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8 wrestlers heading to states

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It’s been 20 years since Ben Dineen captured the state title at 171 pounds. 

He’s the last Whitman-Hanson Regional High wrestler to be named a state champion. 

This year, the Panthers will have plenty of chances to snap that drought. 

That’s because they’re sending eight wrestlers to compete in the Division 2 state tournament, which will take place this Friday and Saturday at Game On in Fitchburg. They’ll also bring two alternates. 

“I am beyond ecstatic to be bringing eight wrestlers to the 2022 D2 state wrestling championships,” said W-H head coach Gary Rabinovitz.

Those eight are: freshman Charlie Lussier (106 pounds), sophomore Austin Gamber (126), junior Aidan Guiliani (132), junior Braden Kain (138), senior captain Pat Collett (145), freshman Cooper Lussier (152), senior captain Rocco Ruffini (220) and junior Maddox Colclough (285). Freshman Christian Grimaldi and junior Rocco Hanaphy (160) will serve as alternates.

Pay attention to both Charlie Lussier and Guiliani. After going a perfect 29-0 during the regular season, Charlie Lussier will look to rebound from his first loss of the winter, which he suffered at last weekend’s South Sectionals. Meanwhile at 132 pounds, Guiliani looks to keep it rolling after capturing first place at sectionals, the only Panther to hit the top of the podium on the day.

Kelly making a name coaching at college level

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Whitman-Hanson Regional High grad Marina Kelly is an assistant women’s soccer coach at one of the winningest programs in the country.

Marina Kelly’s goal is to become a head college soccer coach some day.

It would appear that she’s well on her way. 

Kelly, a 2014 Whitman-Hanson Regional High grad, was hired by the University of Scranton as an assistant women’s soccer coach this past fall. 

The school went on to finish the season 18-1-1, won the Landmark Conference title and advanced the Div. III Sweet 16. 

The Scranton staff was tabbed the United Soccer Coaches 2021 Coaching Staff of the Year for Region V as well as the Landmark Conference Staff of the Year. 

“My experience at Scranton has been awesome,” Kelly said. “I work with a great coaching staff and an awesome group of student-athletes here.

“It was a lot of long days in the office and on the field but it was worth it and great to see us accomplish so much in one season as a program.”

Kelly is directly involved in recruiting, film analysis, team travel and on-the-field coaching. 

“Marina is extremely hard working, competitive and a quick learner,” said Scranton women’s soccer head coach Colleen Pivirotto. “Marina took the lead in watching and scouting our opponents.”

That was a crucial role, especially during the rigorous NCAA tournament schedule. 

“We had to prepare for three teams at once,” Pivirotto said. “Marina’s hard work allowed us to be prepared for all our opponents and key to helping us to advance to the Sweet 16.”

Kelly, who played both basketball and soccer in college, began her coaching career in 2017 while attending Clarion University when she was named the head coach of the Clarion River Valley Strikers, a competitive club soccer team. She continued to coach club when she returned home while also personally training players. In 2018 she was named girls’ soccer’s head junior varsity coach. Later that winter she was hired by her alma mater, W-H, as a varsity girls’ basketball assistant and head junior varsity coach, a post she held for three seasons. For the last two autumns she has worked as a graduate assistant women’s soccer coach at Regis College. An impressive résumé for sure, which made her an attractive candidate for Pivirotto to add to her bench.

“Marina’s previous coaching experience allowed her to hit the ground running since she started in early August,” Pivirotto said. “I am fortunate that Marina had a lot of experience prior to arriving at Scranton. I did not have an assistant coach for over a year so it was a tremendous help to have Marina join our staff.”

Kelly said she has soaked in a great deal of knowledge during her first year in Scranton. 

“I have learned a lot about soccer, coaching in general, and even about myself,” Kelly said. “Looking at film differently, focusing on specific tactics, working more with a specific position group for a period of time during practice, [and] how to communicate effectively with the girls at this level to get a positive response from them,” Kelly said. “Overall, I have learned a lot from my head coach Colleen Pivirotto on being a young female coach in the coaching world.”

Kelly attended the United Soccer Coaches convention in Kansas City, Mo., last month. The rest of her offseason will feature recruiting, hosting clinics on campus and analyzing film before the non-traditional season gets going in the spring. 

“My goal right now is continuing to learn and grow as much as I can as a coach and a mentor to student-athletes,” Kelly said. “I love coaching at the college level and I plan to stay at this level. My overall goal is to be a head college coach of my own program some day.”

W-H boys’ basketball captain Vallancourt bounces back from cancer

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Ryan Vallancourt has scored in double-digits in six of the Panthers’ first seven games. / Photo by: Sue Moss

After a bout with cancer over the offseason, Whitman-Hanson Regional High boys’ basketball senior captain Ryan Vallancourt is grateful to be back on the court.

Ryan Vallancourt was going up for a routine layup during a summer league game this past July when life took an unexpected turn for the Whitman-Hanson Regional High boys’ basketball captain. 

“I just felt, not like a shock, but a tingle throughout my body,” Vallancourt explained. “It was right in my balls, so I was like, ‘What the hell?’”

He felt a lump in the area the next day, so he texted his mom, who works in the emergency room at South Shore Hospital. He went down for an ultrasound and blood work. The next stop was Boston Children’s Hospital later that night for the results. 

“I had testicular cancer,” Vallancourt said. “I was shocked and I was scared, for sure. You never think it’s going to be you at 18. That became a bigger than basketball moment for me. I just remember the guy told me and I remember leaning my head back like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ I kind of broke down from there. It was a tough night for sure.”

For Vallancourt, life went from perfect to unknown in an instance. 

“Thirty five-game winning streak, at that point, best team in the state, only captain of the team, your life is going great right into college admissions time, you’re feeling good and then the next thing you know you’re a cancer patient at Dana-Farber,” said Vallancourt, Patriot League All-Star last season.

He underwent surgery the following Monday. Then in September he began chemotherapy, which lasted until mid-October. 

“That was tough — I’m not gonna lie,” Vallancourt said. “It was pretty intense chemo. I was on like three different kinds, I missed almost like the first month of senior year, which was tough for sure.” 

Despite bouncing in and out of the hospital, Vallancourt wasn’t about to be kept off the court. After all, it was the only place he could find peace and solace from the rigorous grind of chemotherapy.

“I was playing on the weekends during our AAU tournaments and that meant the world to me,” he said. “I just wanted to be with the guys. But honestly, the nights just being at the high school getting shots up in an empty gym was the best therapy I could have had, honestly. Just knowing I was going to get through it and keep that positive mindset. I would just say being in the gym made me forget about everything, honestly.”

LEADING BY EXAMPLE

W-H boys’ basketball head coach Bob Rodgers was in constant contact with his captain throughout the process. Rodgers said the conversations shed even more of a light on Vallancourt’s character and leadership off the court. 

“He would be texting me in the middle of his chemotherapy telling me how bad he felt for the little kids he saw going through it,” Rodgers said. “In my mind I’m thinking, ‘Wow, this kid is battling it himself and what he’s caring about the most is what he’s seeing other people do.’ It just says a lot about who he is and that he thinks about others first — and that’s what makes him a special leader.”

Not only did he feel bad for the children going through chemotherapy, but he took action. During the football season this past fall, Vallancourt organized a pediatric cancer night fundraiser. He and a few of his teammates helped raise $750 to buy gifts and essentials for the children at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. 

“Seeing all those kids in there, I wanted to do something that would raise awareness and make other people get checked and be more cautious about it,” Vallancourt said. “That night (fundraiser) really meant a lot to me.” 

BACK TO BASKETBALL 

Vallancourt has that same unselfish mindset on the court. 

“If you watch him in practice, he is trying to make everyone around him better,” Rodgers said. “He spends so much of his time trying to make them better and so much of his time trying to make our team better.”

Vallancourt’s teammates agree. 

“Ryan’s leadership is a special thing,” said junior Cole Champingie, one of eight first-year varsity players under Vallancourt’s watch this season. “He really helped me coming up this past year. I had no confidence in my game and felt out of place, but he boosted my spirits all the way up through tryouts and pushed me to get better in every workout we did and every practice.”

