EHS Roundup

EHS Girls Soccer Wins Two Contests

The Everett High girls soccer team enjoyed a successful week, winning two of its three matches.

Last Monday the Lady Crimson Tide defeated non-league rival O’Bryant High of Boston, 3-2.

“We had solid, all-around play by the girls,” said EHS head coach Domenick Persuitte.

Yelsa Garcia racked up two goals for Everett. On her first score, Yelsa took on the O’Bryant defense to find the back of the net. Her second goal was assisted by Layla Bentancur-Cardona.

Everett’s third marker was notched by Bentancur-Cardona after a failed clearance by an O’Bryant defender.  Layla took a few touches and then delivered a rocket from 30 yards out into the back corner of the net over the keeper’s head.

Three days later the Lady Crimson Tide toppled Greater Boston League foe Malden, 4-3.

Garcia gave Everett an early 1-0 lead within the first eight minutes, assisted by Bentancur-Cardona. Yelsa went on to score two more goals, assisted by Emely DeJesus, a freshman who was filling in for an injured teammate, and Lamiah Wyard.

Bentancur-Cardona also reached the back of the Malden net when she took on the defense and slotted the ball into the back of the net.

“Malden kept us on our toes,” noted Persuitte. “They made us earn that win.  They were a very tough and aggressive team.  As a side note, one of our players went down, and the whole team stepped up, including freshman Emely DeJesus.”

Sandwiched between the two wins was a 7-1 loss to Medford.

“The team played the first half so well,” said Persuitte. “I was very impressed that we kept Medford to a score of 2-1.”

Bentancur-Cardona notched the EHS goal when she scored on a penalty kick after Garcia was blatantly taken down in the box.

“Despite our struggle in the second half, I was very proud of how we played against the best team in the league,” Persuitte added. “Simple mistakes are our biggest issue right now, but we are still working hard to fix that.”

The Lady Crimson Tide were scheduled to play at Chelsea yesterday (Tuesday) and will travel to Revere tomorrow (Thursday). They will trek to non-league opponent Latin Academy on Monday and then to Lynn English next Tuesday.

EHS Girls Volleyball Team Looks To Get Back on Track

The Everett High girls’ volleyball team suffered two losses to GBL opponents Malden and Chelsea last week, dropping their record to 4-9 with five games remaining. The Lady Crimson will need to win all five to qualify for the postseason.

“We knew we would be hitting a rough patch in this part of our schedule,” said coach Mike Fineran. “We were competitive, but we just didn’t make enough plays to pull off an upset.”

Things started off well in the week, as Everett cruised to a 25-15 win in game one in their match at home vs. Malden. Sophomore Emilly Nogueira had four aces in the set and classmate Victoria Rodrigues served six more points. Seniors Michelle Ngo and Vanessa Almonte had two kills apiece.

The second game looked promising too, as six serves from Ngo built an 11-7 lead. Junior middle Nicole Brandao had three kills and an ace and junior outside hitter Kaesta Sandy had a block and a kill.

Everett built a 24-19 lead and served for the set, but a side out gave Malden’s servers an opening that they took advantage of, stealing the set, 26-24.

“That’s been our Achilles heel all season,” said Fineran. “One server will get on a roll and we don’t adjust enough in time. Normally it happens in the middle of a set. Here it happened right at the end.”

Instead of a 2-0 lead, Fineran’s squad seemed stunned to be 1-1, and Malden kept the momentum through the third game. Everett had tallied 10 kills in the first two games, but mustered just one in the third, which they dropped 25-19.

Game four was tighter, as Brandao and Ngo combined for four kills, and Brandao and Sandy had blocks.

“We had opportunities that set,” said Fineran. “We served down 17-16, but we couldn’t get any closer.”

On Thursday, Everett traveled to Chelsea and ran into a hard-hitting, hard-serving team that swept the Tide, 3-0.

“We knew the firepower they had, so we retooled our lineup,” said Fineran, who moved middle hitter Almonte to outside and Ngo to middle. He also inserted Sandy into the starting rotation.

“I felt like we needed to get more blocks and I wanted to take advantage of Kaesta’s athleticism,” said Fineran.

Chelsea still jumped out to an early commanding lead, thanks in large part to a series of low, fast serves. “I commend our team for standing in there and holding their ground,” said Fineran. “It’s not fun or easy to get behind a serve going 25 miles per hour.”

Those missiles helped Chelsea build a 15-6 lead, but Everett clawed their way back into it.

“We made some mistakes, but we kept fighting and never gave up. In fact, we played our best the more we were down,” Fineran noted.

Everett closed the gap to 23-20 but couldn’t pull even. In the second set, Everett got strong serves of their own from Victoria Rodrigues, kills from Almonte and Brandao, and solid defense from senior libero Jane Ebay, but lost 25-13.

Game three was closer; five serves from senior Alejandra Cajamarca brought Everett to within one, 16-15, and five more from Rodrigues made it 20-19.

An ace by Almonte cut Chelsea’s lead to 24-21, but a Chelsea kill ended the game. Senior setter Julie Miranda, Rodrigues, and Cajamarca combined for 34-for-35 serves in, including six aces. “We did some things well, but we know there are areas where we could have been better,” said Fineran. “If we play the way we know we’re capable of, we’ll have better luck next week.”

Everett traveled to Lynn English yesterday (Tuesday) and will host Somerville today (Wednesday), a contest in which the Lady Crimson Tide will be looking to avenge a five-set loss.

Winning both matches will keep Everett’s postseason chances alive as they gear up for the final two weeks of the season.

Busy Week for EHS Field Hockey

The Everett High field hockey has a busy week ahead.

Coach Melissa O’Donnell’s squad was scheduled to entertain non-league rivals Haverhill yesterday (Tuesday), Hamilton-Wenham today (Wednesday), Greater Lowell Friday, and Northeast Regional next Tuesday. The contest with Greater Lowell will be highlighted by Senior Day festivities.

In their lone contest this past week, the Crimson Tide dropped a 5-1 decision to Haverhill with Omar Marshall providing the EHS goal.

EHS Golf Team Plays Well vs. Salem

The Everett High golf team battled well, but came up on the short end of a 42-30 decision to non-league opponent Salem.

“Senior David Saia has continued to play very good golf,” said EHS head coach Steve Gallagher. “David has the tough task of facing off against the #1 golfer from every team and he has represented well. He looks to have a big week against the Lynn teams to build some momentum heading into GBL’s.”

Gallagher and his squad were set to take on Greater Boston League rivals Lynn English and Lynn Classical in the coming week to wrap up their regular season and then will head to the Kelley Greens Golf Course in Nahant for the GBL Open.

EHS Boys Soccer Wins Two of Three

The Everett High boys soccer team enjoyed a successful week. Coach Pedro Blas’s Crimson Tide deadlocked Medford, 1-1; defeated Malden, 8-1; and then blanked non-league opponent Manchester Essex, 4-0.

“We have a tough week coming up,” noted Blas, whose squad was set to take on Chelsea yesterday (Tuesday), Revere tomorrow (Thursday), at Lynn Tech on Saturday, and Lynn English next Tuesday at 7-Acre Park.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *