Whaler Sports Roundup - September 27 & 28, 2023

This Whaler sports roundup includes updates on four teams. The volleyball team was in action on Wednesday, losing a match on the road. The boys soccer team continues to roll and has now won three straight games, the golf team won their seventh match of the season, and the girls soccer team got back in the win column.

Volleyball Loses 3-0 To Dennis-Yarmouth

While the Whalers were competitive in each of their sets against the Dennis-Yarmouth Dolphins on Wednesday, Nantucket walked away losing to DY 3-0 – dropping their record to 5-3 this season.

After the match, Whaler head coach Andrew Viselli said that he is taking full responsibility for his team’s performance on Wednesday – indicating that he did not feel like they played up to their standard and that DY was the better team.

“I need to do a better job as the coach of preparing my team,” he said.

The sets were as followed:

Set One: 19-25 DY

Set Two: 21-25 DY

Set Three: 24-26 DY

Yahely Del Rosario Gomez led the Whalers with 21 assists. Chloe Marrero finished with a team-high 18 kills. Vicky Todorova finished with a team-high 49 digs.

Nantucket will hope to snap their two game losing streak and improve their record to 6-3 this season when they travel to the Cape on Friday, September 29 to take on Sturgis West at 5 p.m.

Boys Soccer Extends Win Streak To Three Following Win Over DY

The Whaler boys soccer team extended their win streak to three games Thursday afternoon following a 3-1 defeat of the Dennis-Yarmouth Dolphins at home.

Nantucket head coach Rich Brannigan II told his team he wanted to see them get off to a fast start - telling the Current after the game he hasn’t liked seeing some of the earlier goals being allowed in many of their games to begin the season.

“We've given up a few early goals this year so it's been talking point,” Brannigan said. “We got an early goal and then we kept going. We had a really good first half. We kind of sat back a little bit more in the second half. DY came a little more to play in the second half it seemed like, so we made it a little bit harder on ourselves. But still, I was pretty comfortable with where we were.”

His squad took that coaching and ran with it. They scored a pair of nice team goals beginning with a beautiful cross that found senior Edin Vasquez in front of the net at the 14th minute that he was able to tap in and then another crosser headed in by junior Jose Diaz to make it 2-0 23 minutes into the game.

Junior Jake Johnson made a nice move in the Whaler’s offensive end to cut to the middle of the field at the end of the first half, and the individual effort forced the DY defender riding him to commit a foul - leading to a penalty kick opportunity that Johnson buried for his fifth goal of the season to give Nantucket a 3-0 lead going into halftime.

“Jake did a good job driving that guy, getting in the right spot, and forcing the defender to make a play on him,” Brannigan said. “So that was good on Jake. Our other two goals were nice team goals. Some build up play, some crossing, some finishing - stuff that we've been talking about, working on, and guys seem to be executing.”

DY had a stronger effort in the second half and got one back with 17 minutes to play in the game thanks to a PK goal.

Brannigan said he felt like his team made it hard on themselves but was very complimentary of his back line and their performance despite having just three defenders on the pitch.

With Thursday’s win, Nantucket’s three game win streak now includes victories over SJP (1-0), Nauset (4-2) and DY 3-1. The Whalers are now 4-2-2 this season and will have an opportunity to extend their streak to four games on Saturday when they travel to Barnstable for an 11 a.m. match.

Golf Improves To 7-2 Following Win Over

The Whaler golf team continues to roll and is now riding a four game match streak following a 243-266 victory over Cape Cod Academy.

The scores for Nantucket were as followed:

1) Henry Kathawala - 36(+1)

2) Cole Chambers - 37(+2)

3) Paddy Carroll - 42(+7)

4) Braden Knapp - 42(+7)

5) Michael Culkins - 42(+7)

6) Ryan Davis - 44(+9)

7) Colby O’Keefe - 46(+11)

8) Jack Halik - 47(+12)

The Whalers will have a few days off before returning to action on Monday, October 2 when they travel to Sturgis West to take on the Navigators at 3:45 p.m.

Girls Soccer Bounces Back With Win Over DY

The Whaler girls soccer team had a bad taste in their mouths after Tuesday’s road matchup with the Nauset Warriors – which ended in Nantucket losing 11-0. The loss dropped Nantucket’s record to 3-4, but the Whalers had an opportunity to bounce back on Thursday when they traveled to Dennis-Yarmouth to take on the Dolphins.

Despite continuing to be without senior captain Claire Misurelli and junior captain Adney Brannigan, Nantucket found a way to piece together a strong performance and shut out the Dolphins 3-0.

Nantucket head coach Doug LeBrecht said after the game that it was a good rebound win with high energy. Sophomore Chelsea Gross, the Whaler’s leading scorer, led the team to victory with two goals. Sophomore Allyson Escobar had the other Whaler goal, and freshman goalie Madden Myers secured her third shutout of the season.

Now sitting at 4-4 through eight games this season, Nantucket will attempt to climb over the .500 mark when they travel to Monomoy on Tuesday, October 3 for a 4 p.m. matchup with the Sharks.

SCHEDULE AHEAD:

Friday, September 29:

The field hockey team will travel to Sturgis East to take on the Storm at 4 p.m.

The volleyball team will travel to Sturgis West to take on the Navigators at 5 p.m.

Saturday, September 30

The boys soccer team will travel to Barnstable for a matchup with the Red Hawks at 11 a.m.

The football team will host Tech Boston at 12:15 p.m. at Vito Capizzo Stadium.

The field hockey team will travel to Seekonk for a 3 p.m. matchup.

For more sports content, follow our Current Sports Instagram page here. You can follow Current Sports photographer Chris Tran here.