Sports 05-18-2016

RhS sports Roundup

RHS boys lax wins two more, now at 12-5

The Revere High boys lacrosse team continued its red-hot play, taking both of its games this past week to extend its winning streak to seven games and remain undefeated in the month of May. The Patriots, who already have clinched a spot in the MIAA post-season state tournament, vanquished Matignon 12-5 last Thursday and Saugus 8-2 on Saturday.

In the encounter with Matignon,  the score was deadlocked at 4-4 at the half, but the Patriots regrouped at the intermission and pulled away for the victory.

“The team is playing well despite being a bit banged up and tired from the hectic schedule the past two weeks,” said RHS heard coach Steve Magno. “We need to continue to focus on winning as many games as we can to improve our playoff seeding.  We cannot take any opponent lightly despite their records. We must be prepared that all teams are going to bring their best effort when they play us.  We need to prepare both mentally and physically for each game.  I am proud at how well the boys have been playing.  They have worked hard each day and have earned these wins.”

Magno and his crew will wrap up their season in the coming week. They were set to host Everett last night (Tuesday) and then will entertain Malden tomorrow evening at 6:00 under the lights at Harry Della Russo Stadium in a contest that will be highlighted by Senior Night festivities. Their final regular season game will be played this coming Monday at Everett.

Lady Patriots win four straight, now 11-3

The Revere High softball team put it all together in a variety of ways this past week to reel off four straight victories over a five day period and improve to a sterling 11-3 on the season.

The Lady Patriots opened their week of triumph last Monday with a 7-2 victory over Winthrop. The contest was a close one for most of the way, with Revere nursing a 4-2 lead, until the Lady Patriots added three runs late to pull away for the win.

Ally Hinojosa continued her season-long powerful hitting performance, smashing two triples and driving in four runs. Victoria Correia ripped a double off the fence for an RBI.

The Revere defense was solid behind winning pitcher Gia Santinello, who tossed the full seven-inning distance.

The Lady Patriots next traveled to Medford to take on their former Greater Boston League foe, which is ranked 10th in the state in the polls. The contest was what is referred to as an “exclusion game,” which means that it does not count toward Revere’s final record for purposes of the post-season state tournament. The Lady Mustangs feature one of the top pitchers in the area in senior Ashley Eisnor, who has been the GBL MVP since she was a freshman and led Medford to the Division 1 State championship game last season. However, the Revere hitters were all over the Medford star from the outset, scoring six runs in the first two innings. Santinello, Correia, and Juliana Cecere came through with clutch RBI base its.

Revere freshman Olivia McManus tore a page from Eisnor’s book, holding Medford’s tough slap hitters at bay and allowing only one run in the 8-1 victory.

“This win showed that we can compete with anyone when all three phases of our game are working,” said RHS head coach Joe Ciccarello. “Our defense played really well and Olivia and Gia (who came on late in the game) pitched well, allowing only seven hits and striking out six together. Although the game didn’t count towards tourney play, we were certainly happy and this game was a real confidence-booster.”

With the Lady Patriots’ own home field at St. Mary’s still not playable, Ciccarello and his Road Warrior crew trekked to Beverly on Wednesday.

Revere handily defeated the Lady Panthers in their first meeting, 12-6, but Beverly has been playing well since that time and proved a tougher foe the second time around.

The Lady Patriots were holding a 3-1 advantage behind McManus, but some uncharacteristically poor defense led to three unearned Beverly runs. Revere received some clutch hitting from Cecere and Correia and a big RBI double by Gabby Cammarata to knot matters at 4-4 after the seven innings of regulation play.

After McManus held Beverly off the board in the top of the eighth (this was a Revere home game), senior Cheyanne Fullen came up in the bottom of the eighth with runners on second and third.

“I asked her what she wanted to do,” said Ciccarello, “and she said, ‘Hit!’ “

Placing his faith in his senior right fielder, Ciccarello allowed Cheyanne to swing away — and she rocketed the first pitch of her at-bat into right center to bring in Liz Lake (who was running for Cecere) for the walk-off, winning run.

After a welcome day off Thursday, the Lady Patriots journeyed on Friday to Waltham to take on another former GBL foe. The Revere defense once again made a few miscues behind Santinello (four of Waltham’s seven runs were unearned), but the Lady Patriot offense more than made up for the fielding lapses with a 17-run barrage.

Among the RHS hitting stars were Alina Giuliano, who socked a home run; Santinello, who banged out four hits; and the duo of Sam Woodman and Cammarata, both of whom had three hits.

