ME goalie Jack DiPasquale, making one of his 7 saves against Lynnfield in a winning effort for ME 10 to 9.
(Photo Mark DiPasquale)
The ME boys’ lacrosse team hosted CAL rival school Pentucket HS in a rescheduled game from this past Monday at Hyland Field. The Hornets would find themselves down 3-0 quick in a hole, when Alex Fraser scored off a feed from Sam Athanas in transition to get the home team on the board and cut the lead to 3-1. Both teams would exchange goals in the second quarter, and the Hornets defense played nearly 20 minutes of defense in the first frame and got a big stop with 20 seconds left in the first half, heading into halftime down 5-2.
Second Quarter was very similar; Pentucket would dominate the face-offs, as well as ground ball battles and possession times wearing out the Hornets defense. Jack Dipasquale stood tall in net tallying 10 saves, while Brennan Twombly and Mark Pollock each had one caused turnover each. Second half scoring was led by Quinn Brady and Mac Edgerton late in the fourth quarter in efforts to try and start some rhythm for the Hornets offense. However, it was Pentucket coming up with big defensive stops and playing disciplined offense at the other end of the field, finding holes and spaces where the Manchester Essex defense wasn’t and capitalizing on the home team’s mistakes. Final score on the afternoon was 10-4 in favor of Pentucket and handing the Hornets their first loss of the season. Manchester Essex stands at 9-1 currently, and anxiously waiting for a quick turnaround when they host another CAL Baker rival in Ipswich HS.
Game Scoring; Quinn Brady - 2g, Alex Fraser - 1g, Mac Edgerton - 1g. Declan Kirk - 2a, Sam Athanas - 1a and Jack Dipasquale –10 saves, 10 goals allowed.
The ME Hornets hosted another CAL Baker Rival Ipswich HS on Wednesday May 3 on a cloudy afternoon. Even though Manchester would possess the ball primarily all of the first quarter, Ipswich would score the first three goals of the game in transition and in settled offense. Jack Dipasquale tallied 10 saves on the afternoon, being really the only last line of defense vs Ipswich sharp shooters. Hornets would be heading into the half down 5-0.
Second half was no different. Ipswich would continue winning faceoffs, ensuing possessions, and sticking the ball in the back of the net almost at will. Hornets would go man down twice and hold the Tigers scoreless on extra man opportunities. Manchester would continuously turn the ball over on offense, come up short on groundball battles, and struggle at the face-off dot. Chase Dickson would be the lone goal scorer for the Hornets late in the fourth, but not enough to build momentum when the game was clearly out of reach. The final score was 11-1 in favor of Ipswich HS. The Hornets will look for redemption when the travel to Ipswich HS for their second meeting this season on May 19th.
Game Scoring; Chase Dickson - 1g, Quinn Brady - 1a and Jack Dipasquale - 10 saves, 11 goals allowed.
The ME boys’ lacrosse team upset the Pioneers of Lynnfield 10-9 on Friday night May 5 under the lights for a 7 p.m. night game. First half was all Hornets after scoring five goals in the second quarter alone after a scoreless first 12minutes of play from both teams. After leading 5-2 at half from a strong performance by the offense, it was the Hornets defense that would have to step up in helps to preserve the lead.
Second half both teams would exchange possessions and score almost hand in hand simultaneously. Even though Lynnfield would outscore Hornets 7-5 in the remaining 24 minutes, it was the heroics of Mac Edgerton (4g) who lead all Hornets scoring. Edgerton would find the ball in his stick off a sideline restart with two minutes remaining and game tied, find a give and go with senior Declan Kirk, and take a deep bounce shot to beat the Pioneers goalie stick side high for his fourth of the day and the eventual game winner. The win gave Manchester Essex their 10th win of the season, and improve to 5-2 in the CAL, 10-2 overall. It was the first time the Hornets would beat Lynnfield since 2019.
Game scoring; Mac Edgerton 4g1a, Jesse Oliver 2g, Declan Kirk 1g1a, Doug Pratt 1g, Sam Athanas 1g, Quinn Brady 1 g and Jack Dipasquale 7 saves, 9 goals allowed.
Hornets Girls’ Tennis had a great week with 3 consecutive 5-0 wins, including many hard-fought matches along the way. The girls opened with a victory at Ipswich that was highlighted by a super competitive match at 1st doubles which Emery Weber-Provost and Sophie Zalosh ultimately won 7-6 6-7 7-6. Next, the team traveled to Marblehead to play the perennially strong Magicians, and the girls pulled off the incredible 5-0 win with a huge effort from Vanessa Gregory at 1st singles as she overcame a 6-1 loss in the first set to ultimately win 1-6 6-3 7-6 just in time to beat the sunset! Finally, the Hornets enjoyed a relatively straightforward 5-0 win at home over Pentucket with straight set wins across the board, including a 6-1 6-2 win for Calista Lai and a 6-0 6-0 win for Grayson Crocker at 2nd and 3rd singles, respectively. Also, shout out to the 2nd doubles team of Sienna Crocker and Grace Scarbrough who won all 3 matches and now have a 9-2 record on the season.
