Sports
12 | Thursday, March 7th, 2019
The Deerfield Scroll
Deerfield Squash Shows Out at Nationals
Courtesy of Teddy Durfee and James Whiteley
Boys Varsity and Junior Varsity Squash Teams rally at Nationals to place Third and First, respectively.
TALBOT VON STADE Staff Writer
Over Long Winter Weekend, the Girls Varsity and Boys Junior Varsity and Varsity squash teams traveled to Hartford, Connecticut to participate in the 2019 Head US High School Team Squash Championships at Trinity College. All three teams have had impressive seasons so far this year, especially at Nationals, in which the varsity boys placed 3rd in the nation, the girls finished 4th overall, and the JV boys claimed 1st place in the third division after being undefeated for the entire tournament. Led by captains Teddy Durfee ’19 and Chait Shah ’19, the Boys Varsity Squash team currently holds a 16-3 record in addition to their impressive finish at Nationals. The boys defeated McDonough and the Brunswick B teams before facing the talented Brunswick A team, who went on to the win the National Championship. They then won against St. Paul’s 6-1 to claim the 3rd spot in the country. The firstround match against coed, Baltimore-based, McDonough, proved their strength and endurance as they played hard to secure the 4-3 win. According to sophomore Merritt Wurts ’21, who currently plays at the #3 spot for Deerfield, “Adrian Todd clinched the win over Emily Schuster, the #5 girl
CARTER WEYMOUTH Staff Writer
The New England Patriots have won three of the last five Super Bowls. The Boston Red Sox have won two of the last five World Series Titles. The city of Boston and their fans from across the country have had incredible success in the world of professional sports recently. As a result, Deerfield’s campus has been polarized with discourse about Boston sports. In the playoffs for the World Series, the Boston Red Sox defeated their archrivals, the New York Yankees and made their way to the championships. The Sox were matched against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series, and they managed to secure their ninth title in the championship after winning in Game 5. Sports fans across the United States were impressed by this feat, and Jack O’Neil ’20, a Deerfield native and ardent supporter of all Boston teams, went so far as to say that during Game 2 of the series, when J.D. Martinez drove in the leading two runs he had, “never been in such
in the country for U17,” which allowed Deerfield to win the match overall. In their two most recent matches against Taft and Andover, the boys team has won 7-0 against both opponents, and all season, they have only lost to Brunswick and Avon Old Farms in tight matches. In addition to New England’s at the end of February, they have two more matches left before the end of their season. The girls’ varsity team faced four incredibly strong opponents throughout the tournament. According to Head Squash Coach Karinne Heise, “The girls defeated Penn Charter 6-1 in the first round and Choate Rosemary Hall in the second round 5-2, and they lost to Greenwich Academy 1-6 (the eventual national champions) and Baldwin 2-5 in the playoffs to compete for the 3rd and 4th rankings in the country. Coach Heise reflected upon their season so far, saying, “It’s been a delight to coach this team, which does an exceptional job of balancing intensity, focus and allout competitive play on the court with humorous fun, concern for others and dynamic team bonding off the court. Ashley Manning and Harbour Woodward have both proven to be terrific co-captains as they model great work ethic and positive team spirit.” Senior co-captain Woodward ’19 also spoke about their recent suc-
cess, saying, “We had some tough competition this year at nationals having to play against Choate whom we had lost to 3-4 earlier in the season. The energy felt high that morning and we all played incredible squash and defeated them 5-2. That was honestly the best moment of the weekend for me - seeing us come back from defeat and everyone playing their hearts out – it was truly special.” The girls are currently out to de-
fend their 11-3 record as they have two more regular season matches left before New England’s. Undefeated at Nationals and in their regular season, the boys’ junior varsity team currently defends a record of 15-0. They competed against many varsity level teams in order to win first place in the third division, which highlighted their depth and skill. In the first round, they defeated Horace Mann 6-1 before beating German-
Girls Varsity Squash at Head US High School Team Squash Championships.
town Friends 5-2. They then went on to win 4-3 against Tabor and 5-2 against The Hill School. Overall, the Deerfield squash teams represented the incredibly strong squash program here when they competed against many of the top schools in the country and finished in the top rankings. Both the girls’ and boys’ varsity teams will soon head to the New England Championships on February 23rd at Choate Rosemary Hall.
COURTESY OF ASHLEY MANNING
Boston Sports at Deerfield an electric environment in [his] life. [He] had [beverages] rained down upon [him], and [he] highfived a ton of random strangers.” This “electric environment” is no anomaly. During the celebration parade, a Boston fan dented the World Series trophy when he tried to throw a beverage at one of the players, and his sub-par toss landed the can on the trophy. In the 53rd Super Bowl, fans watched the Patriots face off against the Los Angeles Rams. Only 16 points were scored in total, making the game the lowest scoring Super Bowl in history. Aidan Philie ’20 from Sandwich, MA, thought, “the Patriots were clearly the dominant team as they will always be.” He went on to say that, “we are living in the greatest era of Boston sports in history.” Commenting on the post- halftime play, Jarod Harrington ’20 said, “For someone who watches a lot of football, the second half was especially enjoyable to watch because there was fantastic defense on both sides of the ball.” For other fans, the reactions to the game were less than enthusiastic.
MARK CHUNG//DEERFIELD SCROLL
Coincidentally, the New England teams both won their championships against Los Angeles organizations, leaving fans from the West devastated. Max Wuchenich ’21, a Los Angeles native, stated that LA teams, “just don’t show up when they play New England
Teams. It’s brutal.” There is no doubt that in defeating the Rams and the Dodgers, the Red Sox and Patriots have gained many new supporters. Tommy Gilmore ’20, an international student from Costa Rica, finds it “hard not to support New England teams
when there are so many passionate students surrounding [him].” Whether you are a Boston fan or not, the impact of the city’s recent success can be felt across campus. For better or for worse, Tom Brady won another Super Bowl and J.D. Martinez hit another home run.