The Lady Patriots also ran the bases well to complement their offensive output.

The victory clinched a berth in the post-season MIAA tourney, as the win brought Revere’s official record to 10-3, assuring the Lady Patriots of the necessary .500 record to qualify for the state tourney.

“This is our sixth straight year qualifying for the tourney in my seven years with the program,” said Ciccarello. “It’s an accomplishment that makes me incredibly proud to be a part of.”

Ciccarello and his crew face a tough week, which was set to start this past Monday against Danvers at Callahan Park in Malden, which officially will be a home game for Revere.

“Malden was nice enough to let us use their park for a big league game,” noted Ciccarello. Today (Wednesday) was supposed to be a home game against Lynn Classical, though the venue still was up in the air as of early this week.

The Lady Patriots meet Medford again in another exclusion game later this week and will play at Wakefield Tuesday and face Lynn English next Wednesday.

Boys track team defeats two opponents

The Revere High boys outdoor track and field team earned two big victories this past week, thereby assuring a winning season as the team headed into its final dual-meet of the season this past Monday against Gloucester.

Last Tuesday the Patriots breezed to a 102-33 win over Lynn English.

Josh Flanders continues to assert his dominance in the long jump with a personal record (PR) leap of  21’-0.5” that is just 1’-3” away from the school record.

“Josh has shown big improvements in such a short time,” said RHS head coach Sam Ros. “Hopefully, he will be able to put it all together for that record-breaking jump.”

Flanders also finished second in the 100 meter sprint with a time of 11.7.

The meet started well for the Patriots with Andy Em winning the 400 hurdles in 67.7. The Patriots then swept the two-mile with the trio of Zak Attioui, Dom Crespo, and Jonathan Nushi.

There was a little bit of drama in some of the throwing contests.  In the shotput, the event came down to the final throw. Phuc Tran was trailing by a couple of inches, but on his last attempt, Phuc came through with a toss of 39’-9” to gain the win.

Joe Dello Russo took third with a heave of 32’-3.5”.

The javelin followed a similar pattern. David Sinatra was trailing by about 10 feet until his final attempt, when he unleashed a huge PR throw of 127’-3” to beat his English rival by about two feet.

Dello Russo, who had to rush his throws in order to make it to the Elks Student of the Month dinner on time, was able to take third in the javelin with a toss of 116’.

In the discus, Revere snagged second and third spots, with Tran throwing 107’-9” and senior Elias Aguirre, a newcomer on the team this year, achieving a PR throw of 87’-5.5”.

The Patriots swept the triple jump thanks to the efforts of Zach Gentile, Andy Em, and Talal Hamza. In the mile, junior Sebastian Mejia ran his best race of the season to claim first place with a time of 5:13.9. Sebastian was neck-and-neck until the third quarter when he took the lead and never looked back.

Freshman Arthur Lacerda also ran his best race of the season, finishing the mile with a PR of 5:33.2.

The 4 x 100 relay team of Zach Gentile, Josh Flanders, Phuc Tran, and Talal Hamza defeated their English counterparts with a clocking of 46.8.

In the 110 high hurdles, the trio of David Sinatra, Andy Em, and newcomer Ryan St. Hilaire came in 1-2-3.

“David continues to dominate this event and looks to make a run for the conference title,” noted Ros.

The 400 meter dash saw Revere finish second and third with both Patriots clocking PR times, Alexis Umana in 58.4 and Christian Molina in 59.2.

Revere  swept the 800 with a trio of Zach Gentile, freshman Brandon Nguyen, and Captain Zak Attioui. Sophomore Sebastian Rendon finished second in the 200 dash with a time of 25.3 to round out the Revere scoresheet.

Just two days later the Patriots were back on the track against a more difficult opponent, Danvers.

Revere was missing one of its top sprinters, Talal Hamza, because of a family emergency.  “We knew going into the meet that this would be a very tight meet and we needed to catch a few breaks in order to come out on the winning end,” said Ros.

After the first two events, the 400 hurdles and the two-mile, the Patriots trailed 12-6. Em finished second in the 400 hurdles with a time of 66.6 and Mejia did likewise in the two-mile run with a time of 11:40.5.

The throwing events continued to provide drama for the Patriot squad.

“I had planned to have our top thrower, Phuc Tran, throwing in the javelin and the discus,” said Ros. “I knew he could probably win the discus and would compete for the win in the javelin. During warm ups, one of our captains, Joe Dello Russo, was watching the shotput area.  He came to me and said that he didn’t think we would score in the shotput without Phuc. We took a few minutes to mull it over and I moved Phuc out of the discus and into the shotput.

