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Season Review: For WHSL, ‘We’re so close’

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WHSL skated to a four-win season. Photo by: Sue Moss

Inconsistency. It was a thorn in the Whitman-Hanson/Silver Lake high school girls’ hockey team’s side all season.

“We’ll play two really good periods and have one really bad period and every time we had a really bad period, it hurt us,” said fourth-year WHSL head coach Kevin Marani, whose team finished the winter 4-13-2.

The co-op’s youth played a large factor in its inability to string together a full three periods. Fifteen of its 19 skaters were either freshmen or sophomores. They dropped five games by two goals or less. Wins came against Stoughton (twice), Quincy/North Quincy and Shawsheen.

“I said to the girls, ‘We’re so close. Once you start to win, it becomes a habit,’” Marani said. “We had a ton of one-goal games, two-goal games with an empty net.”

The Panthers did make strides from last season, doubling their win total, upping their points total from four to 10 and potting 62 goals as opposed to 31.

Back with WHSL  after playing club hockey last season, junior captain Alyssa Murphy (Kingston) was a force on offense, netting 27 goals and dishing out 15 assists. She was in on 67 percent of the team’s tallies.

“She’s such a good talent,” Marani said. “Her talent speaks for herself. She was very unselfish, all about the team. Everything she does is team first. “

Sophomore Emily McDonald (Whitman) was second on the team with 15 points (6 goals and 9 assists). Not only did she play on the same line as Murphy, but she’ll serve as a captain with her next season as well.

“She’s another great kid,” Marani said. “She’s a leader. She is a quiet girl that leads by example. She is probably the hardest working player on our team. Every practice she is there. She is exactly what we want from every single player. If we had 20 Emily’s we’d be very, very good.”

Surprisingly enough, Marani said the strength of the team was defense. To be strong on defense, you need a steady presence in net, and sophomore Kat Gilbert (Halifax) provided that, turning away 481 shots.

“Kat is becoming a really goalie,” Marani said. “She is one of the better goalies in the league and that is a big part because she was committed. A lot of her issues were concentration.”

Freshmen Lilly Ulvila (Kingston) and Abby Powers (Kingston) provided the Panthers with a look into the future. The two combined for 11 goals and 10 assists.

Marani said he has the same expectations heading into the offseason as he did coming into this year.

“We should make the state tournament next year,” said the coach. “If we don’t, it’s going to be a disappointment.”

Season Review: Boys’ indoor track a ‘dedicated’ team

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The boys’ track team finished 2-3.

In Mike Driscoll’s 20-plus years coaching track at Whitman-Hanson Regional High, this winter’s boys’ team holds a special place in his heart.

Not only is it his last, but it is one of the most dedicated groups he’s coached.

“I was telling some of the coaches that this is one of the hardest working groups we’ve had,” said Driscoll, who is stepping away from track to spend more time with his family. “They never complained and they just went about their business every day and it makes going to practice a lot of fun.”

It’s that sort of attitude that payed off for many of the Panthers.

Senior captain Billy Martell embodied selflessness and hard work. Already one of the best sprinters in the Patriot League, Martell took on the shot put, and flourished.

“At the beginning of the year we circled the shot put and said, ‘I don’t know how we’ll be,’” recalled Driscoll. “He goes, ‘Nah, I’ll be alright.’”

He was alright, finishing sixth at the Patriot League championships with a throw of over 41-feet-1 1/2 inches. Junior Pat Bui was another sprinter who took on the shot put, finishing eighth at the Patriot League championships with a throw of 37-feet-8 inches.

“He had a great season,” said Driscoll. “It was huge for us.”

Senior Kyle O’Brien burst onto the scene for the Panthers, who finished 2-3, posting a career year, capped by a ninth-place performance in the 600-meter run in the Div. 3 championships with a time of 1:28.35.

“He stepped it up,” said Driscoll. “He told us before the year that he was going to have a good year and he really worked his tail off to be good and it was awesome to see. Meet after meet he would get better and better. He was dedicated to his craft.”

Sophomore Theo Kamperides and junior Brandon Hager, two crossovers from cross country, were huge for the Panthers. Kamperides had a pair of wins in the 2-mile run.

