The Sports Watch for Feb. 7 - 12

Well, it’s Sunday, and you know what that means. It’s time for the Sports Watch, the fastest three minutes in Weston Sports coming your way right now:

Let’s start with girls’ basketball, and why not? The Wildcats clinched the Dual Country League Small Division title with a convincing 51-22 win over Bedford, improving to 11-7 overall and 8-1 in the DCL Small. Sophomore star forward Saliah Serrette proved to be a force in every statistical category. Serrette tossed in 19 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, blocked three shots, and had three steals.

The win made up for Weston’s first DCL Small loss earlier in the week to Concord-Carlisle, as the Patriots earned a season split with the Wildcats.

In that game, Serrette and senior standout Allyson Pemberton both delivered strong games for the Maroon and White. Serrette poured in 16 points and hauled in eight rebounds, while Pemberton also scored 16 points and had six boards.

Serrette, meanwhile, was also the main force for Weston in a prior 51-49 victory over visiting Tyngsboro, tossing in 19 points and hauling in a whopping 20 rebounds.

Let’s switch gears to girls track, and what a story this is. The Weston girls' distance medley relay team of Olivia Brackett, Charlotte Walmsley, Abigail Pohl, and Alexandra Rigobon finished in third place at the state-wide McIntyre Elite Invitational Meet at the Reggie Lewis Center qualifying the quartet for the New Balance Nationals in New York City on March 11. In the opening leg, Pohl, a sophomore, ran the 1,200 meters in 3:43. Rigobon, a junior, ran the 400 in 1:05.7. Walmsley, also a junior, ran the 800 in 2:28, while classmate Brackett anchored the 1,600 in 5:11.4.

We go to the rink and girls hockey, and what does the Weston-Wayland girls’ team have to do to win a game? Still seeking its first victory, W-W peppered visiting Newton South with shots on goal all night, but still fell short in a 3-2 loss to the Lions (4-5-2). Newton South got the winning tally with 16 seconds left in the game on a goal by sophomore defenseman Hailey Hart.

"We controlled the play all night, but Newton South was able to get great goaltending and opportunistic goals to secure the win,” Weston-Wayland head coach Bill MacDonald said.

With the score tied at 2 after two frames, W-W came out s torming in the third period, but couldn’t solve Newton goalie Karina Alfisher.

 “[We] came out in the third with some of [our] best play of the year, but [Karina] was equal to the task and kept Newton South in the game,” said MacDonald, whose squad outshot the Lions, 14-4, in the final stanza. “We just missed on a number of opportunities.”

After a timeout with a minute to play, Newton was able to move the puck into the W-W zone, but W-W alertly cleared it out into the neutral zone with 23 seconds left. However, Hart collected the puck at center ice, glided along the left side to the top of the faceoff circle, and buried a wrist shot just under the crossbar to win it for the Lions.

 Newton opened the scoring on a wrist shot by Kayla Kee early in the first period. Four minutes later, W-W tied it, as junior captain Jess Greenwood scored on a shot from the point. 

 W-W outshot the Lions, 11-3, in the opening frame, and though the play was more even in the second stanza, “[We] still had better scoring chances,” MacDonald said.  One of their early chances paid off, when Patty Atkinson tallied to give W-W a 2-1 lead at the 2:25 mark.

 But, near the end of the period, the Lions tied it, after winning a faceoff. Katie St. George converted a rebound with 30 seconds left.

 “[We] played one of [our] best games of the year, and [were] not able to come away with the victory, but showed [we] can compete,” MacDonald said. “Playing your best is all one can expect from a player, and I know the girls on both teams know who was the better team tonight. We just don’t have the ‘W’ to go with the effort.”

In the following game,  Weston-Wayland gave another strong effort in its home finale, before falling 4-2 to Andover in non-league action.

“We continued to give a great effort, but came up short,” MacDonald said.

W-W (0-12-1) opened the scoring in the first period on a pretty goal by Patty Atkinson, who converted a crisp pass form Sara Coburn, at the 4:30 mark.

Andover responded with two quick strikes in the second stanza, at 2:40 and 4:10, respectively. Then, with W-W stuck in its own zone near the end of the frame, Andover defenseman Meghan Pierce found the back of the net to give the visitors a 3-1 lead with just 10 seconds left in the period.