Vallancourt has also helped first-year varsity player, sophomore Evan Yakavonis, expand his game. 

“I would say Ryan is a terrific leader,” Yakavonis said. “I have learned so much from him on the court and off the court. He has helped me become a better defender by instructing me on what I could do better and showing me how to do it.”

Vallancourt’s work ethic is what rubbed off the most on sophomore Cian ÓBroin , also in his first year on varsity. 

“He’s helped me get better as a player because looking at how much work he puts in on and off the court it shows what I need to strive for,” ÓBroin said. “Sometimes when I was in the gym getting a workout in I would see Ryan come in and do simple shooting drills, all while doing chemotherapy, just to continue working.”

Now cancer-free, Vallancourt has developed a new perspective on basketball following his recent bout. 

“It has made me appreciate the time I have on the court and go that much harder,” Vallancourt said. “Just going to practice, like a Wednesday night practice, some kids may be like, ‘Ah, I got practice.’ But for me, you never know when it’s going to be your last day on the court. It could have been for me if I didn’t get it checked out.”

So far this season, Vallancourt has picked up where he left off last winter (scored 16 points in the Patriot Cup final against Hingham). He pumped in double-digits in six of the Panthers’ first seven games — in which they’re 5-2 — highlighted by a 25-point outing on Tuesday against Hanover, a 19-point outburst against Cypress Creek (Florida) and a 15-point performance against Silver Lake. He and the Panthers are scheduled to be back in action Friday, Jan. 14 at 6:30 p.m. on the road against Marshfield. 

“This season means the world to me,” Vallancourt said. “I’ve been looking forward to this my whole life — going to the camps when I was younger and working my way up from junior varsity to a lower varsity guy and to now here.”

Borgen, Manning & Melia the ‘driving force’ behind girls’ soccer’s title run

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Four years ago, Olivia Borgen, Nora Manning and Ava Melia cracked the Whitman-Hanson Regional High girls’ soccer team as freshmen. 

They made an immediate impact. 

Borgen and Manning netted eight goals apiece, which was good for second on the team. Melia was a standout on the back line. 

Four years later, they depart as the senior captains of the program’s first-ever state title. 

“They were the driving force, in a sense that they’ve experienced some big games,” said W-H head coach David Floeck. “We didn’t have the state tournament the year prior but they had the experience from their freshman and sophomore years of playing in a state tournament, so their leadership on and off the field was really invaluable for us. They were definitely the engine that made us go — those three.” 

The state championship game is a perfect example. 

The Panthers looked down and out as they trailed a Silver Lake team — that had shut them out in both of their previous two meetings — 1-0 late in the second half. 

Olivia Borgen, despite being in a walking boot with a sprained right ankle until she boarded the bus, provided the spark with the equalizer in the 69th minute. 

Shortly thereafter, Manning made perhaps the play of the game when she drew a foul on the Silver Lake keeper in the box.

Enter Melia. She rocketed home the penalty kick for a 2-1 W-H lead. 

Manning followed it up with a goal of her own to add some insurance. 

“Liv and Ava are my best friends and it is so special to me that I got the chance to spend some of the best years of my life with them,” said Manning, who netted 12 goals and dished out 15 assists. “Playing with them these past four years has been amazing. I’m going to miss playing with [them] more than anything and I still can’t believe it’s all over.”

Added Borgen, a back-to-back All-New England selection, who scored a team-high 23 goals with 14 assists: “It’s so special to have shared this journey with them. From tiny little freshman trying to fit in on the team to senior captains leading our team to a state championship, it feels unreal.”

Said Melia, a two-time EMass first-teamer: “To make varsity together as timid, young freshman to later make it all the way as captains and state champions is amazing.”

Borgen and Melia are no stranger to lifting hardware. Back in 2017, they won the National Championship together with their South Shore Select club team. 

“Sharing that with her has given us an amazing relationship,” Melia said. 

The three will head their separate ways next year to continue their soccer careers. Borgen will play at Penn State, Manning is heading to Stonehill College and Melia is going to Bryant University. 

