Sports Roundup: Field Hockey, Golf Earn Victories
David Creed •
This Whaler Sports Roundup includes updates on the field hockey team following a shutout victory at home, the golf team after a road victory, the girls soccer team following a close loss at home, and the boys soccer team.
Field Hockey Blanks Nauset, Improves To 2-0
The Whaler field hockey team carried the momentum from their 5-3 victory over Falmouth last week in their season opener into Thursday afternoon’s matchup with the Nauset Warriors. Nantucket won the game 3-0 behind two goals by Marin Mooney and a shutout by Shelbi Harimon.
"It has been like a theme and something I've been writing on the board to start the game is just be first to the ball," Whaler head coach Dan Weber said. "It's such a simple thing to do and it makes a massive difference in not just getting to the ball, but I also think it's kind of like a tone setting kind of thing. When you're first to the ball and you're on the front foot, everything else kind of falls in place. I think that's kind of one of our main sticking points. Be first to the ball and that kind of sets the tone for everything else.”
Mooney showed off her impressive shot on the second goal while the first goal was a well-executed corner play, which Weber said is something they wanted to improve on from their first game last week.
"She's super skilled," Weber said. "I don't know how many players around the league, in the area can rip a backhand from where she ripped it and beat the goalie clean far side, never mind on turf, but on grass. That was really impressive. The first goal was a great shot by her, but really just a really well-run corner and that's something we struggled with against Falmouth last week. We scored five goals, but our corners weren't great. So that was really good to see. We've been grinding in practice because you got to take advantage of those opportunities, so it was nice to get one right off the bat there on the corner.”
Nantucket led 2-0 at the half and scored their third goal late in the fourth quarter. While Nauset was able to generate some offensive pressure in the third quarter, the Whalers were strong defensively for the most part while receiving some strong goaltending from Harimon in net.
“I was really pleased with our defensive effort," Weber said. "I thought we took care of some of the little things that maybe we didn't do and gave up three goals in the second half of that Falmouth game. I said to the girls after the game that it was good to see us finish out the game after last week.”
Up next, the Whalers will be traveling to Martha’s Vineyard for their first road game of the fall. That game is scheduled for Sunday, September 14th at 12:30 p.m. You can view more photos from Thursday's game here.
Golf Earns Narrow Road Victory Over CCA
It may not have been their prettiest match, but the Whaler golf team was able to come out of Thursday afternoon’s matchup against Cape Cod Academy on the road with a 254-260 win. Below are the scores for each Whaler golfer (top six scores counted towards 254 total).
David Foley – 40
Ben Freeman – 42
Emil Ivanov – 43
Edward Taveras – 45
David Boulter – 46
TQ Scarlett – 48
Colby Lucas – 49
Paxton Fitch – 51
Nantucket is now 3-0 this season and they will try to remain undefeated when they travel to Nauset to play the Warriors on Monday, September 15th at 3:30 p.m.
Girls Soccer Loses Close Matchup To Nauset
The girls soccer team hosted the Nauset Warriors Wednesday afternoon. While Nantucket lost 2-1, it was a very competitive soccer game that was tied 1-1 at halftime.
"They were so fast on the counter," Whaler head coach Doug LeBrecht said. "Harper's goal was awesome. We finally break their back a little bit. We haven't scored on Nauset in a while. We played them years ago when I first started out and we lost 14-0, now 2-1. We're chipping away.”
After Nauset opened the scoring over 30 minutes into the game with 8:22 to go before the half, it was Whaler sophomore Harper LeBrecht who scored the equalizer from 30 yards out.
Nauset scored the game-winning goal with 34:29 to go in the second half. Nantucket is 1-2-0 now this season, with both losses by one goal and to Div. 3 schools (Falmouth as well).
“Gabby (Nikolova) played really well," LeBrecht said. "Their coach did a great job. Obviously, I'd like to win but it was a good, physical matchup. It got chippy on both sides, but it was a good match that will help us down the road."
The Whalers will attempt to improve to 2-2 when they travel to play the Monomoy Sharks on Friday, September 12th at 4 p.m. You can view more photos from this game here.
Boys Soccer Loses To Nauset On The Road
The Whaler boys soccer lost to the Nauset Warriors 3-2 on the road Wednesday afternoon. Head coach Rich Brannigan II called the loss “a heart breaker.”
“High pressure by Stoyan Popov caused an own goal to level the score in the first half,” Brannigan said. “Parker Furtado made a save on a penalty kick. The team went into halftime all tied up at 1-1. Nauset opened the scoring in the second half and Nantucket leveled it in the 60th minute with a beautiful solo run and goal by Calvin Guevara. Nauset went ahead 3-2 on a pk with under 15 minutes to play.”
Brannigan said his team had a few quality scoring opportunities to score the equalizer before regulation but were on the wrong side of a bounce. Brannigan said they benefitted from some strong play by Edvin Valentukevicius in the defense end and Raakin Brannigan in the midfield.
The Whalers fell to 1-2 with the loss and will try to get their record back to .500 when they travel to play the Monomoy Sharks on Friday, September 12that 3:30 p.m.
SCHEDULE AHEAD:
Friday, September 12th:
The boys soccer team will host Monomoy for a 3:30 p.m. game.
The girls soccer team will be on the road playing Monomoy at 4 p.m.
Saturday, September 13th:
The football team will be the only Whaler squad in action and will host Carver High School for their home opener at 2 p.m.
Sunday, September 14th:
The boys soccer team will be on the road playing Martha’s Vineyard at 11 a.m.
The field hockey team will be on the road playing Martha’s Vineyard at 12:30 p.m.
The girls soccer team will be on the road playing Martha’s Vineyard at 1 p.m.
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