Boys Hockey Drop First Contest, But Still Ranked No. 1 in Division
The Winthrop High boys hockey team dropped its first contest of the season to Northeastern Conference (NEC) North foe Marblehead last Saturday afternoon at Larsen Rink. The Vikings had defeated the Magicians in their first meeting earlier in the season by a 3-1 score, but Marblehead, which came into Larsen with a five-game winning streak and a #12 ranking in Division 3, turned the tables in the rematch.
However, prior to that setback, coach Dale Dunbar and his crew moved a step closer toward clinching the 2024 championship of the NEC North with a 5-1 victory last Wednesday evening over Danvers at the Ray Bourque Arena at Endicott College.
Winthrop opened the scoring with a goal from Mike Holgersen, assisted by captains Petey Silverman and Billy Hayes. The Vikings made it 2-0 on a short-handed goal by assistant captain Robert Rich with an assist from Aiden Survilas.
Danvers got on the board late in the period to cut the lead to 2-1, but Silverman scored three unanswered goals in the middle period to boost the Vikings into a commanding 5-1 lead. Capt. Pete’s first goal of his so-called “natural hat trick” was assisted by Holgersen and Hayes, the second by Nick Romano and Hayes, and the third by Romano and Holgersen.
Viking junior goaltender Mike Donahue posted another solid effort between the pipes, turning aside 23 Danvers shots.
Saturday’s contest with Marblehead was one of those games that every sports team at all levels seems to endure during the course of a season.
The Vikings had plenty of chances to score in the opening period, but the lone lamplighter of the first 15 minutes belonged to the Magicians. The second period was almost a replay of the first, but with Marblehead scoring two goals to take a 3-0 lead into the final period. The Vikings continued to control the action in the third period and finally broke through to close the gap to 3-1 with five minutes to play when Phil Boncore reached the back of the Magicians’ net, assisted by Silverman. Winthrop battled furiously to score again, but the Magicians took advantage of an empty net in the final minutes for the 4-1 finale.
Dunbar and his squad now stand at 12-1-1 on the season and still remain atop the MIAA’s Division 4 power rankings by a wide margin. In addition, Winthrop is solidly in first place in the NEC North with a 6-1-0 mark. (Danvers has three losses and Marblehead, Gloucester, and Masconomet all have four losses.)
Dunbar, his staff, and players wish to thank all of the Viking Alumni who came to the Marblehead game to support the team.
Winthrop has a busy and challenging schedule in the coming week: The Vikings were scheduled to trek to non-league foe Essex Tech, the #5 team in Division 3, yesterday (Wednesday); travel to Gloucester, the #10 team in D-2, on Saturday at Talbot Rink at 6:00; entertain non-league opponent Medford on Monday at 6:30; and then host fierce NEC North foe Masconomet, the #12 team in D-2, next Wednesday for a 6:10 opening face-off.
Girls Hockey Tops Newburyport, 4-1; Hosts Peabody Monday
The Winthrop High girls hockey team improved its record to 8-2-2 on the season and officially qualified for the post-season MIAA Division 1 state tournament with a 4-1 victory at Northeast Hockey League (NHL) opponent Newburyport this past Saturday evening.
“This was a great road win for us,” said WHS head coach Anthony Martucci. “It was a long bus ride to Graf Rink on a Saturday night. Every team in our league is out to get us, and we know it. So every single conference game we are in for a dogfight. Like true champions this group always responds, and that is what they did once again.”
Senior captain Hannah Parker gave Winthrop an early lead on the second shift of the game with the first goal of the evening.
“Ham is just one of those players that if you allow her to go north/south on you, you are in big trouble,” said Martucci. “She has good size and she can move well. This was just her saying, ‘I will not be denied,’ and she ripped home the first goal of the game.This was a big goal for us as we were able to settle in after that and get into our structure.”
Before the period ended, fellow senior captain Adrianna Rizzotto made it 2-0. “Rizzo’ took a bullet from the point and it rattled the back of the net,” said Martucci. “She has been a big time leader on the back end for us all season and the team loves it when she scores.”
Penalties stymied the Lady Viking attack in the middle period, but Winthrop took advantage of a power play of its own with a goal by Tegan Periera. “Teegs has a bomb of a shot and we really encourage her to take it, especially on the power play. She let it fly and put us up 3-0,” noted Martucci. “That was the extent of the scoring for the period, but we were all over their goalie, and they did not have much of an answer for our team speed.”
The final 15 minutes proved to be another penalty-filled period. “It seems the officials are trying to keep games close with some of the questionable calls,” said Martucci. “However, we were able to continue to work on our penalty-killing, which has become pretty good — not that you want to have a good penalty kill, because it means you are taking too many penalties.
Newburyport was able to sneak one past Lady Viking goalie Riley Towse to make it 3-1, but shortly after that freshman Angie Coscia sealed the deal with a shot from the top of the circle that made it 4-1.
Reese Ferrara had two assists “and was an absolute monster in the face-off circle,” said Martucci, who also praised his Blue Line defenders, Avalina Coffey, Tegan Periera, Adrianna Rizzotto, Amelia Spencer, Izi Hain, and Fran Indresano, as well as sophomore netminder Riley Towse, who continues her assault on the program’s record books.
“Senior captain Sami Dimento is playing incredible hockey, and leading this team in an elite way,” added the coach.
“The Winthrop girls hockey team would like to say congrats to coach Pete Gobiel and his gymnastics team for an outstanding season,” Martucci added. “I was very lucky to have Pete as my health teacher back in the day and I know that the girls must feel the same way as I did back then. He is a great coach and that is a very talented group of athletes he has on that team.”