“They led the way with their energy level and how much it mattered,” Floeck said. “They were really committed to try and bring a state championship to the school.” 

Boys’ hockey wins a pair in Week 4

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Make it two straight wins for the W-H boys’ hockey team. 

After it was knocked out of the Cashman Tournament by Rockland on Monday, Dec. 27, the Panthers bounced back with a shut out win over Rockland, 4-0, in the consolation game Wednesday, which it followed up with a 2-1 victory over Pembroke on Saturday. 

“We haven’t had the best start that we wanted,” said W-H head coach Rob Peters. “We had a lot of guys returning and we’d like to be a little better than where we’re at. The Silver Lake game, we just didn’t show up, didn’t have a great game and they answered the bell against Rockland and they answered the bell against Pembroke.”

Senior captain Erik Dean (29 saves) and the Panthers (3-2-1) killed a pair of late power plays to stave off the Titans.

Pembroke got on the board first just 2:40 in with a power-play goal before W-H junior Joe Culley knotted the score at 1-1 with 43.1 seconds remaining in the first period. Sophomore Luke Tropeano and junior Matt Solari picked up the assists. 

The trio then hooked up again with 10:37 left in the second when Culley once again took a feed from Tropeano and Solari and flicked it home for his second of the game and a 2-1 Panthers lead. 

“We’re getting our game going, we’re getting going in stride,” Peters said. “We’re going to keep moving and keep getting better every day.”

Elsewhere around W-H: 

Boys’ basketball (4-2) was in Florida for the Avon Park Tournament. Bob Rodgers’ club tipped off the tourney with a 58-57 victory over Haines City (Florida) on Monday, Dec. 27. Junior Cole Champingie led the way with 15 points, while senior captain Ryan Vallancourt tossed in 13. … On Tuesday, senior Malcolm Alcorn-Crowder registered a double-double with 22 points and 14 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough as W-H fell to Cypress Creek (Florida), 71-66, in the second round. Vallancourt scored 19 points in the loss. … The Panthers capped their trip on a high note Wednesday with a dominating 68-27 victory over Hardee County. Vallancourt netted a team-high 13 points in the win. 

Girls’ basketball (6-0) couldn’t have asked for a better trip to Daytona Beach. On Tuesday, Dec. 28, the Panthers opened the Father Lopez Shootout with a 60-22 win over Episcopal School of Jacksonville (Florida). Senior captain Lauren Dunn drained four triples en route to an 18-point outing to pace W-H. … On Wednesday, all 10 Panthers scored in a 69-41 route of The Master’s Academy (Florida). Senior Anna Stone pumped in a game-high 16 points in the victory. … On Thursday, it was the other Stone twin — captain Meg Stone — who netted 16 points as the Panthers wrapped up their trip down south with a 64-21 win over the host, Father Lopez. 

Girls’ hockey (2-3) opened the week with a 3-2 loss to Billerica/Chelmsford on Wednesday, Jan. 29. Senior Caitlin Dilley and junior captain Shea Kelleher each had a goal and an assist. … The co-op bounced back for 5-4 overtime win over Canton on Thursday. Senior Lily Ulvila netted the winner. …. Then on Saturday, Kelleher netted a hat trick, but WH/SL fell to Hanover, 4-3.

Boys’ indoor track on Wednesday, Dec. 29, saw a pair of seniors — Jake Caterer and Nathan Tassey — qualify for the All-State Championship. Caterer did it with a 19-foot-6 long jump, while Tassey posted a time of 10:12.7 in the 2-mile run to qualify.

Girls’ indoor track was also back in action Wednesday, Dec. 29. The highlight? Senior captain Myah Kamperides ran the mile in 5:42.0 to qualify for the All-State Championship. She had already qualified in the 600-meter run and 2-mile run.