Great week for the boys' tennis program with a 2-3 battle against Lynnfield and two convincing 5-0 wins over Ipswich and Pentucket to bring their league match record to 5-1 and their overall record to 7-4. On Monday the undefeated Pioneers who had won every single match of the season coming into the match 5-0, found some adversity in the Hornets’ nest with wins from both the Hornet doubles teams in a hard-fought 2-3 loss. At first doubles, the tandem of Jan Vytopil and Sander Breuker won 6-2, 2-6 and 10-8 in a super-tie-breaker, while second the second doubles duo of Finn Birkeland and Jack Lawler won 6-1, 6-1. Wednesday and Friday proved much easier with straight set wins all the way through against Ipswich and Pentucket. Ipswich were without their second singles player in the first matchup of the season, which made them a much stouter opponent. Wins came from Jack Cummins (6-3, 6-2), Charlie Virden at two (6-3, 6-0), Finn Straub at three 6-3, 6-2, and both the doubles 6-3, 6-2, and 6-1, 6-3 respectively. The Hornets had a slightly different lineup against Pentucket with Charlie Langendorf into the varsity lineup, but the results were similar with straight set wins at every position. The Hornets have another tough week this week with matches against Rockport, Amesbury, and Newburyport.
After a rainout Monday, the Hornets were back in action on Wednesday against Rockport. The Hornets overcame an early three run deficit to come back to take the game 10-5! Penelope Riggs was 2 for 3 with 2 RBIS and Katie Crompton delivered a big slap single to drive in two runs as well to fuel a 6 run fourth inning. Great pitching from starter Anna Gardner, and Abby Aiello who closed the game over the last few innings giving up no runs. It was a great defensive game played in center field by Sydney Hemme.
On Friday, the Hornets lost to a tough Triton team 17-0. Anna Gardner had 2 hits on the day and a stolen base. Penelope Riggs did a nice job started keeping the Hornets in it. A good defensive game was played in the outfield by Sydney Hemme,Kyra Levasseur, Morgan Laspesa, Annie Pinkin, and Lucy Parmelee.
ME 6 and Pentucket 5. Nick Brown came in relief and threw 4 scoreless innings. Zak Porat in the 7th came in and got out of a bases loaded jam to keep the score tied at 5.
Troy flood got on with a hit, stole second, got the 3rd on a pass ball and scored on a wild pitch to walk off. Troy was 2-3 with a triple and 3 runs scored. Matt Mckenna was 2-3 with an RBI, Jacoby Catanzaro went 2-3 with 2 key RBI’s. Nick Brunning had an RBI single.
Georgetown 6 and ME 5. Matteo Sarmanian threw 5-innings letting up 1 earned run and striking out 3. Troy Flood went 2-3 with an RBI and 2 runs scored. Mike Deoreo was 2-3 with 2 runs scored and 2 stolen bases. The team put in a great effort, and we lost to a good team. We look forward to seeing them again later in the season.
ME 6 and Rockport 1. Troy flood threw 5 innings only letting up 1 run. Jacoby Catanzaro went 2-3 with a 2-run double. Kevin Mckenna, Nick Brunning and Mattie Sarmanian each had an RBI. All it took was one inning for us to bust the game open. The team all around played with a lot of heart and showed what hornet baseball is all about.
ME 3 Salem 1. We took on a lightly trained Salem High School team on Tuesday, defying the rain and some very ominous clouds coming in from the southwest. In Race 1, we executed a good start, gained a good lead on the first leg, and reached the windward mark with a 1, 3, 4. The team managed to improve the positions to a 1, 2, 4, and held it through to the finish. Both the second and third races were won with similar finish positions.
After the third race we swapped in the alternate sailors and attempted to sail three more races, but a 90-degree wind shift, which necessitated re-setting the five-leg course, meant that we had to cut the race to a two leg windward leeward.
One unexpected delight was the appearance of a brilliant rainbow to the east, which highlighted the stunning atmospherics.
Concord Academy 3 ME 2. We lost to Concord Academy in a heartbreaker, with a score of 3 to 2. Lacking our captain and number 1 skipper (Ian Carlin), due to an AP Physics exam, our number 3 skipper (Max Deery), and number 4 skipper (Grey Brooks), we still forced Concord to fight hard for their win.
Conditions were perfect, with flat water and a consistent 10-12 mph breeze. We were ahead by a score of 2 to 1 after three races and leading the fourth race handily until right at the finish, when a spurious protest upset our tactics. In the last race, due to a poor first windward leg, we were behind at the last mark rounding, but staged a comeback, almost gaining the combination to win, but failed in the end to win it on the finish line. While disappointing, it revealed that we have a surprisingly deep bench, and that with a team of largely 7th and 8th graders, we can go up against Varsity Sailors.
Winthrop/Swampscott. 3 ME 2. We travelled to Winthrop, to race just off the Logan Airport runways, and used the Winthrop Fire Boat as the Race Committee vessel. Expecting a strong showing by the team that came in second at the North Shore Invitational, we were surprised to win the first race with a strong showing in the light air last leg. However, one of our sailors was protested right on the finish line. The hearing of that protest was critical for the outcome of the match.
Winthrop came back and won the next two races, with smart sailing in the light and shifty conditions in the tight, land-locked harbor.
The next two races were very close, with plenty of movement in positions on all legs of the course, but the Hornets won by crossing the finish line, with first and second place.
As the sailors headed back to the dock, we had the satisfaction of knowing that we had won the regatta on the water, but the outcome might change in the “Protest Room”.
The two coaches decided to hold the protest hearing with both teams present to learn how the process worked. The jury of three people consisted of one coach from Manchester, and two from Winthrop.
After the two opposing skippers made their statements, the jury decided that the Winthrop skipper’s protest was valid, and the Manchester boat was disqualified. However, even allowing for the disqualification, the Hornets still won the race, and therefore won the match by 3 to 2.
