Masco breaks through, tips Andover
Faced with a sudden death 7-on-7 overtime in yesterday’s Division 1 North field hockey final against defending champ Andover, Masconomet coach Maggie Bridgeo turned to her speed unit and got immediate dividends. Less than five minutes in, Masconomet captain Nicole Amyouny finished off a 3-on-1 jailbreak for the No. 2 seed to lift the Chieftains to a 2-1 victory. The goal, which was assisted by freshman speedster Lily Conway, carried on the momentum from a second half that saw the Chieftains (18-1-2) dominate everywhere, but on the scoreboard. “All season we have been saying that we were more of a second half team,” said Amyouny. “I think it came down to heart. Last year they beat us and knocked us out of the tournament and we were not going to let that happen again.”
Somerset Berkley exorcised some demons by knocking off defending Division 1 South champion King Philip in the semifinals earlier this week. But the Raiders still had unfinished business. The Raiders (21-1) avenged their only loss of 2018 in a 3-0 win over Walpole to capture their first divisional crown since 2000. After a scoreless first half, Lauren Rothwell put home the game-winner at the 15:52 mark off the fine stick work of Megan Salsinha. Lucas Crook scored the back-breaker with 9:53 left as Salsinha picked up her second assist to give Somerset Berkley the two-goal lead. Senior Olivia Silva finished things off inside the left post with 5:02 left. It was looking like the eighth time might indeed be a charm for the Manchester Essex. Looking for their first Div.2 North title in eight tries against mighty Watertown, it all fell apart in an instant for the Hornets like so many other November afternoons in blustery Walsh Stadium. Freshman Taylor Lambo scored the game’s lone goal out of a mad scramble with 10:36 left as Watertown (17- 0-1) captured its 11th straight North title, 1-0. In a rematch of last year’s Div. 2 South Final, DennisYarmouth again knocked off rival Cohasset (14-5-2), this time in a 6-0 victory over the Skippers. The Dolphins (18-0-3) had five different goal scorers as freshman Kayla McGaffigan notched the first two tallies in the rout.
Girls volleyball
The feeling, and the dominance, never gets old for Barnstable.
The top-seeded Red Raiders claimed their ninth straight Division 1 South title, and 24th since 1993, with a dominant win in straight sets (25-3, 25-8, 2516) over No. 2 New Bedford at Silver Lake. “Definitely not,” said Barnstable star senior Riley James on if it felt stale winning another sectional crown. “Every year going into it we set our goals really high and we’ve been working hard all year to get to this point and continue on.” James, the state’s leader in career kills, spearheaded Barnstable (22–0), which has yet to drop a single set all season, with 24 kills. Newton North is no stranger to the Div. 1 Central/East final, and the experience showed through as the Tigers controlled a 3-0 victory against No. 2 Belmont. With the win, the topseeded Tigers have now made it seven straight trips to the state semifinal, winning the state championship twice in that span. Senior Ashley Wang paced the dominating display from the Tigers (15-2) with 16 kills, 12 assists, and eight aces while classmate Chelsea Simmons produced eight kills and 11 assists. Four others chipped in at least two assists or kills during the victory. “(Belmont) has a terrific passer in Sophis Estok and we just were able to put rockets to not Sophis Estok,” Newton North coach Richard Barton said. “It made a great difference in the match because they didn’t get any passes.” After dominating Division 3 North with seven consecutive titles from 2010-2016, Lynnfield fell short upon moving up to Division 2 in last year’s tournament. It didn’t take long for the Pioneers (22-2) to get back on top, though, defeating Burlington, 3-0, to claim their first Div. 2 North title. “We’re so used to being on this stage, but this stage, this year, I think we had a lot of nerves,” coach Brent Ashley said. “It’s better competition but these girls are better athletes. …Once we relaxed a bit, we settled down and played our game.” After years of being on the doorstep of a sectional title, Duxbury finally broke through a season ago. The No. 8 Dragons ensured their stay at the top of Div. 2 South would last a little longer by defeating No. 3 Greater New Bedford, 3-1, to earn their second sectional crown. “They’ve worked really hard all season,” said Duxbury coach Pam Thomas as the Dragons advance to the state semifinals against Minnechaug. “We’ve had our ups and downs, but for them to come together and for them to be sectional champs they have to be on top of the world.” It was character testing for No. 2 Groton-Dunstable, but in the end the Crusaders knocked off No. 1 Canton, 3-2, erasing two deficits in the match for the Div. 2 Central/ East title. The teams traded wins in the opening sets and with the Crusaders (20-2) down 2-1 in the fourth, they pulled even via a 25-19 victory before taking the match on a 15-7 win in the fifth set. Last year, Austin Prep ventured to Div. 3 North semifinals but fell just short to Ipswich. It only served to motivate an experienced Cougars squad who, despite falling behind early, exacted some revenge by beating Ipswich 3-2, earning the program’s first sectional title. “We dropped the first set in the quarters and semis as well, but this team wanted it, they had the fire to win today,” AP coach Katie Cosgrove said. “I think they know it’s a long game and when you drop the first one you just have to come back even harder in the next one.”
— Brian Fabry, Greg Dudek, David Pollard and Kyle Prudhomme contributed to this report.