“He was a great addition to the winter team,” Driscoll said of Kamperides. “He carried it over from the great pace that he had and he had a really good year. He ran with everybody and never backed down.”

Hager starred in the 1-mile run.

“Brandon had a lot of depth,” Driscoll said. “He’s just kind of tapping the surface of how good he can be as a runner. I really feel like those kids are going to jell in the fall. He works so hard in the races that you just see it in the guys he’s racing like, ‘Oh boy this guy’s not going to go away.’ And he doesn’t. He’s got a lot of depth.”

Driscoll said the highlight of the winter came Jan. 4 in a 51-48 victory over Pembroke, where the 4×200 relay team of Bui, Martell, fellow seniors Sean Kukauskas and Nic Fernandes clinched the win.

“That was a huge win for us,” Driscoll said. “That was a big night for the kids. [Pembroke] is someone we all respect in the track world, and to beat them was a cool thing.”

While Driscoll won’t be back next season, he said he believes the program only get better.

“I think they’re in good shape,” Driscoll said. “I think they’ll continue to grow. I think they’ll continue to get better and the numbers will grow.

“I told all the coaches, ‘I’m always going to be pushing Whitman-Hanson track. It’s in my blood forever and anything I can do to help them I will.’”

Season Review: No quit in girls’ basketball team

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The Panthers before the anthem. / Photo by: Sue Moss

W-H finished the season at 12-10.

Shortly into its first practice, the Whitman-Hanson Regional High girls’ basketball team was dealt a major blow. Senior co-captain Erin Leahy went down with an injury.

Leahy, who was a Patriot League All-Star last season after missing a chunk of her sophomore campaign with a torn ACL, was expected to be a major contributor. She wouldn’t see the floor all season.

It took the Panthers a few games to find their rhythm, stumbling out of the gate to an 0-2 record. After that second loss, 42-34 to Hingham, sixth-year head coach Jenna Olem remained assured her team would figure it out.

“We’re gonna be better than you think,” she said at the time. “It’s a work in progress.”

She was right. The Panthers locked down wins in their next five games. Two of those wins came in the Hoosac Valley tournament, as the Panthers knocked off the host Hurricanes (this season’s D3 Western Mass champions) and Greenfield (this season’s D3 Western Mass. runner-up).

The Panthers first league test was a matchup against Duxbury, and an Ann O’Neill 3-pointer sent them to victory.

W-H ended league play at 7-7. It had both Plymouth North and Duxbury, in its rematch, on the ropes, but just couldn’t finish them off.

The Panthers capped the season with wins over Abington (44-25) and Rockland (59-53), two tournament teams, to claim the Shawn Cotter Invitational Tournament. The Panthers, who allowed 37.5 points per game during their last six regular-season contests, set out to win at least one in-season tournament this winter and they won both.

In the D1 South tournament, the 11th-seeded Panthers succumbed to sixth-seeded Mansfield in a nail bitter, 45-41, finishing 12-10 on the year.

W-H was paced by the play of senior forward Kathryn Dunn (11.5 ppg , 8 rpg and 3.5 apg) and junior Britany Gacicia (8.4 ppg and 7.3 rpg) this season, both of whom league all-stars. O’Neill, juniors Olivia Martin (third on team with 6.6 ppg) and Hannah Damon (second on team with 2.5 apg) and sophomore Reese Codero all stepped up in spurts.

Jenna Olem out as girls’ basketball and softball head coach at Whitman-Hanson

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Veteran Whitman-Hanson Regional High two-sport head coach Jenna Olem announced yesterday she will not be returning to the school for the upcoming softball campaign and is done coaching the girls’ basketball team as well.

“I am almost overwhelmed from everything I learned from so many different people, about coaching, about relationships, about life,” Olem wrote in a tweet. “Although my time coaching at W-H has come to an end, I am confident I will take all of these experiences with me.”

The reason for her departure can only be speculated, but W-H athletic director Bob Rodgers told the Express she resigned yesterday.

“We appreciate everything Jenna has done for our school, and I enjoyed watching her grow as a coach during her time at Whitman-Hanson,” Rodgers said.

Olem took the reins of both the girls’ basketball and softball teams in the 2013 school year. She had the softball team in the tournament that year, and took the basketball team to the playoffs the following season. Overall, she compiled 120 wins combined as the coach of both sports.