Wrestling (6-1) downed Cohasset, 55-24, on Tuesday, Dec. 28. Winners for the Panthers were: freshman Charlie Lussier (106 pounds via pin in 1:19), senior Joe Boss (113; forfeit), sophomore Graham McInnis (120 via pin in 4:29), classmate Austin Gamber (126 via pin in 1:51), junior Aidan Guiliani (132; 2-0), fellow junior Braden Kain (138; 8-0), freshman Cooper Lussier (152 via pin in 1:06), junior Rocco Hanaphy (160 via pin in :42), senior captain Rocco Ruffini (220 via pin in :37) and junior Maddox Colclough (285 via pin in 3:05).

*Express weekly roundups include scores from Sunday to Sunday. 

Wrestling sweeps in W-H’s Week 3

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The Whitman-Hanson Regional High wrestling team is making some noise. 

On Thursday, Dec. 23, the Panthers swept a tri-meet against Quincy/North Quincy (54-21) and Boston College High (52-30) to improve to 5-1 on the season. Freshman Charlie Lussier (106 pounds), senior Joe Boss (113), sophomore Austin Gamber (126), junior Aidan Guiliani (132) and freshman Cooper Lussier (152) all won both of their matches by pin. Juniors Braden Kain (138) and Rocco Hanaphy (160), senior captain Rocco Ruffini (220) and junior Maddox Colclough (285) also went 2-0 on the day. 

Elsewhere around W-H:

Boys’ basketball (2-1) received a game-high 31 points from senior Amari Jamison and rolled past Hanover, 72-53, on Tuesday, Dec. 21. 

Girls’ basketball (3-0) remained perfect with a 53-34 triumph over Hanover on Tuesday, Dec. 21. Senior captain Lauren Dunn canned six threes en route to a 20-point night to lead the way. 

Boys’ hockey (1-1-1) rallied back from a 2-0 deficit but ended up falling 4-3 in overtime to Plymouth North on Wednesday, Dec. 22. The Panthers’ goals were provided by sophomore Billy Morgan, junior Joe Culley and senior Bobby Hunter. 

Girls’ hockey (1-1) fell to Hingham, 4-1, on Wednesday, Dec. 22. Junior captain Shea Kelleher had the co-op’s lone goal. 

*Express weekly roundups include scores from Sunday to Sunday. 

Season Preview: Exciting season in store for wrestling team

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Freshman Charlie Lussier. / Courtesy photo

The Whitman-Hanson Regional High wrestling team is expecting to be “highly competitive” this season.

There is a lot of optimism surrounding the Whitman-Hanson Regional High wrestling team this winter. 

Why, you ask?

“I believe we can fill all 14 weight classes before we get to January,” said sixth-year head coach Gary Rabinovitz. 

That has been problem that has hindered the Panthers’ ability to add to the win column in the past. 

“By doing this with a majority of quality wrestlers the results will be very positive,” Rabinovitz said. 

W-H returns just five wrestlers from last spring’s season, in which they went 6-7. Senior captains Pat Collett and Rocco Ruffini are two of them. 

Collett is in his second year as a captain and his fourth as a starter. He will compete at 145 pounds. 

“Pat brings a great deal of passion to our program and realizes that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” Rabinovitz said.

Ruffini wrestles in the 220-pound weight class. 

“Rocco has really grown as a leader over the past three years and we are looking not only at his vocal leadership but also his technical abilities,” Rabinovitz said. 

Senior Joe Boss (113 pounds) and juniors Maddox Colclough (285) and Aidan Guiliani (132) are also back. Junior Braden Kain is also reruns at 138 pounds after taking last spring off for baseball. 

“All four of these wrestlers wrestle hard every day and believe in their abilities,” Rabinovitz said.

The Panthers also have three newcomers with five to six years of wrestling experience in freshman twins Charlie (106) and Cooper Lussier (152) and sophomore Austin Gamber (126). Gamber came to W-H from North Carolina. 

“I expect that our upperclassmen will help these young men to mold the future of Whitman-Hanson wrestling,” Rabinovitz said. “I truly believe that we have the chemistry to be highly competitive this season and going forward.”

W-H, which opened its season with a clean sweep over Durfeee (64-12), Cambridge Rindge & Latin (44-30) and Sandwich (45-12), is back on the mat Saturday, Dec. 18 at the Sandwich Early Bird tournament.