“At this point, I was gambling with the discus,” added Ros. “But as it turned out, the move paid dividends for us.”

Tran indeed proved to be Revere’s only scorer in the shotput, winning it with a PR throw of 42’-2”. Phuc also won the javelin with a toss of 130’ and Dello Russo finished second with a throw of 120’-7”.

The surprise came in the discus when Elias Aguirre was the only Revere scorer and won with a big PR throw of 91’-5”.

“Those throwing events were the breaks we needed,” said Ros. “The field events overall were very big for us.  We outscored Danvers in the long jump, triple jump, and high jump. “

The highlight of the jumping events came in the long jump. Revere swept the event behind Flanders (who is undefeated this season), Sinatra, and Em.

Revere took first and third in the triple jump with Gentile and Em respectively.

Sinatra and Flanders went 1-2 in the 100 dash, just edging out the Danvers sprinter by a tenth of a second.

The Patriot hurdlers continued to be one of the strong points for the team, sweeping the 110 hurdles with Sinatra, Em, and St. Hilaire in that order. Sinatra’s winning mark of 15.8 was another PR.

Revere’s  400 meter dashmen continued to show improvement with this meet.  Umana won the race with a PR of 58.1 and Molina finished third with a PR of 59.0.

Gentile took the 800 meter out hard from the beginning and held off the Danvers runner to win in 2:13.  St. Hilaire and Sebastion Rendon finished second and third in the 200 dash to round out the Revere scoring for the day.

“This was a big win for us and guarantees that we will finish the season with a winning record,” said Ros, whose squad was set to wrap up it dual-meet season this past Monday against Gloucester.

RHS girls track defeats English

The Revere High girls track team defeated Lynn English, 82-54, last Tuesday.

“This was a complete team win for us,” said RHS head coach Antonio LaBruna. “We finished first or second in all 14 of the non-relay events and produced some of our fastest times of the season in the sprinting events.”

Rachel Shanbar was a double-winner for the Lady Patriots, topping the field in the shotput with a toss of 28’-6” and the discus with a throw of 85’-6”.

Other first-place winners for Revere were: Estefania Velasquez (High Hurdles — 17.8); Monica Posada (Two Mile — 14:43); Angelina Nguyen (100M — 13.6); Janine So (Javelin — 89’-6”); and Catherine Elam (Triple Jump — 30’).

Lady Patriots who finished second in their events to earn three points for the RHS scoresheet were: Amanda Edmunds (High Hurdles — 21.2); Helen Perez (400M Hurdles — 72.9); Janine So (100M — 13.8); Claritza Vasquez (200M — 28.9 and Long Jump — 14’-3”) ); Helen Perez (400M — 70.0); Hannah Fitzpatrick (Mile — 5:53 and 800 — 2:42); Angelina Nguyen (Triple Jump — 29’-2”); Mariana Montoya (High Jump — 4’4”); Arielys Garcia (Discus — 62’’9 1/2” and Javelin — 81’-4”); and Jackie Dion (Two Mile — 15:32).

Third place finishers who contributed single points to the Revere cause were: Duyen Nguyen (100M — 14.1); Catherine Elam (400M — 71.5); Trisha Cheever (800M — 2:46); Suellen Guerreiro (Mile — 6:25); Hannah Fitzpatrick (Triple Jump — 28’-8 1/2”); Valentina Montoya (High Jump — 4’-2”); Janine So (Discus — 55’-3”); and Anela Demir (Shot-put — 21’-6 1/2”).

Highlights from the meet included Helen Perez qualifying for the D-1 State Meet in the 400M Hurdles, running a personal record (PR) time of 72.9.

“Last spring Helen ran a 75.9 and we talked about how she had a chance to qualify if she put in the work to better condition herself,” said LaBruna. “She’s worked really hard over the past year-plus and her State Meet berth is well- deserved.”

Angelina Nguyen ran a PR time of 13.6 in the 100M. “Lina sets the tone for our sprint workouts in practice and is one of the most competitive kids I’ve ever coached,” LaBruna said. “Her times haven’t been great to this point in the season, so it was great to see her run a fast race.”

LaBruna and his crew were scheduled to wrap up their dual meet season this past Monday against Gloucester.

RHS girls lacrosse  team tops Winthrop

The Revere High girls lacrosse team won its fourth contest of the season with a 13-8 triumph over arch-rival Winthrop last week.