This past season was perhaps her best yet at the helm of the basketball team, taking a team that lost league all-star, co-captain and starting point guard Erin Leahy 15 minutes into the first practice and going 12-10 on the season. The Panthers entered the tournament as the 11 seed and hung with sixth-seeded Mansfield, before falling 45-41.

W-H played the roll of underdog often during Olem’s tenure, but always seemed to thrive. In 2015, her softball team stunned Bridgewater-Raynham (18-2 at the time), 4-1, in the first round.

Coaches from all around took to Twitter in the wake of Olem’s departure:

The softball season gets underway in less than two weeks.

Season Review: Girls’ indoor track team put forth strong effort

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The Panthers set many individual marks.

For the Whitman-Hanson Regional High girls’ indoor track team, the record wasn’t there, but the effort was.

The Panthers, despite an 0-5 mark on the season, did what they could.

“Indoor track is always a tough sell because we train in the cold and there are, admittedly, other options for the student-athletes,” said head coach Steve George. “I couldn’t have been more pleased with their efforts.”

George credited the 0-5 campaign to a lack of depth. The Panthers had nearly 40 participants, which is low compared to the rest of the Patriot League.

“We are rarely shut out in any single event, but while we have one athlete scoring, our opponents have two,” said George, whose team dropped three meets by 18 points or less. “It’s tough to win when you’re outmanned to that degree.”

The Panthers did still have their share of wins, even if they didn’t show up in their record.

“Victories for a team like ours come every week in individual events, so each time we compete there are bright spots,” George said. “We were competitive each week overall.”

Junior Courtney Woodward was one of many bright spots for W-H.

“[She] moved from distance to mid-distance this year and ran the team’s best times in the 300- and 600-meter runs, along with jumping in with our 4×200 and 4×400 at times, [and] was a major contributor,” George said. “The switch to mid-distance, which she suggested following last year’s campaign, was the right move at the right time for both Courtney and the team.”

Just a sophomore, Izzy Amado was a key contributor.

“In my opinion, [she’s] the strongest athlete since Samantha Coletti graduated three years ago,” George said. “Izzy is a very good miler, an extraordinary 1,000-meter runner and closes the gap or extends the lead in incredible fashion in every relay she enters. One of our spring heptathletes.”

Amado’s classmate, Anna Sullivan, was also strong in bevy of events and is another spring track heptathlete.

“[She’s] our top miler and two miler and anchors our 4×400 and 4×800 relays,” George said. “Just a gifted distance runner who impressed in her first indoor season.”

George coined Dorothy DiMascio-Donohue as a ‘senior who can do it all.’

“She can sprint, hurdle, high jump, long jump and run mid-distance and relay events,” George said. “[She] competes in both the indoor pentathlon and spring heptathlon and is a leader in track and in the classroom.”

Senior captain Ally Bartlett was W-H top points getter, scoring nearly 40 percent of the team’s points.

“[She is] the team’s best in hurdles, long jump and shot put,” George said. “Also a pentathlete/heptathlete and team MVP and Commitment Award recipient.”

George said his vision for the program remain unwavered.

“The goal is to increase participation and with more athletes, achieve greater success in competition,” he said. “Our kids are out there spreading the word that track is not all work, it can be a lot of fun, too.

“What I always hear is that kids just don’t want to put in the effort involved in the sport. While that may apply to some, I don’t think it can be universally applied to our students. All I hope for is that kids will try it, then decide. Nearly 50 years ago I did and fell in love with the sport.”

Season Review: Togetherness a strength for wrestling team

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Photo by: Sue Moss

The wrestling team finished with a 7-20 mark, but was white-hot in the homestretch.

Whitman-Hanson Regional High wrestling coach Gary Rabinovitz is coining the 2018-19 season a success.

For the Panthers, who finished the year with wins in four of seven matches, despite their 7-20 mark, they made progress. They sent three wrestlers to state tournaments, as opposed to zero last season, had a sectional finalist and their first tournament champion in two years.

Sophomore Damari Goldsmith-Greene (138 pounds) was a standout for W-H all season long, collecting a team-high 29 wins, placing in four tournaments and finishing seventh at states.

