sports
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Newton North, Newtonite ◆ 37
Lions beat Tigers 3-1; win tournament
Volleyball reaches Sectional semis
MEREDITH ABRAMS JACOB BRUNELL n a match that drew a sizeable crowd, South eliminated boys’ volleyball, 11-3, in the semifinals of the Sectionals Friday, May 29. “We played a great match against South,” coach Richard Barton said. “Unfortunately, they played better and beat us. “Some players on South’s team had perhaps the best game of their careers. Going out there, we didn’t expect some of the South players to play as well as they did.” Senior Jon Lee said the Lions “have great setters and a very BY
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Teddy Wenneker
S m a s h : Fr e s h m a n L u k e Westman is a Bay State Conference all-star.
strong frontline.” Last Wednesday, the Lions beat Brookline 3-2 in the Sectional finals here. “Even though we lost, we really worked together as a team,” Lee said. “We were all determined to be a great team and try as hard as we could in the tournament.” South coach Todd Elwell said it was “great to see the community unite.” Last year there were about 500 or 600 people at the match, compared to this year where there were 700 or 800, he said.
“North always has a great program,” he said. “Richard Barton does a wonderful job, and it’s always nice playing North, not just because of his reputation, but because they love the sport and have a great following. “The quality of play at North is what we strive for, so any time we play together, it’s really entertaining.” After a first-round bye, the Tigers beat North Quincy 3-0 here Tuesday, May 26. “We trounced North Quincy with a combination of a powerful attack, strong serving and consistent defense,” Barton said.
Lee said that freshman Luke Westman played well, noting that he got aces. Friday, May 15, the Tigers beat the Rockets 3-1 in Needham. “Although the score doesn’t necessarily suggest it, this was a challenging match because Needham started off fast with a win in the first game,” Barton said. “Fortunately, we were able to regain our composure and win the next three.” Lee, senior Chris McCann and Westman are first team Bay State Conference all-stars. Freshman Gage Neirinckx is a second team Bay State Conference all-star.
Girls’ lacrosse makes playoffs A
ELI DAVIDOW lthough girls’ lacrosse, 9-9 overall, lost to Norwood in the first round of the post-season, the team put together one of its best seasons in recent memory, said junior Kim Gillies. “Last year, we stayed on a mediocre level,” said Gillies, a captain with seniors Alyssa Hansen, Amanda Taylor and junior Britanny Jaillet. “But this year, we started out the same way, and then we started to win some games. We won seven out of our last nine. “Overall, it’s the most improvement I’ve seen on any team.” At Norwood Wednesday, May 27, the Mustangs defeated the Tigers 16-7 in the first round of the post-season. The Tigers were seeded 11th in the tournament, while Norwood was seeded sixth. “They had better transitions than they did last time,” Gillies said. “We knew that they weren’t the same team the first times we played them.” Gillies noted that the first time BY
the Tigers played the Mustangs April 2, the Mustangs won 15-2. “Those two goals were probably the only two shots we had the whole game,” she said. “Just having offense now is totally different.” Coach Kim Keefe also cited Gillies’ torn ACL as putting the Tigers at a disadvantage. “Kim is one of our top defenders,” she said. “It was a major loss because she does an incredible job for us.” With Taylor in goal, the Tigers improved on defense in the second half of the Norwoord game, limiting the Mustangs to only two goals, Keefe said. To get into the post-season, the Tigers defeated South Saturday, May 16 12-7 and Braintree Monday, May 18 18-11. “When we play South, there’s always that intensity,” Gillies said. “After we beat them, it carried over into Braintree. We dug down deep and we won.” In a game Friday, May 15, Needham beat the Tigers 15-4. Both Jaillet and Taylor are second-team Bay State Conference all-stars.
’12 finishes 7-5-1 Coach cites team’s improvement FATEMA ZAIDI Freshman girls’ lacrosse, 7-51, developed the drive to win, said coach Sally Leung ’07. “These girls are very fast and learn very quickly,” she said. “We outran our freshman opponents.” But Leung said that injuries “forced us to play man down and put players in positions where I did not always want to put them.” The team has improved vastly since the beginning of the season, she said. “They have done such a good job, and worked really hard,” she said.
Major players continuously have been the goalie, Adi O’Connor, and Danielle Harris and Leah Greene, midfielders. “Adi consistly has a lot of saves, Leah’s fast and has lots of game sense, and Danielle can maneuver around players,” Leung said. In the season’s final game the Tigers defeated Needham 15-5 Thursday, May 21 in Needham. “We were very excited to win the last game,” Kayla McMillen said. Leung herself graduated from Newton North in 2007 and played lacrosse for the Tigers all four years of high school, varsity for three. She is also the all-time leader in goals for the varsity team with 98.
ELI DAVIDOW With a good mix of juniors, sophomores and freshmen, JV girls’ lacrosse formed a cohesive group, said coach Celeste Myers. “Throughout the beginning of the season, we werenot able to execute the simple plays,” she said. “We had to spend a lot of time on the little things.
“But then our weakness became our strength. The girls learned that it wasn’t about winning games, but how we won our games. I’m proud of them.” A highlight for the 7-5 Tigers was beating Framingham April 29 13-9, according to junior Michelle Ng. In the first game against Framingham, the Flyers defeated the
PATRICK ALVES Culinary arts teacher Lisa McKinney ’81, who co-chairs the Athletic Hall of Fame Committee, said she hopes seniors will nominate classmates and coaches. “Newton North’s Athletic Hall of Fame is remembering today’s athletes tomorrow by giving them recognition for their contributions to the rich athletic
history that Newton is so proud of,” McKinney said. According to the criteria for athletes to be nominated, they must have graduated at least five years ago. “They must have been an outstanding varsity athlete and emblematic of solid school citizenship, caring for the school community. “For coaches to be nominated
they must have been a role model, demonstrating fabulous coaching ability,” the criteria says. “They also must have been a coach at any level for at least 10 years. Only coaches who are not currently coaching at North are eligible.” McKinney urges people who have people in mind to nominate them. The nomination
form is on the Newton North website. The 2009 induction into the Athletic Hall of Fame will be November 27 at the Sheraton Needham. On that evening, there will be 11 new athletes and one coach joining the current 61-member Hall of Fame. ◆ Kenneth Billings ’73
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Teddy Wenneker
Hosting Needham: Sophomore Michelle Craman runs up the field as junior Kim Gillies trails behind. The Rockets won 17-5 Monday, April 27.
JV, 7-5, builds team chemistry BY
Tigers 12-2 March 11. “They’re one of the best teams out there,” Ng said. “They are always able to catch anything.” Stand-out players included junior Aida Skelic in goal and freshmen Kayla Farina and Hannah McGoldrick on offense, Ng said. “They were all solid,” she said.
Hall of Fame seeks nominations from senior class BY
◆ Steve Cononico ’76 ◆ Mariana Creatini ’01 ◆ Fred Dauten ’52 ◆ Chris Drakos ’68 ◆ Chuck Fogerty ’55 ◆ Don Fox ’53 ◆ George Jessup, coach ◆ Steven Leonard ’89 ◆ Gail McCarthy ’72 ◆ Liz Natale ’82 ◆ Mike Tobin ’96