The Lady Patriots asserted control of the match from the outset, jumping out to a 7-0 advantage. Winthrop stormed back with six markers to close the gap to 7-6, but Revere reasserted its earlier dominance later in the contest to come away with the win.

“Although we had some mishaps within the game, I was very impressed with the play of our team,” said RHS head coach Karen Atkinson. “Emily DiGiulio scored two quick goals off rebounds from the goalie, which changed the momentum of the game. She also notched an assist. Dzenana Omerovic and Taylor Sujko each had an assist as well. Our scoring was spread out during the game with excellent cuts and teamwork from each other. “

Lily DelloIacono, Kiana Napolitano, Amina Mansouri, Danela Ortez, and Gloria Pais all scored one goal each. Jenna Wells and Marina Robinson both had two excellent goals off the crease in a display of beautiful stick work.  Taylor Giuffre-Catalano had two goals and an assist.

“With the scoring spread out, including goals with assists and/or running our offensive sets, I could not be happier,” noted Atkinson. “Our team is making strides, but needs to continue working on the breakdowns we face each game.”

This past Saturday the Lady Patriots took on Georgetown and came out on the short end of a close 11-10 decision. Revere held the lead for most of the contest,  but Georgetown capitalized on Lady Patriot miscues to pull ahead.

“We are still growing as a team,” noted Atkinson. “Although there has been significant improvement since the first scrimmage against Georgetown, we still could not come up with the win.”

Revere’ scoring  was spread across the board and four Lady Patriots were credited with assists on four of the team’s 10 goals.

Kiana Napolitano scored four goals with an assist. Marina Robinson scored two goals with an assist; Dzenana Omerovic came up with two huge goals early in the first half; Emily DiGiulio added a goal and an assist; and Cindy Murphy reached the back of the Georgetown net with a beautiful goal early in the first half.

Jasmina Mujic handled the goaltending chores and recorded 11 saves.

Last Wednesday the Lady Patriots met Swampscott for the second time this season. Revere had dropped the first contest, 15-6, but played much better the second time around, coming out on the short end of an 8-1 decision after trailing by a close 5-1 margin at the half.

“Although we made significant improvements, we were unable to run our plays to the best of our ability and became flustered with Swampscott’s defense,” said Atkinson. “We were hoping to cut the deficit in the second half, but we made minor mistakes that cost us possessions and could not capitalize on offense.”

Jasmina Mujic was in goal for Revere and notched 16 saves.

In a 16-3 loss to Danvers, Napolitano scored two goals.  Taylor Giuffre-Catalano scored the third goal, while Marina Robinson and Amina Mansouri each had an assist. Shateya Travis came up big in net with 13 saves.

“I am beyond impressed with the improvements the team has made since  last season, as well as throughout the past 16 games,” noted Atkinson. “We have four South Division conference games left, and we hope to advance our record beyond 4-12 in these last two weeks of the season.”

The Lady Patriots were set to meet Winthrop this past Monday and host Saugus tonight (Wednesday). They play at Salem this coming Monday and host Gloucester in the season finale next Wednesday.

RHS boys tennis team wins two matches

The Revere High boys tennis team won two matches this past week, defeating Peabody on Monday, 5-0, and Lynn English on Friday, 4-1.

Mateo Lopez led the way for the Patriots against Peabody, sweeping his opponent at first singles in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2. David Grujic also was a winner in two sets, 6-4, 6-1.

Andrea Shehaj and Josh Preciado teamed up at first doubles for a straight-setter, 6-2, 6-0, as did the duo of Naveed Jabbar and David Henao at second doubles, 6-3, 6-0.

Peabody did not have a player at third singles, and thus that match went to Revere by default.

In the triumph over English, Lopez won his match at first singles, 6-2, 6-2; Grujic triumphed at the second singles slot, 6-4, 6-3; and Shehaj cruised at third singles, 6-4, 6-2.

The tandem of Ralph Corbelle and freshman David Phan, who was playing in his first varsity match, defeated their English counterparts at second doubles, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. Jabbar and Preciado lost in a close match, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), at first doubles.

In other matches this past week, the Patriots fell to Lynn Classical, 4-1. Grujic was the lone victor for Revere at second singles, 6-0, 6-2. In a 4-1 loss to Danvers, Lopez triumphed at first singles, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. In a 5-0 defeat to Swampscott, the second doubles duo of Nelson Ortiz and Josue Martinez played well in a close match, 4-6, 4-6.

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