“Damari is a very coachable student-athlete and gives it 100 percent every day in both practice and matches,” Rabinovitz said. “He is a class act and has not even come close to reaching his potential as of yet. I like to say when a wrestler really gets it that he flicks the switch. Damari has certainly flicked the switch and this happened at the sectional tournament. Going forward he will not look back.”

Rabinovitz credited junior captain Steve Brooks (152), who missed 17 matches, with providing the Panthers with their first high point of the season with a win at the Weymouth Tournament on Jan. 12.

“Steve does a great deal of offseason wrestling and I believe that is the key to his continued success,” Rabinvotiz said. “Steve is in the same zone as Damari, he too believes he can win every match that he competes in.”

Junior Bethany Ralph provided the Panthers with another high point, finishing second in the first-ever girls’ wrestling state championship.

“For the past three years Bethany Ralph has been a model of consistency for our team,” Rabinovitz said. “She is one of the hardest workers on our team day in and day out, giving 110 percent every single day. She took a big lead this season and I look forward to her senior leadership next season. Bethany has proven that hard work does pay off.”

Freshmen Jason Rapoza (13 wins at 182) and Rocco Ruffini (10 wins at 220) gave the Panthers a quick glimpse into the future. Junior captain Tyler Cullinan boasted 19 wins, 12 of which came by pinfall, at 160 pounds.

Rabinovitz said togetherness was his team’s strength.

“The team support, especially at the end of a long season when only two wrestlers are left competing was impressive,” Rabinovitz said. “Nearly half the team showed up to practice over the final two weeks to support both Damari and Bethany.”

Sophomore Matt Butler, who was second on the team last season with 16 wins, was held to just 7 matches, in which he was 6-1 in, due to injury.

As for the future, the Panthers will return 12 of 16 tournament place winners and Rabinovitz said he has high optimism for the 2019-20 season already.

“We have several really competitive eighth graders that we have been waiting for and they will finally arrive for next season,” Rabinovitz said. “We are losing only three seniors and two were starters. Time will tell, but offseason wrestling is the key for next season.”

A leader on the team: WHSL’s Maddie Soule to serve

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Maddie Soule. / Photo by: Sue Moss

Maddie Soule, a four-year player, will enlist in the Army after hockey season.

Maddie Soule’s importance to the Whitman-Hanson/Silver Lake high school girls’ hockey team doesn’t show up on the stat sheet.

The senior defenseman from Hanson has one point this season. It was a goal back on Jan. 27.

Soule’s niche is elsewhere. It’s her leadership.

“She is a great leader and just a good kid,” said WHSL head coach Kevin Marani. “That’s what we need.”

Soule, a team captain and four-year varsity player, has seen the highs and the lows of the program. After winning back-to-back SEMGHL titles in her first two campaigns, the team has collected just five wins since, as it undergoes a massive rebuild. She is one of just three seniors on the roster.

“[Being a captain] is a lot harder because of our record,” Soule said. “It takes its toll on these girls, especially me, so I to set the tone and keep everyone’s attitude the same and make sure everyone is still committed and giving fill effort.”

Soule described her leadership style as “intimidating.”

“I just feel like people take me more seriously because I’m all business,” she said.

With a passion for leadership, coupled with hockey, Soule will head into the Army after she graduates in May.

“I just knew that I wanted to start doing something right away out of high school,” she said. “I realized going into the Military will help me with my job because I want to go into law enforcement. I’ve always wanted to serve my country.”

Her training kicked into full gear in the fall.

“I met with my recruiter at 5 a.m. at the track at the high school and we worked out,” Soule said.

Being a hockey captain also works to her benefit.

“Making sure everyone follows has prepared me a lot for the future,” Soule said. “Hockey prepared me with mental toughness and physical toughness so I can take hits and get up.”

Soule said her memories as part of the WHSL girls’ hockey team will be everlasting.

“I’ll remember my freshman and sophomore year when we were back-to-back league champs,” said Soule. “My sophomore year we were two games away from going to the Garden.”

Soule said she hopes she left a permeant stamp on the hockey co-op.

“I kind of helped build the program, my freshman year it had just started, so I feel like I was part of starting it,” Soule said.

Pair of Panther hoop teams headed to postseason … again

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Both Whitman-Hanson basketball teams will play in the tournament.

