Impressive showing by WHS cross-country
The Winthrop High boys and girls cross country teams opened their 2025 season last Wednesday at Peabody.
A number of coach Eric Ferguson’s Vikings turned in impressive performances.
On the boys’ side, freshman Owen Harty finished in eighth place, just seven seconds behind the first-place winner, with a time of 20:59. Returning runners senior captain Liam Natareno (10th in 22:00), junior Evan Tallent (15th, 25:18), sophomore Sean McGloin (14th, 24:37), and freshman Joseph Spinale (21st, 33:29) also ran well. In addition, freshman Matteo Agri (13th, 23:24) turned in a strong effort in his first varsity race.
For the girls, senior captain Bailey Ferguson (9th place in 31:02) and senior Annabelle Giardino (10th in 32:03) all improved vastly from last season, shaving minutes off their race times. Freshman Era Marra (11th in 36:25) also ran well in her first varsity race.
“Matteo and Era are great additions to the boys and girls teams and we look forward to seeing them progress throughout the season,” said Ferguson.
Both Viking squads were scheduled to travel to Bradley Palmer State Park to take on Masconomet yesterday (Wednesday). They will host Beverly next Wednesday on their home course at Deer Island at 4:00.
Excellent start for WHS boys soccer with two wins, tie
The Winthrop High boys soccer team kicked off its 2025 season in strong fashion with a pair of victories and a tie in three matches last week.
Coach Phil Ronan’s Vikings opened their season with a 4-0 win over non-league opponent Arlington Catholic last Tuesday at Miller Field. Junior Kerim Kurdu (a German exchange student), freshman Joey Bebri, BDR Hassan, and Fabiano Alcala-Rodrigues took turns reaching the back of the AC net to provide the offense.
Winthrop traveled the next day to Salem and came home with a 4-2 win in which the Vikings rallied from an early 1-0 deficit.
“Back-to-back games in this sport are tough and we came out flat, or maybe a little tired, and fell behind in the first half,” said Ronan.
However, senior captain Noah Bayersdorfer brought the Vikings back to level on a brilliant, backwards header and Winthrop took control after the intermission.
A mistake by the Salem keeper resulted in an own-goal for a 2-1 Viking lead. Winthrop then went up 3-1 on a goal by promising sophomore Nikolai Qose. The Witches quickly answered to make it 3-2, but Alcala-Rodrigues sealed the victory with an excellent set piece for the 4-2 win.
Winthrop returned home to host Stoneham on Saturday and earned a 2-2 tie. Kerim Kurdu opened the scoring to make it 1-0 and a penalty kick (PK) by Kai Faber made it 2-0.
However, with about 20 minutes left in the game, Stoneham got on the board to make it 2-1. Then disaster struck when Winthrop goalkeeper Jackson Faber took down one of the Stoneham players from behind, resulting in a red card expulsion.
The Vikings had to play with 10 players the rest of the way and did a superb job until a disputed call resulted in a PK for Stoneham which allowed the visitors to notch the equalizer for the 2-2 finale.
“I told the boys the lesson is, ‘Play well, don’t squander opportunities, hit our shots, and the officials can’t affect the outcome.’ We have a lot of work to do, but If they listen to what we preach, play quick, move the ball, and communicate, we should be a very interesting team with a nice blend of starting seniors, juniors, and good-looking newcomers.”
Ronan and his crew were scheduled to host Beverly this past Monday and to travel to Swampscott yesterday (Wednesday). They will entertain Bishop Fenwick tomorrow (Friday) at Miller at 4:30 and then trek to Danvers next Wednesday.
WHS golf team defeats Swampscott
The Winthrop High golf team earned a huge early-season victory with a 38.5-33.5 victory over Northeastern Conference (NEC) rival Swampscott last Thursday on the latter’s home course at the Tedesco Country Club.
“This marks two straight years of winning at a very difficult and nice golf course,” noted WHS head coach Jack Wallace.
Among the highlights for the Vikings, junior Nikita Rossi tied his Big Blue counterpart to earn 4.5 points.
The big victory of the day came from Louk Belghiti, who handily defeated his Swampscott foe, 7-2, at the #3 spot. “Luke had a huge win for us and basically secured the victory early,” noted Wallace.
Senior captain Tomas Babine raised his record to 3-0-1 in his outstanding early-season with a win over his Big Blue opponent.
Freshman Max Dassau continued his consistent golf, winning his match, 5-4, “Max will be a real ‘X factor’ at the 4-5 spot since he can compete with the best golfers on the other team,” said Wallace.
Junior Jojo Pumphret had his best match of the season at the #8 spot, contributing a huge 5.5 points. Juniors Tony Bordonaro and Paulie Ferrara battled hard and earned 4.5 and 4 points respectively.
The victory marked the second win of the season for the Vikings, who handily dispatched NEC foe Saugus, 52-20, in their season-opener at the Kings Rail golf course in Lynnfield. All of the Viking golfers won their matches, highlighted by medalist Ryan Murphy, who shot a one-under par to win his match by five points. Another notable effort came from Babine, who won his match and shot a three over par.
The Vikings came up short by the slimmest of margins to another NEC foe, Beverly, 36.5-35.5, at the Winthrop Golf Club (WGC). “This was a heartbreaking match, losing by one point to a good golf team. We should have won — we won five of the eight matches, but the points were not in our favor — but it bodes well for our expectations for this season.”
Highlights for the Vikings came from juniors Ryan Murphy and Nikita Rossi, who both shot 37s to win their matches at the #1 and #2 spot.
“When these two are on their game, they are one of the best duos in the NEC,” said Wallace. Freshman Max Dassau won 5-4 at the #4 spot for a big win. Senior captain Tomas Babine won as well at #5, 5.5-3.5. Junior Tony Bordonaro also won his match by a score of 5.5 -3.5.
“Tony will be a big piece for us as we have a lot of depth on the team,” noted Wallace.
Winthrop came up short in matches with two non-league foes, Malden Catholic and Rockport. “Our match with Malden Catholic was a tough day for us as the team had some issues with the Mt. Hood course,” said Wallace. The Vikings’ best matchups came from Tomas Babine with a 4.5-4.5 tie at the #2 spot; newcomer freshman Ethan Staff, who earned three points; senior Declan Howard, who also secured three points; and freshman Louka Braga, playing in his first match, who tied his match on the back end and helped the team with 4.5 points.
“We have 17 golfers who came out for the team,” said Wallace, “and all eight starters, senior captain Tomas Babine, senior Louk Belghiti, juniors Ryan Murphy, Jojo Pumphret, Tony Bordonaro, Paulie Ferrara, and Nikita Rossi, and freshman Max Dassau. are back from last season. Other members of the team who will make an impact are sophomore Danny Connolly, freshman Ethan Staff, and senior Declan Howard.
“If we continue to play good golf, we have a real shot of winning the South Division of the NEC,” said Wallace. The Vikings are scheduled to host non-league foe Medford today (Thursday), Gloucester next Monday, Salem next Wednesday, and Peabody next Thursday.
WHS girls soccer opens season; hosts Boston Collegiate Friday at 6:30
The Winthrop High girls soccer team will play under the lights at Miller Field tomorrow (Friday) evening when the Lady Vikings will host Boston Collegiate Charter School. The opening kick-off is set for 6:30.
Although the Lady Vikings came up on the short end of a 6-0 decision to Salem in their 2025 season-opener last Wednesday, long-time WHS head coach Tracey Martucci is looking forward to the upcoming campaign.
“The team had a great pre-season,” said Martucci. “This year we have 34 players in the program, but it’s a very young team, unlike in the past. Over the past four years since my oldest daughter Mia played, we have had a big number (close to 50 girls) graduating in total, so our field players have changed each season. This year, with only five seniors and only a few returning starters, we have a whole new team.”
The Lady Vikings will be led by senior captains Reese Ferrara and Stella Osburn, along with fellow seniors Marissa MacMullen, Anna Acevedo, and Madison Taylor.
“Coming into the game with Salem, I knew they (Salem) have been getting stronger and stronger every year and knew it was going to be good competition,” said Martucci. “We are in a very competitive conference with some big schools.”
The Lady Vikings were scheduled to make the long trek to Beverly this past Monday and to host Swampscott yesterday (Wednesday) before the match with Boston Collegiate tomorrow (Friday). They will host Excel Academy Monday evening at Miller Field at 7:00 and entertain Danvers next Wednesday.
WHS volleyball has three home matches next week
The Winthrop High volleyball team came up on the short end of a 3-0 decision to Triton in the Lady Vikings’ season-opener last Tuesday.
“We didn’t have the greatest of outings for the first match,” said WHS head coach Jetremy Wein. “We are still getting back into the swing of things. We’ve spent a fair amount of time at practice focusing on fixing some skills and we will continue doing so. We’re lucky to have the kids we have because they want to get better. I can’t ask for much more than that.”
After traveling to Marblehead today (Thursday), Wein and his crew have three home matches on tap for next week: They will host Gloucester this coming Monday, Saugus next Wednesday, and Medford next Thursday.