Lady Vikings with 14 goals and 13 assists.

WHS goalie Summer Tallent broke the program record for shutouts with her 22nd career whitewashing of an opponent. Summer also earned her 52nd career win. Her biggest save of the evening came in the opening period when she stopped a Marblehead penalty shot.

“We had some great play from defensemen Adrianna Rizzotto, Elle English, Abby Holmes, and Amelia Spencer on our penalty killing units,” said WHS head coach Anthony Martucci. “Lily Tallent, Hanna Parker, and Julia and Emma Holmes also were fantastic on the penalty kill.”

This past Sunday afternoon Winthrop made the long trek to Janas Rink in Lowell to take on Shawsheen Tech. The Lady Vikings had cruised to a 10-1 victory in the teams’ initial meeting at the beginning of December and Winthrop seemed to be headed to another lopsided win when the Lady Vikings jumped out to an early 5-1 lead.

But as the Lady Vikings are discovering, nothing is easy when you’re the top dog and everybody wants to knock you off your pedestal.

“When we got up 5-1, we kind of just tried to go on cruise control,” said Martucci, whose squad outshot the home team by a wide margin, 43-16, and hit some posts along the way. “But give credit to Shawsheen. They did not just lay down and they made a game of it all the way until the end of the third.”

Freshman Talia Martucci produced most of the firepower for Winthrop, netting three goals for a hat trick. Avalina Coffey, Sami DiMento, and Lily Tallent also reached the back of the Shawsheen net.

“Talia had three beauties in this game,” said Martucci. “The second one was off a great pass by Izzy Cash and the third was off a perfect feed from Julia Holmes.

“Avalina Coffey got her first career high school goal when she took a nice pass from Mia Martucci and ripped a hard, low shot past the Shawsheen goalie,” Martucci added. “DiMento and Tallent had a bing-bang passing play with Lily taking a beautiful pass from Sami and burying it. Sami found a nice rebound off a shot by Hannah Parker and deposited it into the open cage.”

Tallent stopped 11 Shawsheen shots to notch her 53rd career victory.

This past Monday the Lady Vikings, who won three of their past four games by one goal, finally gave Martucci and their fans some space to breathe with a 10-1 rout at Medford.

“We were just not happy with the way we played the last half of the Shawsheen game and came out angry,” said Martucci. “We also got a huge boost from the boys hockey team, who had played right before us and stayed behind to watch our game.

“It was a really great gesture by the boys team for staying to support the girls, although I am not surprised, because that is what Winthrop is all about — family!” Martucci added emphatically.

A trio of Lady Vikings, “Jet Line” linemates Talia Matucci, Emma Holmes, and Julia Holmes, lit the red lamp twice. Also reaching the back of the Lady Mustang net were Kendall Brant (who took a nice pass from Mia Norris), Casey Petersen (her first career high school goal when she hammered home a slap shot from the blue line), Tori Bates, and Tegan Pereira (on a power play.).

Tallent split the goaltending duties with eighth-grader Riley Towse, who came on midway through the second period. Medford’s lone tally came on a power play.

“Medford is a very young team with a lot of up and coming talent,” said Martucci. “They are a few years away from being a very good team.”

The Lady Vikings, who now are 13-0-1 on the season, were set to meet Masconomet last night (Wednesday) and will make the long trek to Gloucester on Saturday. Winthrop defeated Masco, 5-2, and Gloucester, 7-0, in their first meeting this season.

They will host non-league rival Belmont on Monday at 5:00 and then will entertain Beverly, always a potent NHL rival, next Wednesday at 6:00 in their regular-season finale. The Lady Vikings topped the Lady Panthers by a score of 5-2 in their first encounter this season.

The Lady Vikings are ranked third in the Division 1 polls, but only are ranked 14th in the MIAA’s Division 1 power ratings, which will be used by the MIAA to determine the post-season playoff seedings. 

The Lady Vikings, despite being one of only two undefeated teams in D-1 (top-ranked Austin Prep is the other), are rated lower than schools such as Methuen, which has a 5-6-4 record. Despite their inferior record, Methuen and other teams are ranked ahead of Winthrop in 12th spot based on supposed strength-of-schedule metrics.

WHS Boys Hockey Tops Medford, 6-1

The Winthrop High boys hockey team got back on the winning track with a 6-1 victory at Medford this past Monday.

Jack Hayes, assisted by Milke Holgersen and Petey Silverman, gave the Vikings an early 1-0 lead. Medford struck back to tie before the first period ended, but Winthrop exploded for four unanswered goals in the middle frame.

Senior Captain JD Parker, assisted by Silverman, scored on a power play; Silverman, assisted by Holgersen and Jack Hayes, made it 3-1; Phil Boncore, assisted by Parker and senior Bobby Diaz, upped the lead to 4-1; and Silverman, assisted by Jack Hayes, scored a dagger with just 10 seconds left in the period to leave matters at 5-1 after two.

Sophomore Jackson Andy, assisted by Jack Hayes, applied the icing on the WHS victory cake with a power play goal in the final period for the 6-1 finale.

Junior goaltender Nicholas Babine earned the win in net, stopping 22 Mustang shots.

Coach Dale Dunbar and his crew (7-8-1 overall, 4-6-1 NEC North), who are ranked fifth among the 54 teams in the MIAA’s Division 4 power ratings that will determine playoff eligibility and seedings, have a busy week ahead. 

They will host Masconomet, which is in first place in the North Division of the Northeastern Conference with a 10-0 record, this evening (Thursday) at 5:00 and then will travel to Somerville on Saturday and to Cambridge on Monday.

The Vikings will wrap up their regular season next Wednesday at Larsen against Saugus. The opening face-off for the contest, which will be highlighted by Senior Night festivities, is set for 3:30.

WHS Boys Basketball to Host Northeast on Tuesday

The Winthrop High boys basketball team will host Northeast Regional next week on Tuesday afternoon at 2:00 in their season finale. 

The Vikings, who have a 7-11 record, have hit a rough patch lately, but still are in contention to qualify for a spot in the post-season state tournament.

Coach Mike Triant’s team is ranked 29th in the MIAA’s Division 4 power ratings. The top 32 schools in the so-called power rankings automatically qualify for a tourney spot, as well as any schools outside of the top 32 with a record of .500 or better.