MVRHS sports highlights

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Charlie Everett fired at shot at the Bishop Stang goal in Tuesday's win at MVRHS. — Photo by Ralph Stewart

Sailing

The Vineyard sailors enjoyed another successful week on the water.

The team sailed in three matches over five days, winning twice and finishing a respectable fourth out of ten schools in a Fleet race Saturday at Tabor Academy.

Tuesday, the Vineyarders raced against Chatham/Harwich on a windy, choppy day on Lagoon Pond. M.V. sailed away from the Blue Devils with a 4-0 win. Jesse Thomas, James Ulyatt, and Raz Sayre were the skippers. Doug Andrade, Ellie Reagan, Megan Mendenhall, Russell Shapiro, Zana Van Rooyen, and Riley Donegan did yeoman work as the crew in a solid team effort. After the first race, coach Andrew Burr liberally rotated his sailors to get as many people out on the water as possible.

Saturday, at Tabor Academy in Marion, the Vineyarders competed for the George O’Day fleet racing trophy. The event takes place at five venues throughout New England, with 10-15 teams in each place. The competing schools race in two divisions, A and B. A skipper and one crew member pilot each boat in the fleet throughout the afternoon. At day’s end, the combined points accrued from A and B divisions make up the final total.

In the end, the Vineyarders finished fourth, behind Tabor, Cape Cod Academy, and Barnstable–just out of the top three spots needed to qualify for Sunday’s final and a chance to reach the Nationals.

Jesse Thomas and Eli Hanschka raced in the first two A division events. Raz Sayre and Doug Andrade raced in the B division.

Coach Burr was impressed with his team’s efforts. “We sailed really well, Raz was great and Eli [both are freshman] stepped in to skipper the last two races in A division–that in itself was huge,” he said.

The Vineyarders began the busy week with a 5-0 win over St. Sebastian’s Friday on Lagoon Pond.

Next up for M.V. is a match with Sandwich today at home, followed by a sail Saturday against Nauset and Cheverus (Portland, Me). The crucial contest is Sunday in Hyannis against league rival Barnstable and Hotchkiss (Lakeville, Conn).

With two weeks remaining to get it’s ranking (currently 19th in New England), a Vineyard win over the Red Raiders would likely clinch a wild card berth in the playoffs.

Girls tennis

Connie McHugh’s squad remained unbeaten at 4-0, with a 5-0 win Tuesday at Cape Cod Academy in Osterville. The Vineyarders, in fact, have won all 20 matches thus far.

Samantha Potter defeated Tess Argy in first singles 6-0, 6-1. Annie Burton beat Abigail Souza 6-3, 6-0 in the second singles and Wendy Wen was a 6-3, 6-2 winner over Emma Doe in the third singles match.

In doubles, Dylan Brockmeyer and Alyssa Adler rolled past Gillian Zoman and Clare McGurk 6-0, 6-3. The second doubles team of Julia Cooper and Annabelle Hackney were victorious over Julia Argy and Claire Carvous 6-1, 6-2.

The Vineyard jayvees played three doubles matches. Josie Iadiccico and Charlotte Potter defeated CCA’s Alexandra Bernardo and Charlotte Young, 6-3. The Seahawks won the final two matches, 6-1. Nell Thornton and Claire McGurk beat Diamond Araujo and Avery Hazel. Abagail Souza and Gillian Zoman won against Catherine Donegan and Lilly Bick.

The Vineyard girls played at Bishop Stang in a late match Wednesday and host Bishop Feehan today at 3 pm.

Girls lacrosse

The girls’ lacrosse team stayed hot this week with a hard-fought 17-14 win Tuesday over Eastern Athletic Conference (EAC) rival Bishop Stang in blustery North Dartmouth on Tuesday. With the win, the Vineyarders improved to 4-1 and 3-0 in the EAC.

It was battle against Stang from the start, as the two teams exchanged the lead seven times in the first half alone. M.V. took an early 1-0 lead on goal by Alayna Hutchinson, but Stang took control of the game later in the half to build a two goal lead.

But the Vineyarders scored three of the last four goals in the half to tie the game at 7-7 at the break. Madison Hughes scored a nifty come-from-behind goal and Hutchinson scored with 27 seconds left in the half to help tie the game.

In the second half, M.V. established their zone defense led by senior Shelby Ferry, junior Texe Craig and sophomores Isabel Smith, Mary Ollen and Sarah Alexander. Meanwhile the midfield led by Hughes, Jennie Lindland, and Hutchinson controlled the center draw to gain possession.

The Vineyarders took a 12-7 lead and then used the clock to their advantage and never allowed Stang closer than three goals. Hughes helped seal the win with two late goals, both on free positions, in the last four minutes of the game.

Senior goalie April Hargy had 12 saves in net, and Hughes finished with five goals and four assists. Hutchinson finished with five goals and an assist, Lindland had two goals and an assist and Lucy Hackney and Taylor Poggi each had two goals.

The girls next play at home against Natick on Saturday at 12:45 p.m. The JV team had a great game against Stang with lots of new young players involved in the scoring. Although they played hard, Stang came out on top 16-11.

Boys lacrosse

After a frustrating 2-7 start to the season, the boys’ lacrosse team notched a huge 11-6 win Tuesday at home against EAC rival Bishop Stang. The win provided a boost for the Vineyarders and also put them back on track to win an EAC title.

With the win, the Vineyarders find themselves in a virtual three-way tie, along with Bishop Stang and Bishop Feehan in the EAC.

Coach Chris Greene said it was probably his team’s best overall game of the season. He said his team spent the weekend watching game films and working on their offense. “I think the guys finally bought in, moving the ball and moving their feet, and it showed on Tuesday,” he said.

Charlie Everett had three goals and an assist, Thomas Wilkins had three goals and an assist and Nick Costello had a goal. Marc Natichioni had a goal and an assist, Denver Maciel had two goals and Colby Gouldrup had a goal and four assists. Goalie Nelson Dickson made nine saves.

The Vineyarders next play at home on Tuesday against Bishop Feehan, another EAC opponent.

Baseball

Thanks to some strong pitching and at times explosive offense, the baseball team is off to a strong start this season. The Vineyarders played in a mini two-day tournament in Westwood last week and split a pair of games to run their record to 4-2 this season.

In the first game of the tournament, April 18, against host Westwood, the Wolverines won an old fashioned pitching duel 2-1.

Andrew Williamson started and gave up two earned runs over three innings, followed by Ryan Fisher who came on in relief and pitched four shutout innings with six strikeouts and no walks.

The Vineyarders took a 1-0 lead in the third inning without a hit when Jack Roberts drew a bases-loaded walk. But Westwood tied the game in the bottom of the inning and later scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly. Despite the strong pitching, the Vineyarders only had three hits on the day.

The Vineyarders bounced back big in the second game of the tournament, trouncing Latin Academy by a score of 12-1. The Vineyarders spread things around on offense, as almost every starting player had a hit and scored a run.

William Stewart started and went six innings, striking out eight while walking only one.

“Will [Stewart] could have easily gone seven innings – he was dominant, but we wanted to get Ryan [Fisher] in there for the seventh to get him some work. Will is really coming into his own,” Coach Simmons said.

Despite the lopsided score, only Kevin Galligan had more than one hit for the Vineyarders. He went 2-for-3 with a single, double and three runs scored.

The team plays Bishop Stang at home Wednesday afternoon, results were not available at press time, and plays Bishop Feehan on the road later in the week.