Martucci and his crew, who are ranked ninth in the MIAA D-1 power rankings, have a busy week ahead with four games in seven days. They were scheduled to host NHL rival Marblehead last night (Wednesday) and will make the short trek to LoConte Rink to take on NHL foe Medford Saturday afternoon at 3:00. They will return home to host first-place Peabody on Monday at 4:30 in hopes of avenging a 2-1 loss to the Lady Tanners, who are undefeated in the NHL. They will host NHL opponent Masconomet the following night at Larsen at 6:10.
Lady Vikings Defeat Danvers
The Winthrop High girls basketball team turned in a split week, falling to Northeastern Conference (NEC) North rival Masconomet last Friday, but then defeating NEC South foe Danvers this past Tuesday.
The contest at Masco saw the Lady Vikings battle back from deficits throughout the contest before eventually succumbing to the strong Lady Chieftains, who are in first place in the NEC North with a 9-1 record.
After falling behind early in the contest, Winthrop drew to within 18-16 a few minutes before the end of the first half. However, Masco went on a 6-0 run to close out the half and take a 24-16 lead at the intermission.
“We talked at the half about how we needed to come out strong and make the first run,” said WHS head coach Anthony Hatzisavas, and his squad did just that, cutting the Masco lead to 24-20 to start the third quarter.
However, the Lady Chieftains responded with a big run that stretched their lead, from which the Lady Vikings never recovered en route to a 55-33 loss.
“They are a very good team and you need to play a near-perfect 32 minutes,” said Hatzisavas. “Grace Fleuriel and Reese Brodin were fighting foul trouble for the majority of the game, which caused some issues for us, but also gave others an opportunity to step up.”
Fleuriel finished as Winthrop’s leading scorer with 10 points, while Bailey Ferguson chipped in with eight.
“Bailey has turned out to be one of the better point guards in the conference and as a sophomore, the sky’s the limit for her,” added Hatzisavas.
This past Tuesday night the Lady Vikings hosted a Danvers team that had edged Winthrop in their first meeting. “All that was on our mind was the one we dropped on the road against them, 49-45, after having a seven-point lead with seven minutes to go,” said Hatzisavas. “This time we talked about how we needed to play four complete quarters and really come out and finish strong. Throughout the season we have had trouble either how we start or how we finish and lately we have been able to fix that. “
The Lady Vikings followed their coach’s Rx to the proverbial ‘T’ from the opening tip. Winthrop took a commanding 17-3 advantage in the opening period and never looked back. “Senior captain Kaylee Farrell came out very strong with six first-quarter points to get us going and her energy on defense led the way,” said Hatzisavas. “Kaylee is one of those players where it might not always show up on the stat sheet, but she is always making a huge impact on the game and is a tremendous leader.”
Winthrop expanded its advantage to 30-10 at the half in what Hatzisavas termed, “Probably our best half of the season on both ends of the court.” Danvers was able to cut the lead to nine after the intermission, but a propitious time-out by Hatzisavas put the Lady Vikings back on course.
“I challenged the girls to come back with the same energy they had earlier and that’s what they did,” said the coach, whose squad eventually sailed to a 59-37 triumph. “It was a tremendous effort on both ends of the floor.:
Fleuriel led the way with 13 points, seven rebounds, and four steals and shot 100% from the free throw line. Brodin reached double figures with 12 points and “really pushed the tempo for us to go along with five steals,” Hatzisavas added.
Poli Tsiotios and Zoey Bogusz chipped in with five points each and Angela Tshowa contributed four points to go along with some great defense. Ferguson hit for five points and Lilly Conway added three and also played superbly on the defensive end.
Hatzisavas and his crew travel to Swampscott tomorrow (Friday) and once again will be seeking to gain a little bit of revenge after taking a 39-37 loss earlier in the year. “We are really looking forward to the chance for getting a little payback,” Hatzisavas added.
The Lady Vikings, who are ranked 20th in the MIAA’s Division 4 power rankings, will host Beverly next Tuesday at 6:00.
Viking Track Teams Compete in Tri-Meet
The Winthrop High girls and boys indoor track and field teams competed in a tri-meet with Northeastern Conference rivals Danvers and Salem last week.
For the girls, notable performances came from Mary Hurley, who was the top high-jumper of the day with a leap of 4′-3″; Gabriela Currier, who outsped the field in the 50 yard hurdles with a clocking of 10.6 seconds; Ariana Cappuccio, who outsprinted all opponents in the 50-yard dash with a time of 7.8; Nadia Aldweib, who finished second vs. Danvers and third vs. Salem in the 50-dash in 8.4; April Ferguson, who won the 2-mile event vs. both rivals with a time of 17:28; and Daniela Gomez, who took third vs. Danvers in the shot-put with a throw of 19′-4.25″ and another third vs. Danvers in the 300 dash (a race in which Daniela took first vs. Salem).
The final results favored Winthrop by a score of 59-4 vs. Salem, but falling short to Danvers, 56-25.
For the boys, the top performers were Liam Kenney, who outraced the field in the 600 dash with a time of 1:35.6 and finished second vs. Salem in the shot-put with a throw of 29′-4″; Aaron Armitstead, who contributed points vs. both Salem and Danvers in the high jump with his leap of 5′-0″ and finished second vs. Danvers in the 50-yard hurdles with a time of 10.5; Owen Nargi, who grabbed second-place points vs. both Salem and Danvers in the mile with a run of 5:50.0; Zach Brazier who took third vs. Salem in the shot-put with a toss of 27′-11″; and Ryan Gillis, who took first place vs. Salem in the 1000 meter run with a time of 3:37.2.
The final tallies showed the Vikings coming up short to Danvers, 72-12, and to Salem, 48-32.