Whaler Sports Roundup – October 16 & 17, 2023
David Creed •
This Whaler Sports Roundup includes updates on the boys soccer team, girls soccer team, and golf team – all of which won their games on Tuesday as well as the volleyball team, which came up just short in a five-set match against a familiar Cape & Island opponent on Monday. The cross-country teams also had a home meet on Tuesday and we catch you up on some strong finishes at the Twilight Meet on the Cape last week.
Boys Soccer Scores Seven In Win Over Sturgis West
The Whaler boys soccer team handily beat the Sturgis West Navigators at home Tuesday afternoon 7-2 behind three goals by senior attacker Edin Vasquez.
"Our offense was clicking today for sure,” head coach Rich Brannigan II said. “We've been talking about exploiting certain areas on the field to attack into and the boys were doing that today. So getting into those zones – basically the wider areas of the field –creates those two vs ones or three vs two scenarios. We've got enough skilled players that they can usually find their cross, earn a corner kick, maybe a foul deep in the zone and then we had the finishing today.”
Junior Jake Johnson, junior Bryan Mejia, sophomore Alexis Pena, and junior Elvis Alonzo were the other four Whaler goal scorers.
Nantucket is now 7-3-3 this season and their next match will be on Thursday, October 19 when they travel to Monomoy to face the Sharks at 4 p.m. Nantucket and Monomoy tied 3-3 when the two schools met on October 3 on the island.
Girls Soccer Wins Second Straight Game
The girls soccer team got off to a fast start this season with a 3-1 record but found themselves struggling after that as they lost six of their next eight games. At 5-7 on the season, they beat Dennis-Yarmouth 6-1 last week and hoped on Tuesday to keep the momentum going into their next game against the Sturgis West Navigators.
Nantucket did just that behind a one goal and three assist day from junior attacker Adney Brannigan – beating the Navigators 5-3.
The other goal scorers in the match for the Whalers were freshman Emma Woodbury and sophomore Myah Johnson. Both Woodbury and Johnson scored two goals.
The Whalers are currently #27 in the Div. 4 state tournament bracket and are hoping to continue climbing up the standings now that they are fielding a healthy lineup. Their next game will be on Thursday, October 19 when they host the Monomoy Sharks at 4 p.m. and attempt to improve to .500 on the season.
Golf Beats DY For 11th Win
The golf team beat the Dennis-Yarmouth Dolphins 238-283 Tuesday afternoon – improving their record to 11-3 this season.
The scores for Nantucket’s golfers were as followed:
Braden Knapp – 38
Ryan Davis – 39
Cole Chambers – 39
Colby O’Keefe – 40
Michael Culkins – 41
Paddy Carroll – 41
Henry Kathawala – 41
Jack Halik – 45
Nantucket’s next match will be Wednesday, October 18 on the road against Barnstable at 3:30 p.m.
Volleyball Loses Five Set Match To Dennis-Yarmouth
It was a hard-fought battle between the Nantucket and Dennis-Yarmouth volleyball teams Monday evening. In a match that lasted nearly three hours, the Dolphins ultimately handed the Whalers a 3-2 loss.
The Whalers jumped out to a 6-1 lead in set one but quickly saw that lead evaporate as the Dolphins took the next seven points and an 8-6 lead. With the match 8-8, Leah Crowley had a nice block to give Nantucket a 9-8 lead.
The set would go back and forth from there. Junior captain and libero Vicky Todorova tallied her 1000th dig of her varsity career – prompting a stoppage of play for head coach Andrew Viselli to honor her with the ball. Nantucket called a timeout trailing 17-19 and the set was 20-21 at one point – but DY won the final four points to take the set 20-25.
Set two started out very similar. The Whalers took an 8-1 lead early, but DY scored 12 of the next 17 points to tie the set 13-13. Senior captain Chloe Marrero had a nice kill to make it 14-13 followed by an ace by junior Bianca Santos to give Nantucket the 15-13 lead.
Nantucket eventually took a 20-15 lead, but DY continued to battle. The Dolphins played the match to a 23-23 tie and after Nantucket made it 24-23, won the next three points to take set two 24-26.
Nantucket took a 5-1 lead in set three, but DY once again made it tight. Nantucket Senior Alice O’Banion had a pair of blocks to win a point and make it 8-5 at one point. DY eventually took a 14-16 lead, which led to Viselli taking a timeout. The set went back and forth but with the score 20-19, O’Banion had a clutch kill to make it 21-19. Nantucket won four of the final six points to take set three 25-21.
In set four, it was a back-and-forth affair from the beginning. It was 9-9 early, but with Santos serving – the Whalers won 10 straight points to make it 19-9. She was one of Nantucket’s best servers all night.
The Dolphins battled back to make it 19-16, but Nantucket held strong and with the match 24-24, won the final two points to force a decisive fifth set.
The Dolphins won the fifth set 15-1. Viselli said after the game he felt like his team's poor passing and execution was the biggest reason for the lopsided ending to the game.
Nantucket is now 9-5 this season and will be back in action on Thursday, October 19 when they host the Sturgis East Storm at 4 p.m.
Cross Country Loses Home Meet To Sturgis East
The boys and girls cross country teams lost to the Sturgis East Storm Tuesday afternoon. The boys lost 21-39 while the girls lost 23-35.
On the boys side, some of the highlights included Rory Murray running his second consecutive sub-19-minute time. Eighth graders Gus Barber and Nick Ferrantella also earned their best times of the season.
On the girl’s side, Hannah Harrington and Bailey Lower had strong races – finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Lower, Chloe Girvin, and Harrington were honored prior to the meet for their senior day.
The teams also competed in their Twilight Meet last week on the Cape under the lights. Some of the notable performances included Murray finishing with an 18:21 and placing 10th out of 360 runners.
On the girl’s side in the twilight meet, Harrington finished with a 21:44 and placed 11th out of 250 runners while Lower finished with a time of 22:02 and placed 16th out of 250 runners.
The Whalers next meet will be Tuesday, October 24 at Falmouth Academy beginning at 3:30 p.m.
SCHEDULE AHEAD:
Wednesday, October 18:
The field hockey team will host the Sturgis East Storm at 4 p.m.
The golf team will be on the road facing Barnstable at 3:30 p.m.
Thursday, October 19:
The girls soccer team will be at home facing the Monomoy Sharks at 4 p.m.
The volleyball team will host Sturgis East at 4 p.m.
The boys soccer team will be on the road facing Monomoy at 4 p.m.
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