This Week In The Hornets Nest

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There was a lot of action in Manchester Essex Regional High School sports last week (October 18), and the season for Fall sports is fast winding down.  Check out the highlights, and information on upcoming games. 

Field Hockey

The Hornets are 12-3-1. Last week, the team faced Hamilton Wenham twice, Bishop Fenwick, and Lynnfield. The team had a 2-0 win and a 4-0 win against HW. they tied BF 2-2, and bested Lynnfield 4-0.  Ava Magnuson, assisted by Caroline MacKinnon and Elsa Wood scored in the first HW win.  The HW goalie faced over 24 shots on goal.  Torrin Kirk, Grace Gerhardt, Elsa Wood and Caelie Patrick scored goals in the second HW game which was also the teams breast cancer awareness game which raised money to support the Susan G. Komen Fund.

The Hornets battled Division 2 Bishop Fenwick to a 2-2 tie in a key non-league game.  Amy Vytopilova and Torrin Kirk scored the goals while Helaina Davis had a strong game and came up with a big defensive save.  Goalie Paige Garlitz had a strong 14 saves in the Hornets net.  The team travelled to Lynnfield to face the Pioneers and had a fast start with the forwards playing relentless and getting shots off in the circle.  Goal scorers were Ava Grace Magnuson, Elsa Wood, Amy Vytopilova and Caelie Patrick.  Gwen Hannafin and Phileine deWidt stepped up as defenders and also contributed to the teams offensive power.  In the JV game goalie Brigid Carovillano had an impressive 20+ saves and kept the game to a close 1-0 loss.

The team faces Georgetown and Ipswich. Thursday's Ipswich game, at home, is set to be a CAL Baker showdown, with the winner taking the Baker division of the league.

Cross Country

The Cross-country teams completed their regular season on Wednesday, October 20 at Lynnfield with the Boys taking the win 28 to 29. Finn O’Hara won the race in 16:49 to go undefeated for the season in dual meets. Also scoring for the Hornets were Charlie Lations fourth, Colin Harrison fifth, Logan Cooper sixth and Nate Gardner twelfth. The boys finished the season 3-2.

The girls lost 47 to 16. Lassen Ando ran well finishing fifth. The girls finished season 2-3.

On Saturday, October 23 the teams competed in the Dick Atkinson Invitation at Stanley Park in Westfield. The boys finished eighth with 189 points.  Finn O'Hara led the way with a fifth-place finish.  Also scoring were Charlie Lations 21, Colin Harrison 23, Logan Cooper 60, And Nate Gardner 81.  The girls finished eleventh with Whitney Turner 25, Jane Whitten 29, Lassen Ando 47, Mary Annabel Chrzanowski 76 and Caroline Chrzanowski 85. The teams travel to the Wrentham Development Center on Saturday to compete in the Cape Ann League meet.

Boys Soccer

The boys’ varsity soccer program went 1-1 on the week with a loss to Hamilton Wenham on Wednesday and a win over CAL Large power Lynnfield on Thursday.  It was always going to be a rough back-to-back match for the Hornets in playing two teams at the top of their respective divisions on back-to-back days, but that was made even more intense in minute twenty of the Hamilton Wenham match when Hornet’s goalkeeper Theo Parianos challenged a Hamilton Wenham attacker outside of the penalty box and was served a red card for his efforts.  Early in the match, the Hornets had been dominating possession and creating many attacking chances.  However, against the run of play, the Generals sent a player down the sideline on a thru ball, and when Parianos slid at him, the Hornets would have to finish the match playing 10 vs. 11 and, to add to the curious decision of red by the referee, Parianos would be suspended for the next two games as well.  Impressively, the score remained 0-0 in the match until the final 10 minutes when the Generals were able to slip a goal past backup keeper Simon Ruben.  After the goal, the Hornets would play a much more attack minded formation to try to get some type of result, when in the final two minutes, the Generals sent a player in alone on a counter to make the final 2-0.  The very next day, the boys traveled to Lynnfield for a must win match against a very strong Pioneers side who had just one other league loss on the season with a league title hanging in the balance.  Undeterred, even when they found themselves down 0-1 with just 15 minutes to play in the match, the Hornets found a way to get the win!  The first goal came from a set piece where senior captain Jagger Nowack floated a cross far post and junior Becket Spencer saved it from going out far post and linked up with senior Cian Doyle who pounded a one-time lefty shot past the keeper with just 10 minutes to play.  Just moments later, two different senior captains would combine for the eventual game winner when Beren Schmidt drove down the right flank and crossed a ball that deflected off a defender and Eli Cox buried a shot far post past the Lynnfield keeper.  It was all hands-on deck for some incredible hustle and brave clearances to secure the win.  Everyone swamped the backup keeper Simon Ruben who had played an amazing match which keeps the CAL Baker Division title in play for the Hornets if they are able to win out this week against Georgetown and Ipswich.

Girls Soccer

Manchester-Essex Girls soccer played first place Hamilton-Wenham tough to the end, losing 2-1,  they were at 1-1 at halftime, on Wednesday, October 20.  Senior captain, Sarah Baker scored the lone Hornets goal from a perfect shot from 30 yards out in front of the goal. Freshman goalkeeper, Madi Cook, was outstanding in goal with 9 saves. The Hornets were right back at it the very next night, the team's senior night game, against CAL Kinney's Lynnfield. Hornets fought hard, but dropped the game, 4-0. Senior, Emilia Collins was named the Hornet's player of the game.

grace gerhardt, beren schmidt, theo parianos, becket spencer, phileine dewidt, caelie patrick, nate gardner, madi cook, elsa wood, eli cox, paige garlitz, mary annabel chrzanowski, helaina davis, ava grace magnuson, jane whitten, finn o'hara, charlie lations, cal baker division, caroline chrzanowski, fenwick, colin harrison, amy vytopilova, jagger nowack, cian doyle, emilia collins, manchester essex regional high school, dick atkinson, wrentham development center, gwen hannafin, lassen ando, sarah baker, whitney turner, simon ruben, logan cooper, torrin kirk, caroline mackinnon, hornets nest park, hamilton wenham