Weekly Athletic Update, 02/24/15

2/24/2015

Ed Reilly

The long winter season enters the final week of competition with some key contests to be played. We will hold our Winter Athletic banquet here in the Megaron Thursday evening, March 5^th (6:15 pm – 8:15 pm) to recognize team accomplishments, team captains’ and Most Valuable Players. Surely, the Boys Varsity Swim team will take center stage that evening as we will salute their undefeated dual swim season and present each letter winner with a Silver Bowl, the highest level of recognition we bestow on our athletes!

Senior Kevin Lagasse led the way once again with multiple victories as the boys team edged St. Sebastian’s (91-81) on Wednesday and then secured their perfect season with a 39-23 win over Thayer on Saturday. Congratulations to the team and to the entire coaching staff on a brilliant season!
Staying in the waters of Daniels pool, yet another magical moment as sophomore sensation Eunice Yang broke the pool and school record in the 100 yd. breaststroke with a time of 1:10:61. The girls team concluded their very successful dual season with wins over Dana Hall (91-81) and Thayer (49-35). Both teams will travel to Roger Williams College (RI) on Saturday, March 7^th for the New England Class B Championships.
The return of sophomore forward Gregory Kuakumensah to the line-up has provided Jamie Sullivan’s quintet with a huge boost. Greg scored 17 points in an opening round loss to Tilton in the New Hampton Tournament and provided the spark in a 76-72 win over Lee Academy in Saturday’s consolation game. The senior backcourt duo of Pat Benzan and Jeff Spellman was outstanding in the Lee win as the team ended their three game losing skid!
The Girls Hockey team received a stellar performance in goal from senior Rose Pijaca (21 saves) in a mid-week 3-0 shutout of the Winchendon School then followed that up with a nifty 4-0 whitewash of the Holderness School at Plymouth State University on Saturday evening! The team is pointing towards a strong run in the upcoming Class B New England Tournament (times and opponent TBD).
Brandon Casamassima took a 2^nd in the New England Wrestling Tournament earning a trip to next weeks National Tournament at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. Teammates Turner Geenty and Ben Goldsberry also wrestled well in tough matches during the weekend event at Tabor Academy. Congratulations to all on a terrific weekend!
The Girls Basketball team dropped two games to the “iron” of the Class A losing at Tabor on Wednesday despite a 21-point effort from Lexi Hackett and to New Hampton (51-41) on Saturday afternoon.
The Boys Hockey team earned the top seed to this week's Holt Conference Tournament, wrapping up that slot with a 5-4 road win over Moses Brown on Wednesday. PG Mike Ferraro led the scoring parade for the Hilltoppers. An early week loss to ISL foe, Groton School and a conference loss (only conference loss to date) on Saturday to Pingree School filled out the week for the team. WA will host Pingree (3^rd time this season) in a semi-final match this Wednesday, 2/28 at 2:40 pm at NESC. Congratulations to the coaches and players on this achievement and good luck in the tournament.
On the sub-varsity level the JV and freshman teams had convincing wins on Wednesday as the Boys JV ran away from Andover (55-44) and the freshman continued their winning ways with a 53-48 victory over the Fenn School.