AWHS Spring Sports Blog
Boys Lacrosse
What a difference a year can make. Last season, the boys’ lacrosse program had a frustrating season, where they were only able to win 5 games. Fast forward to the 2018 season, and after 14 games, the Bishops have already doubled their win total from last year, sitting at a 10-5 record with 3 games remaining in the regular season. The win total has qualified them for a tournament berth, which is an amazing feat after only winning five games last year. Coach Marks and Coach Curley have done a fantastic job with this group, sweeping three different CCL foes (Spellman, St. Mary’s, and Arlington Catholic). It is still a big question mark just where the Bishops will fall as far as seeding is concerned in the tournament, but stealing a win or two in their last three games will certainly help.
The Bishops have accounted for 143 goals scored in 15 games, a large portion of them coming from a four-headed group in Barry, Glass, Vaughan, and Bosse. Their slow-paced offense tries to lull opponents to sleep defensively, but if the Bishops want to get past the first round of the tournament, these four must continue be efficient shooting the ball. Defensively, the veteran long-poles continue to play well and arguably the biggest surprise of the sports season has come from senior goalie, Mattheau Gaudet who has played extremely well in net.
Girls Lacrosse
The girls’ varsity program once again has had an outstanding start to their regular season. The Lady Bishops sit at a 13-3 record with two games remaining against Hull and Rockland. The 13 wins will clinch at least one home tournament game for the girls. One of the major question marks going into the season was how in the world were they going to replace two of the top goal scorers in the history of the program. After 16 games, the Lady Bishops have scored 201 total goals, good for 12.6 goals-per-game. Despite losing junior Haley Reed to injury in the early part of the season, their offense has stepped up thanks to three underclassmen, who have accounted for a total 119 goals. Haley Mullen (48), Mel McClay (41), and Kayleen Sickorez (30) have been fantastic, while senior leaders Allison Delmonte and Kim Dunn continue to be as consistent as ever in all aspects of the game.
Nicole Hersey has accounted for all 13 wins in net, while only giving up a little over 7 goals a game. However, in the last five games, Hersey has only given up a total of 24 goals… good for under a 5 goal-per-game average. The Lady Bishops will look to finish the regular season strong and make a strong push in the tournament.
Shout out to Coach Aisner who has the JV Girls Lacrosse team at a remarkable 10-0 record!
Baseball
After a tough loss to Middleboro in their last game, the Varsity Boys Baseball team sits at an 8-6 record, with six games remaining in the season. The Bishops, like any other baseball team in MA, have had to battle Mother Nature and the rain which has extended their regular season into the first week in June. However, weather has not stopped them from racking up 8 wins already, including strong wins against Sharon, Arlington Catholic, and two against Norwell HS. One of the factors in the 8 wins has been hitting… as evident to them driving in 85 runs, good for over 10 runs per game. In their 6 losses, the Bishops have only managed to drive in 9 runs. If the Bishops want to make a run like they did last year, the bats are going to have to get hot at the right time.
Due to early season injuries to the two top starters in the rotation, the Bishops have had to rely on senior Sam Hamer’s arm, as well as the arms, of three underclassmen (Brandon Sullivan, Jack Cesarz, and Kyle Rowell) who have all pitched pretty well throughout the season. If they can get senior Jared Marini and sophomore Myles McDermott to full strength by tournament time, the Bishops could very well be due for another deep tournament run.
Shout out to Coach Berman who has the JV program at a 9-1 record through their first ten games!
Softball
The softball program has had a tough season record-wise, starting the year 3-10 in the first 13 games. With 7 games remaining, the Lady Bishops hope they can make a late season push to improve their record and get them closer to .500 on the season. Losing a star pitcher is never easy to recover from, and the girls’ have definitely had their struggles on the mound. The one positive is that two of their three main pitchers are very young (Kerry Shaughnessy – 8th grade, Shelby Parr – 7th grade) and their futures are both very bright.
The Lady Bishops do have the veteran leadership to make a nice late season run to improve their record, plus a sophomore star in the heart of their lineup. Senior Alissa Sayers had this to say about the 2018 season; “The start to the year has been a bit on the rough side, but we are a resilient group that aren’t going to go down without a fight. We want to end the season and for most of us, our careers, on a very positive note.”
The Lady Bishops host St. Mary’s and travel to Braintree HS this upcoming week and will look to get back on the winning side of things.
Tennis
It has been another outstanding regular season for the Girls Tennis program here at AWHS. Through 15 matches, the Lady Bishops find themselves at 12-3 on the season, with 3 matches remaining in their season. Outside of their 2 losses against a very strong CCL foe in Austin Prep, the Lady Bishops finished their regular season undefeated against CCL competition, sweeping Arlington Catholic, Fenwick, Spellman, and St. Mary’s. The Alessi twins and senior Daisy Zhang have been fantastic in singles play while Sallyrose Savage & Eleni Kroumpouzos and Nicky Vo & Viola Xu have formed great duos in doubles play. The girls finish the regular season with a pro-set against Boston Latin, followed by O’Bryant to finish the season. After getting knocked out by the Vineyard in last year’s tournament, the Lady Bishops will look to make a strong push deep into this year’s tournament.
Spring Track & Field
The boys and girls Spring Track & Field teams both sit at a remarkable 7-2 record this season, as it seems like every week there are personal and/or school records being broken. The Boys’ Track & Field team have had very quality wins over Spellman, St. Mary’s, and Austin Prep, while the Girls’ Track & Field Team have had very quality wins over Arlington Catholic, St. Mary’s, and Austin Prep. These wins prepared the team for the CCL Championship Meet.
On Sunday, the two teams and their qualifiers, met at Bishop Fenwick HS for the CCL Championship Meet. The Girls’ Track & Field managed to finish in 2nd place, while the Boys’ finished 3rd. During the meet, there were a bunch of highlights, including Junior Erica MacSweeney who ended up winning MVP at the meet after scoring 26 total points. Marc-Andy Mexil broke the school record in the 400 Meter Hurdles, Ashley Tran & Erica MacSweeney both qualified for next week’s State Class Meet, and 5 members of the two teams qualified as CCL All-Stars after their performances at the event.
Coach Van Dorpe continues to do a great job with this large group of male and female student-athletes. “Sometimes it isn’t easy coaching 90-plus kids with only two coaches, but our veteran athletes have done a great job helping and working with our younger athletes. We’ve been lucky enough to have had some major contributions throughout the season from a lot of our younger track & field stars too. It has been an extremely fun and entertaining spring.”
Final
It has been a great finish to the athletic year for AWHS. Continue to check in on our Twitter page, GOBishops, and more for any athletic information. Also continue to come out and support each Spring team as their seasons come to an end/playoffs start. The support and volunteer work do NOT go unnoticed and we thank everyone for your help. GO BISHOPS!
