Sports Roundup: Girls Lacrosse Wins Home Opener
David Creed •
It was a busy couple of days for Whaler sports on Wednesday and Thursday as the weather finally cooperated. The girls lacrosse team won their home opener on Thursday, the boys lacrosse team remains undefeated following a gutsy road win on Thursday, the boys and girls tennis teams, as well as the softball team earned their first victories of the spring on Wednesday, and the sailing team traveled for a regatta on Thursday that ended in a tie (for now).
Girls Lax Handily Beats Barnstable In First Home Game
The girls lacrosse team improved to 2-0 this season following a 15-4 home victory over the Barnstable Red Hawks Thursday afternoon. The Whalers were led by senior captain Mayson Lower on offense, who scored five goals, but had seven goal scorers total in what was an all-around team effort.
“I'm really happy and it's just nice to see them start to click," head coach Jami Lower said. "(They are) finding their chemistry and it definitely felt like true to form, even in last year's team, it's a little chaotic and frenetic in the beginning, but then I think they really settled in and you were seeing goals that were assisted.”
The Whalers led 6-2 less than four minutes into the second quarter, which was more than enough offense given the way Nantucket's defense has been playing to begin the season. They also received some quality goaltending from first year starter Ella Douglas.
“Ella had a hell of a game today," Lower said. "She really showed up. Some of those saves I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ Our defense is so solid with Maddie (Lombardi) and Myah (Johnson) out there, and then Sam (Zadroga) up top. They just adapt and adjust. Our defense is just awesome. Defense never gets any credit, but this defense deserves all the credit. They really do.”
Aside from Mayson Lower’s five goals, Nantucket’s other goal scorers included Mia Beaudette (three goals), Louisa Beni (two goals), Dylan Damian (two goals), Maddie Lombardi, Grace Hanlon, and Suz Peraner each had one goal.
"All the returners are really kind of finding their roles and stepping up," Lower said. "I think you see Suz (Peraner) and Dylan (Damian) initiating, and Mia (Beaudette) who is a great addition and Mayson (Lower). Mayson was part of that draw circle last year, so I think she's more comfortable in the role, but it's cool to see all of them really kind of step up. Even things like bringing up things in the locker room and kind of taking on that leadership role is really cool.”
The Whalers will try to improve to 3-0 on Tuesday, April 15th when they travel to Nauset for a 3:30 p.m. matchup with the Warriors. Below are a few more photos from Wednesday's game taken by Chris Tran.
Boys Lacrosse Earns Gutsy Win Over Barnstable 9-4
Nothing came easy for the boys lacrosse team during their matchup with the Barnstable Red Hawks Thursday afternoon, but Nantucket was able to ride some timely goal scoring and strong goaltending to a hard-fought 9-4 victory over the Red Hawks – improving Nantucket’s record to 3-0 this season.
"It was a tough game man. It was no score after one and it was back and forth, back and forth," head coach Sam Aloisi said. "There was a lot of sloppy play on both sides honestly. But it was really physical. We had a few dropped passes, real easy looks that we just sort of blew it. But they had a couple good looks too and (hit two posts) and then Jeremy had some amazing saves to start the game. It was really fast, back and forth, up and down to start.”
Nantucket was able to pull away and give themselves some breathing room with four goals in the second to Barnstable’s zero. That quarter proved to be the difference maker in what was otherwise, as Aloisi noted, a back and forth matchup. The two sides scored one goal each in the third to make it 5-1 entering the final quarter, and then the scoring ramped up towards the end with the Whalers outscoring Barnstable 4-3.
"Part of that was both sides were a little tired, little sloppy, chippy,” Aloisi said. “It was pretty physical.”
Nantucket was led on offense by midfielder Arann Hanlon and attacker Miles Beaudette, who scored three goals each. They also got two goals from attacker Jake Johnson and one goal from Tyler Miller. Andrick Mooney, who is beginning to see significant time as an attacker in Nantucket’s rotation, had a team-high three assists.
"Miles is doing well," Aloisi said. "He's a big kid. All of his goals were assisted. Miles has a presence out there and he's learning for sure. We are certainly glad he came back to Nantucket (from prep school).”
Aloisi said it was also another strong day for his goalie, junior Jeremy Jenkinson, who finished with nine saves.
"He made a couple of incredible saves (on Thursday)," Aloisi said. "Then two of the goals he gave up were just one on one where he had no chance. One of them he actually saved but it sort of just trickled in behind him. He played great. He had one save off his helmet in the first quarter, one off his chest in the first quarter. He was all over the place.”
