Fall 2016 Athletic Weekly Update and Award Winners

It has been a stellar fall season on the hilltop for many of our teams. We certainly want to recognize and congratulate the individual accomplishments as well as the team milestones achieved over the past 12 weeks. Special thanks to our seniors, team captains, and team leaders who have handled well the responsibilities of being front and center in representing our school and our Athletic program. Likewise, a heartfelt thanks to all our coaches who have excelled in guiding and mentoring our students-athletes along the way!

• Our Varsity Soccer teams have had remarkable seasons and for the 1st time in recent history both earned the #1 seed in their respective Class A Championships. On the girls' side (16-0-1), a mid-week 3-1 victory over defending Class A champion Phillips Andover paved the way for an undefeated regular season and a date with #8 seed Milton Academy in the 1st round of the NEPSAC Championship. The team enters Wednesday’s match-up (2:00 pm at Morse Field) confident, healthy, and ready to make a run at an unblemished record. The boys' team (17-1) continued their own run towards immortality racing by the Salisbury School and Cushing Academy as they prepare to meet #8 seed Belmont Hill at New Balance Field on Wednesday afternoon, 2:00 pm start! Defense has been the calling card for this well-drilled club as they registered a team-high ninth shutout for the 2016 campaign.

• Field Hockey (11-4-2) had a great season and finished on a high note racing past both Portsmouth Abbey (6-1) and Cushing Academy (5-2) validating their status as a team to be reckoned with in the years ahead.

• Our Girls Cross Country team is brimming with young talent and their experience in Saturday’s DII New England Championships at Tabor Academy (9th place overall) should fuel a possible “podium” run in the 2017 season.

• Our Boys Cross Country team ran beyond expectations during the regular season as well and a solid performance (12th place overall) in a rugged New England Championship will have a strong core of returning runners eager to go in the fall of 2017.

• Football ran into a buzz saw at Cheshire Academy on Friday evening ending a campaign that saw the team compete hard but come up on the short end of a multiple contests. The JV football team performed well throughout the season and returning players will augment a recruiting class determined to get the Hilltoppers back into the Bowl picture in 2017.

• Girls Volleyball was immensely improved from start to finish and will look to build on a nucleus of returning underclassmen and a strong JV team to jump start the 2017 season.

• Coach Bob Thorn’s JV Boys Soccer team (7-3-2) posted the best overall record for the WA sub-varsity teams. The JV Girls Volleyball team improved dramatically during the season and played with spirit and determination throughout the year. Kudos to 1st year Girls JV Soccer coach, Rachel Rios, for her diligent coaching work with her team.

Team	Captain	MVP
Varsity Football	Dervin Hylton Samuel Jakshtis, John J. Pietro Award Recipient	Dervin Hylton
Girls Cross Country	Anna Barry Maya Yoshikawa	Gabrielle Arcand
Boys Cross Country	Matthew Adiletta	Lucas Vining-Recklitis
Girls Soccer	Gabrielle Diodati Rachel Diodati Abby Flaherty Elysia Paolillo	Gabrielle Diodati
Boys Soccer	Samuel Hatem Jonathan Wolf Ivan Sebuufu-Bazitya, Leavitt Family Award Recipient	Samuel Hatem
Volleyball	Micaela McNamara	Micaela McNamara
Field Hockey	Mckenna Gray	Emily Ledoux
JV Boys Soccer	Aidan Ormsby Samuel Thoreen
JV Girls Soccer	Rayana Petrone Emma Yanco
JV Volleyball	Abigail Berry Emily Goodrich