ATHLETIC HIGHLIGHTS Spring ’19-Winter ’20 At both the high school and the collegiate levels, some of the biggest fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has been the loss of an entire athletic season. Unlike academics and certain extracurriculars, there is simply no way that athletic competitions can be held in a socially distant environment. Look back a little further though, from the end of the 2018–19 school year through winter of 2020, there were many individual, team, and program accomplishments that Ursuline athletes and coaches can be proud of. However painful the loss of the 2020 spring
the North/Central/West Sectionals and won the MIAA award for sportsmanship. Six girls went to the Massachusetts state tournament, placing sixth overall. Emma King ’20 and Cailin Kelly ’24 made solid contributions through the season. In other team play during spring 2019, the lacrosse team qualified for the state tournament. During the current school year, the athletes came out of the gate strong, led by Ursuline swimming, which has become a perennial power. Under the direction of second-year coach Paul Bimmler, the team won the Catholic Conference championship for the fourth year in a row, and placed third in the Division 2 state meet against much larger schools. UA swimmers came home from the state meet as champions in the 200-yard medley (Caleigh Wukitch, Isabella Lombard, Maddy Smith, Anna Glass) and in the 100-yard breaststroke (Isabella Lombard). The cross-country team won the Catholic Conference title for the second year in a row, while the soccer team scored a big midseason victory against a strong Austin Prep team and eventually went to the division quarterfinals. Moving on to the winter, Ursuline returned to prominence on the local ice hockey scene. Under Coach Tom Keady, the skaters qualified for the state tournament for the second year in a row. The scoring of Boston Herald All-Scholastic Bridget Popkin ’20,
Varsity hockey attended Mass at Boston College before shipping off to Martha’s Vineyard for a tournament.
season, especially for the seniors who looked forward to playing their biggest rival one last time, or taking that one last lap, we choose to focus on the bright spots rather than the darkness. Starting with the program as a whole, Ursuline has earned the distinction of the Singelais Trophy, awarded by the Boston Globe to the winningest program for a full year in its division, two years in a row, both in 2017-18 and 2018-19. This achievement is a testament to the dedication of the coaches and athletes and to the program’s goal of being competitive in all sports while placing academics above all. Looking back over the past year, the spring of 2019 saw the Ursuline tennis team go undefeated and capture the Catholic Conference Championship, going all the way to the South Sectional Finals, led by league all-stars Alessia Cahoon ’19, Callie Smith ’22, and Mimi O’Connell ’22. The golf team, Varsity tennis celebrated on the way to South Sectional Finals in 2019. anchored by the play of captain Alyssa Patterson ’19, played in
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