For the third straight season, Whitman-Hanson Regional High’s boys’ and girls’ basketball teams have clinched playoff berths.

This is also the fourth time in the last six years both W-H basketball programs have earned a spot in the postseason.

11 STRAIGHT FOR THE BOYS

Photo by: Sue Moss

It’s almost always a sure bet veteran coach Bob Rodgers will have his team in the postseason no matter who it’s tasked with replacing at the season’s outset.

The boys clinched their spot on Jan. 29 with a 67-57 victory over Scituate at home, giving them their 11th win of the season.

“I’m always happy for the kids when we clinch a tourney spot because it’s such a special experience,” said Rodgers.

Senior captain Joey DePina paced the Panthers (16-6) with 16 points, while junior point guard Stevie Kelly tossed in 11.

“Joey DePina has been the heart and soul of our team,” Rodgers said. “His leadership has been instrumental in our team’s success. He is such a great teammate who is loved and respected by everyone on the club.

“Stevie Kelly has been the driving force behind our team this year. He has grown so much as a player and as a person. We are very proud of him.”

The Panthers have been buoyed by a balanced attack all season.

“Our depth is definitely our advantage,” Rodgers said. “We play more kids than most teams and while some may criticize that approach, we feel like having as many kids as possible contributing we create a culture where everyone has motivation to practice hard every day.”

Rodgers said his club knows exactly what it has to work on.

“Overall our team toughness and rebounding is an important part of the game that we have to improve,” said the coach.

The Panthers will aim to keep it simple in the playoffs.

“The only goal is to win that first game,” Rodgers said. “You can’t get too far ahead of yourself. Every team in the tournament can beat anyone, so you just have to stay focused on the game in front of you.”

GIRLS HEADED BACK

Photo by: Sue Moss

It’s taken a complete team effort for the girls’ basketball team to clinch a spot in the tournament for the third year in a row.

Jenna Olem’s club (12-8) picked up its 10th victory Feb. 13 with a 53-44 triumph over Silver Lake behind a monster 18-point, 15-rebound effort from senior captain Kathryn Dunn.

“Every team sets out to clinch a tournament spot,” Olem said. “As the season wore on I knew it was definitely within reach and it was just a matter of when.”

After losing senior captain and point guard Erin Leahy in the first practice of the year, the Panthers have been piecing it together.

“A big thing at beginning of season was stressing our depth and players filling in necessary roles when called on,” Olem said. “We’ve had big nights from a different players at different points in the season. When different players are able to stand out on different nights, it is a strength to our team.”

W-H has relied heavily on its defense (allowing 41 ppg), as its offense has been inconsistent at times, averaging 53 ppg in wins and 35 PPG in losses.

“We’re working on getting off to better starts offensively in the first quarter, knowing how to close out teams when we have a lead late and rebounding,” Olem said.

The goal?

“Pull an upset in the first-round tournament said,” Olem said.

WHAM’s Navicky goes ‘the extra mile’

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Maddie Navicky / Photo by: Sue Moss

The junior is Whitman-Hanson/Middleboro’s top point-getter this season.

Entering the winter of her freshman year, Maddie Navicky was certain about a couple of things: she enjoyed competing and she loved to swim.

However, she had never mixed the two. That was about to change.

“During my freshman year, I saw that students were given the opportunity to swim with a nearby school as a co-op team, WHAM (Whitman Hanson and Middleboro),” Navicky said, “and I loved swimming at my grandparents’ pool, so I thought, ‘Why not try out?’”

Trying out blossomed into of the best decisions she has ever made. Now a junior at Whitman-Hanson Regional High, Navicky is a two-time South Shore League All-Star and back-to-back team MVP. This season, she’s WHAM’s top scorer and a sectional and state qualifier, which are both firsts for her.

“She is just a really hard worker,” said WHAM head coach Everett Clark. “She’s always trying to push it and go the extra mile.”

It’s that type of attitude since Day One that’s sparked Navicky’s success.

“At our practice, lane one is the fastest swimmers and lane six are the beginners,” Navicky, the first competitive swimmer in her family, said. “During my freshman year I was in lane six and I really wanted to strive to make the goal to get into lane five at the end of the year.”

Not only did she leap a lane, but she developed a deep-rooted passion for the sport because of its competitiveness. After all, she did run cross country in the fall.