The Whalers have gotten off to a strong start this spring and have yet to allow more than four goals through three games so far while outscoring their opponents 32-8. They will try to improve their record to 4-0 on Saturday, April 12th when they host Boston Latin at 1 p.m.
Girls & Boys Tennis Win Matches Against Rising Tide
The girls and boys tennis teams won their first matches of the season Wednesday afternoon against the Rising Tide Herons 5-0 with the girls at home and the boys on the road. Below are the scores for each singles player and doubles pairing.
GIRLS:
First Single: Elis Vieth won her match in straight sets 6-1, 6-2.
Second Single: Andrea Bunlerssak won her match in straight sets 6-0, 6-3.
Third Single: Viki Bozhkova won her match in straight sets 6-2, 6-3.
First Doubles: Sara Dussault and Sutton LeBrecht won their match in straight sets 6-1, 6-1.
Second Doubles: Presy Penkova and Gabby Fee won their match in straight sets 6-1, 6-0.
BOYS:
First Single: Boyan Kalpazanov won his match in straight sets 6-2, 6-1.
Second Single: Nik Krastev won his match in straight sets 6-2, 6-1.
Third Single: Knox Keating won his match in straight sets 6-0, 6-1.
First Doubles: Forbes Keating and Fuller Holland won their match in straight sets 6-1, 6-1.
Second Doubles: Alec Angelov and Thomas Schroeder won their match in straight sets 6-0, 6-1.
The boys will be at home on Friday, April 11th when they host Sturgis West at 4 p.m. and the girls will be on the road playing Sturgis East at 4 p.m. on Friday, April 11th. Below are some photos from the girl's match on Wednesday taken by Chris Tran.
Softball Wins First Game Of Season
The softball team earned their first win of the season on Wednesday with an 8-5 road victory against St. John Paul II – improving Nantucket’s record to 1-3.
It took the Whalers some time to get their bats going, something head coach Grace-Anne Tornovish has said they are working on improving, but they did manufacture some offense in the third inning following a single by Rihanna Cranston, who scored Nantucket’s first run of the game on a passed ball.
In the fourth inning, Sophia Yelverton got things going with a triple and sparked a four-run outburst for Nantucket in the inning to make it a 5-2 game after SJP scored one run in the first inning and one in the second.
The Whalers tacked on two more runs in the fifth inning with Lil Wullschleger hitting a triple and being driven in by an Aliza Mansfield triple. Mansfield eventually scored following a single by Ava Watson.
Nantucket added one more run in the top half of the sixth to make it 8-2 and were able to withstand a small rally by the Lions after they scored three runs in the bottom half of the sixth to make it 8-5. The Whalers shut them down in the final inning to seal the deal and earn their first victory of the spring.
Nantucket’s next game is scheduled for Friday, April 11th at home against Sturgis East at 4 p.m. and then they will play O’Bryant High School at home on Saturday, April 12th at 1 p.m.
Baseball Loses To St. John Paul II
The Whaler baseball team welcomed one of the Cape's top teams to the island on Wednesday, the St. John Paul II Lions, for their home opener and while they lost 15-2, played a competitive game for most of the afternoon.
It was a 4-1 game after three innings, with all of the Lions runs being unearned after some errors were made by Nantucket in the field. The Lions eventually got hot at the plate and scored three runs in the fourth inning and six runs in the final inning to pad their 9-2 lead after six innings of play.
Nantucket will try to improve to 2-2 when they travel to the Cape to play Sturgis West on Friday, April 11th at 4 p.m. and then to Mashpee on Saturday, April 12th for an 11 a.m. game. Below are some photos from Wednesday's game taken by Chris Tran.
Sailing Regatta's Winner To Be Decided At Later Date
The Whaler sailing team thought they had a 3-2 victory over Dartmouth High School following their regatta on Thursday, however following a protest made by Dartmouth, the match will end as a 2-2 tie for now and be decided at a later date in a “sail-off” where it will be one race, winner take all.
Nantucket’s next scheduled regatta is currently Tuesday, April 15th at home against the Sandwich Blue Knights at 4 p.m.
SCHEDULE AHEAD:
Friday, April 11th:
The boys tennis team will be at home playing Sturgis West at 4 p.m.,
The softball team will be at home playing Sturgis East at 4 p.m.
The girls tennis team will be on the road playing Sturgis East at 4 p.m.
The baseball team will be on the road playing Sturgis West at 4 p.m.
Saturday, April 12th:
The boys lacrosse team will be at home playing Boston Latin at 1 p.m.
The softball team will be at home playing O'Bryant High School at 1 p.m.
The baseball team will be on the road playing Mashpee at 11 a.m.
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