“We need to wrestle smart and learn both from our success and failures,” Rabinovitz said. “It is going to be a very exciting season, I can guarantee that.” 

Season Preview: 35-game winning streak or not, it’s a clean slate for boys’ basketball

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Senior Amari Jamison is one of the Panthers’ top returnees. / Photo by: Sue Moss

The Whitman-Hanson Regional High boys’ basketball team enters the 2021-22 season riding a 35-game winning streak.

Seven hundred and seventeen days. 

That is how long it has been since the Whitman-Hanson Regional High boys’ basketball team lost a game. 

That is right, nearly two years. 

Seriously, its last loss was Dec. 26, 2019. 

After concluding the 2019-2020 campaign with 23 straight wins en route to a share of the Div. 2 state title, W-H went a perfect 12-0 last season and won the Patriot Cup. 

It enters the new year riding a state-best 35-game winning streak. But 22-year head coach Bob Rodgers is all about wiping the slate clean this winter. 

“I don’t look at it as a 35-game winning steak,” Rodgers said. “I look at it as 2020 had a 23-game winning streak and 2021 had a 12-game winning streak and right now 2022 is 0-0. I’m trying to keep it from being a distraction to the kids.”

The Panthers once again have some giant voids to fill. This time it is the graduation of their one-two punch in Patriot League Keenan Division All-Stars Nate Amado and Cole LeVangie. 

Amado dumped in 24.2 point and snagged 9.3 rebounds per game last season en route to being voted the Patriot League Keenan Division MVP. He has moved on to Babson College, where he is second on the team averaging 11.7 ppg.

LeVangie, who scored 13.6 points, grabbed 9.1 rebounds and dished out 8.3 assists per game last season, has fit in quite well at Suffolk. The freshman is posting 9.1 ppg. 

“I think it was very easy to know that when you have Superman and Batman on the floor something good is going to happen,” Rodgers said. 

The Panthers head coach added it will be a team effort to fill their shoes. 

“Right now, we are trying to establish our identity after losing two incredible impact players,” Rodgers said. “This year, the players know they have to count on each other and they may all have to step up a little bit more.”

Fortunately for Rodgers, he didn’t just have two league all-stars last season, he had four. And two of them are back in Amari Jamison and Ryan Vallancourt. 

Vallancourt captains the Panthers. He netted 6.1 points and dished out 4.8 assists per game last season. He will start at shooting guard. 

“We’re extremely lucky to have somebody of his character and his skill level to be leading our team,” Rodgers said. 

Jamison, who will start at small forward, dumped in 9.0 ppg and shot 41.3 percent from beyond the arc. 

“He’s a dynamic player and extremely athletic,” Rodgers said. 

The 6-foot-6, 260-pound senior Malcom Alcorn-Crowder will clog up the middle. He averaged 8.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per game last winter. Senior Andrew Guardia will run the point, while classmate Dom Masone will man his post at power forward. 

W-H tips off its season on Tuesday, Dec. 14 at 6:30 on the road against Patriot League foe Scituate. 

“I want to focus on doing all of the little things that make up a successful basketball team and let the results just kind of fall into place,” Rodgers said. “It’s really easy to fall into the trap of looking at the past successes and trying to live up to state championships, winning streaks, league titles — all of that — and get lost in the idea that those happen because those teams took care of all those little details.”

Season Preview: Girls’ basketball out for revenge

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Senior captain Abby Martin during the Panthers’ scrimmage. / Photo by: Sue Moss

The Whitman-Hanson Regional High girls’ basketball team is once again shooting for a league title.

The Whitman-Hanson Regional High girls’ basketball team is not happy about how last season ended. 

That was with a loss to Hanover in the Patriot Cup final. A week before, W-H was shut out in the fourth quarter and fell to Scituate. 

The Panthers still finished the season with a 9-4 record. Not bad, but not good enough for a team itching to bring the program its first league title since 2010. 

As it sets its sights on the 2021-22 campaign, W-H will have a chance to avenge a few of those late-season losses right away. 

