On The Road to States!
As we approach the end of October, the days get shorter and the weather gets colder. These realities indicate, among other things, that the fall athletic season is winding down.Fortunately, for many of our Student-Athletes, the competition will continue based on their tremendous success these past few months. This fall, Saint Joseph Prep is sending four teams to the State Tournament!
The Boys’ Soccer team is coming off another conference win at Pope John yesterday, where the team improved to 12-4-0 with a 4-1 victory. Gabe Hanna ’20 scored two goals on the afternoon to lead the Phoenix, but it was a special day for the senior class. Ricky Espada ’17 recorded two assists, Dante Salvucci ’17 scored his first goal of the season (from a defensive position), and Andrew Donabedian ’17, the sweeper, scored his first career goal in four years on a direct kick from midfield to help seal the win. The boys face off against Arlington Catholic today and will host Marian on Monday for their final regular season tune-up before the playoffs begin. The boys are looking to end the season with the program’s best record ever and a high seed in the brackets.
Girls’ Soccer fell twice in the past three games, but made incredible gains in both game sense and shot count. Although they lost to League leader, Lowell Catholic, they improved in three areas: increased shot count for SJP, including first two goals scored on them, and limiting LC’s shot count to fewer single digits. Their subsequent loss to Matignon was unfortunate, but witnesses could testify to the fact that SJP dominated control of the ball for most of the game. As is tradition, they honored their seniors at their final home game on Wednesday, in a match-up with Pope John XXIII. This was a solid victory for Lady Phoenix, where Alexis Meissner ’17 and Jada Ross ’17 scored their first goals of the season on spectacular break-away’s. With a goal by JoJo Duplan ’17, one by Fiona Thompson ’19 and two by Captain Hannah Burke ’17, they capped the win at 6-1. All seniors started the game, including: Helen Aroush ’17, Burke, Duplan, Jackie Joyce ’17, Cayleigh McMullan ’17, Meissner, Armani Monteiro ’17, Allynne Ribeiro ’17, Rachel Rosato ’17, and Ross. This team, also tournament bound currently has a record of 13-3-1, with a final regular season game on Monday against Maimonides.
SJP Volleyball has had a successful season so far with a record of 10-8-0 and league record of 7-3-0. We qualified for the State tournament with our tenth win against Triton Regional on Monday, October 24. Also, we celebrated our seniors Sharon King ’17, Bekah Forrest ’17, Maddie Neff ’17, Mary Forbes ’17, Hayley Leger ’17, Audrey McDonough ’17, and Emma DiMarino ’17 at a tough loss against Mount Alvernia on Wednesday. Sharon King holds the current team record for points scored with an average of 3 kills and 5 aces a match. Our team has had a great season and are looking forward to the upcoming tournament games!
The Golf team also enjoyed its most successful campaign with three victories and a number of very competitive losses. The golf season concluded last week at the CCL Championship. Andrew Stefura ’19 represented the Phoenix at the tournament, played at Gannon Golf Club in Lynn. The team will graduate captain John Devlin ’17, but several players improved dramatically this year, especially Mitchell Devlin ’18, Aidan Kelly ’19 and Brendan Murphy ’19. Great season, golfers!
On Thursday, October 27, the Cross Country team competed in the Catholic Central League championships, taking place at Archbishop Williams in Braintree. Captains Philippe Legagneur ’17, Yilin Lu ’17, and Sophia Sa’Ponte ’17 have led the team to its best season in program history! And with a lot of young talent in runners like Maeve O’Brien ’19, Cecelia Morello ’20, and Ben and Brian Wheet ’20, the future looks extremely bright for Coach Beach’s squad.