“First, it was hard because swimming is draining and it uses every single muscle in your body,” Navicky said. “With all the work put into it, I kept seeing quality improvement in my times and that kind of really pushed me to get better.”

That quality improvement flowed into her sophomore year, as she lowered her time in all of her events: the 100-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard freestyle and 50-yard freestyle.

This season she’s topped those times yet again with a 58.57 in the 100 free, a 2:11.21 in the 200 free, a 1:12.28 in the 100 back and a 26.12 in the 50 free. She qualified for states in the 100 free and sectionals in the 50 free, both during the Dec. 14 meet against Randolph.

Clark said it’s not just Navicky’s speed in the pool that makes her stand out, but also her willingness to lead by example, which is why she was recently named captain. Clark said he has no better recollection of her leadership than from earlier in the year.

“We were trying to make sectionals for the 400 free relay and we didn’t, and her response is always saying, ‘If I had dropped another second, that could have made the difference,’” Clark recalled. “She didn’t turn to the other three swimmers and say, ‘You could have done better,’ and they could have. It would have been easier for them to drop more time than her, but that’s not how she looks at it.”

Clark said Navicky’s leadership is just important as her point production.

“She’s always trying to push it and go the extra mile, that’s why she’s a captain,” Clark said. “That’s how she’s always been, just always wanting to do a little better. She’s great with her peers. She never asks someone to do something she won’t do.

“You really want someone who is willing to go the extra effort and put the extra time in and not just tell people about it and she shows it, she demonstrates it and lives it. That’s what we want as a leader.”

Navicky said her goal is to continue to take her skills to the next level.

“I’ve made so many friendships in high school that I think in college if I join a swimming team it will help me expand more and branch out and become more comfortable with everyone,” Navicky said.

But she still has another year and a half donning red, orange and black, and she’s aiming high.

“I would like to qualify in sectionals and states for more events, especially the 200 free,” Navicky said. “That would be my ultimate goal by the end of the year.”

Kelly sparks Whitman-Hanson boys’ basketball to win

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Stevie Kelly calls out a play.

The junior scored 10 points to go with six rebounds and six assists in the comeback win.

Whitman-Hanson Regional High junior Stevie Kelly is known for his defensive prowess on the soccer field, but he’s making a name for himself on the hardwood at point guard. 

Kelly opened up his whole toolbox Friday night and the Panthers needed every bit of it to fend off Patriot League foe Silver Lake, 56-54.

“It was a pretty big win,” Kelly said. “Every Patriot League game is big for us.” 

In a fourth quarter that the Panthers (8-2) entered down, 40-37, it was the 5-foot-10 Kelly, who scored five of his 10 points in the final frame to complement six rebounds and six assists on the night, right in the middle of the comeback.

With 7:33 remaining, Kelly drained a triple from the top of the arc, evening the score at 40.

After senior Cole Lewis (10 points) shot the Panthers ahead, 49-47, with a pair of 3-pointers, the Lakers (3-5) would pull even before Kelly passed to a streaking Rian Schwede inside the lane and he laid it in for two.

Clinging to a one-point lead late, Kelly jump cut into the lane for two, giving the Panthers a 55-52 lead, which was enough. 

“He’s a tenacious player for sure,” said W-H head coach Bob Rodgers of Kelly. “He really gets after it. He’s a tremendous defender and a great leader on the floor. He had some big buckets for us down the stretch.”

With the help of six points in the first quarter from sophomore Cole LeVangie (team-high 16 points), the Panthers jumped out to a 18-10 lead after one. 

The Lakers proceeded to outscore W-H, 18-8, in the following quarter to claim a 28-26 halftime edge. 

Kelly sparked the Panthers out of halftime, motoring to the hoop for two, while picking up a foul in the process. His free throw put the Panthers up, 29-28. 

Stevie Kelly

Later in the frame, Kelly drove into the lane and kicked it out to a wide-open Ben Rice on the right side, who drained a three, giving the Panthers a 37-35 lead. 

“It helps (me) with all the shooters we have,” Kelly said. “They work really hard in the offseason.”

The Panthers will visit Hanover next Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. 

“We just got to get tougher around the hoop and play harder,” Kelly said.