Its first three games of this season are against Scituate, Silver Lake and then Hanover. 

“The girls definitely, at the end of last year, were a little disappointed,” said head coach Mike Costa, who enters his third year on the Panthers bench. “I don’t think we played the way we wanted to and it did kind of left a little sour taste in their mouth.”

So they put in even more work this offseason. 

“They played all spring and summer with their AAU teams,” Costa explained. “They played summer league, they played fall AAU together — something that they haven’t done in the past — to try and build that chemistry on the floor.” 

The Panthers boasted a trio of league all-stars last season in Reese Codero, Rylie Harlow and Abby Martin. 

Codero is now playing at Roger Williams, while Harlow is on Fitchburg State’s roster. However, Martin, a senior captain and forward, is back and that’s good news for the Panthers. 

Martin took over games at times last season. She netted 14 points and snagged 21 rebounds in a win over Marshfield, and pumped in 17 points and corralled nine boards in a statement win over Plymouth North. 

“We relied a lot on her last year — both offensively and defensively,” Costa said. “She kind of carried our team offensively last year. We expect big things from her again this year, especially losing two other starters in Reese and Rylie — everybody has got to pick up the slack, but we’re leaning heavily on Abby to control both ends of the floor.”

Starting point guard Caitlin Leahy (junior) and starting shooting guard Lauren Dunn (senior captain) are also back.

 

Senior captain Lauren Dunn during the Panthers’ scrimmage. / Photo by: Sue Moss

“If you look at any of the good teams, if you have a really good backcourt that can carry you,” Costa said. “Our staff is completely confident in both Caitlin and Lauren and think they’re probably two of the top guards in our league.” 

Costa said Dunn is the Panthers’ best on-ball defender and Leahy is their best passer. 

Senior captain Meg Stone is also back in the middle. Costa said he expects her and Martin to be a force on the glass together. 

“I think it’s going to be tough for teams to match up with our size,” Costa said. “We just look to exploit the matches we’re given any night. We’re versatile that we have multiple people that can score in different ways.”

Freshman Cassidy Briggs, Lillie MacKinnon and Taryn Leonard will give the senior-laden Panthers some youth. 

“They’ve been great additions to the team,” Costa said. “We’re losing so many seniors so we have to start to mold some of these younger players.” 

W-H opens the season Tuesday, Jan. 14 when it hosts Scituate at 6 p.m. 

“We’ll take it game by game and practice by practice and see what happens,” Costa said. “At the end of the day, we’re just going to trust the work we put in and let the chips fall.” 

Girls’ soccer wins first-ever state title

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They say it’s tough to beat a team three times in a season.

The Whitman-Hanson Regional High girls’ soccer team proved why.

Down 1-0 late in the Div. 2 state final to Silver Lake, a team the Panthers hadn’t scored against in their previous two meetings, they finally broke through — erupting for three goals in the final 11 minutes to capture their first-ever state title.

“I’m at a loss for words,” said 26-year W-H head coach David Floeck. “We’ve worked so hard. This is a tremendous accomplishment for them.”

Senior Olivia Borgen, who was knocked out of the Panthers’ state semifinal win Wednesday with a sprained right ankle, snuck home the equalizer in the 69th minute.

“She is gutsy,” Floeck said. “She has been in a [walking] boot all the way until we got on the bus for the game. She said, ‘Coach, I’m taping it. I’m going to give everything I got.’”

“I just needed to give it my all,” Borgen said. “It was the last game. Even if I was in a boot 30 minutes before I came here, I just needed to push through and give it my all. We’ve worked so hard to get here. I’m just so proud of this whole team.”

It remained tied until the 77th minute when Lakers goalkeeper Emma Hudson got called for a foul, taking down a W-H senior captain Nora Manning in the box. The result? A penalty kick.

Fellow senior captain Ava Melia buried it for a 2-1 lead.

“Its just the best feeling ever,” Melia said. “I could not be happier. This team deserves it.”

Manning sealed it with a goal of her own in stoppage time.

“I’m so excited,” Manning said. “It was our goal from the beginning of the season. It feels so amazing to finally achieve that.”