But, W-W kept things close in the third, when Cara Lembo tallied on a coast-to-coast rush. Jane Haffey picked up a key assist, feeding Lembo, who swiftly skated by the Andover defense and finished the rush with a beautiful backhander high to the stick side to make it 3-2 with 6:30 left.

“[We were] gaining control of play [and] after a number of [other] chances, [we] had the faceoff in the Andover end,” MacDonald said.

With 2:12 left, W-W called a timeout, and then went full force with a few more opportunities in the Andover zone. W-W had pulled the goalie in favor of the extra skater, but was unable to convert. A rebound made its way to the blue line, where Andover’s Meghan Keefe gained possession and delivered the last goal into the empty net.

“We continued to press, but [were] not able to convert as time ran out,” MacDonald said.

Now to boys hockey and it was not a monkey off their backs, but more like a 600-pound gorilla.

After 180 minutes of scoreless hockey, Weston scored three unanswered goals and held on to a 4-3 victory over league foe Newton South at the McDowell Arena on the campus of the Rivers School.

 The Wildcats improved to 6-7-2 on the season but more importantly gained a game in the league standings.  At 4-3-1 in the Dual County League/Merrimack Valley hierarchy, Weston is one step closer to securing its sixth consecutive trip to the Division 3 North Sectional tournament.
 
Weston head coach Jeff Moore has been with the program since the school re-instated hockey in 2005-06, and in his third year at the helm, he knew his team needed this win.
 
“Obviously we needed [the win],” said Moore.  “Sure, it is also nice to score some goals.”
 
Weston scored twice in the first period on two neutral zone turnovers by the Lions (5-7-1; 4-2-1) and avenged an early season 4-4 tie with Newton South with the victory.

The first tally came with just under five minutes to play in the first period as junior Joey Pasquale went in untouched from the neutral zone for the 1-0 lead.
 
Pasquale’s fanned on his initial try but it sent Newton South goalie Charlie Egan to the ice and Pasquale was able to get good wood on the stick-side goal.
 
With only ten seconds remaining in the period, Weston had a carbon copy steal in the neutral zone and Andrew Jarrett lit the lamp for the 2-0 lead going into the second period on a blast that re-directed off a defenseman’s leg.
 
Jarrett’s goal lit a fire under the Wildcats as they scored almost before the puck dropped for the second period.  Eight seconds into the second stanza, Jarrett dumped the puck just wide of the net off the opening face-off and a hard bounce came out in front of the crease that Egan left sitting on the doorstep.  Matt Timperio took advantage of the third big mistake in the Newton South end and the game seemed locked up for the Wildcats.
 
Weston continued to hammer the puck in their own end with four legitimate chances to break things wide open including a power play opportunity only three minutes into the period.  But a face off in the Wildcats’ own end resulted in a short-handed goal for the Lions within only 11 seconds of the supposed man-advantage.
 
“In a lot of respects, the effort, the energy, the passion – there were quite a few positives,” said Moore about the three-goal outburst. “We didn’t play as much of a complete game as we’d like but we will take [a win] no matter how we can get it.”
 
Weston did not wait very long as senior captain David Miller cashed in ringing the post with ten seconds remaining in the same power play to give Weston back the three-goal cushion midway through the second period. 
 
Not that anyone in the locker room wanted to talk about it, but after four straight shutouts at the hands of Wayland, Lincoln-Sudbury, Lowell, and Boston Latin – the win was needed for a major confidence boost. 
 
Even with Lincoln-Sudbury and Boston Latin competing on a higher level in Division 2, Moore was worried the four-game losing goal-less streak was hurting the team in the locker room.
 
“There was definitely a level of frustration and we felt we deserved better especially against Lincoln-Sudbury and Boston Latin,” added Moore.  “What did happen though is we didn’t play well against Lowell, so I guess there are different levels of frustration because when you play hard and you give yourself a chance it doesn’t always work out.  I don’t want to say ‘that’s ok’ but getting this victory takes some weight off because we were kind of on the ropes before it.”

Finally, everything is cool in the pool. The Weston Girls and Boys Swimming and Diving programs had a fabulous finish to the regular season, and a strong start to the championship season.Competition was highlighted by a pair of pool records, and one varsity record, on the girls’ side, in a 98-80 victory against Tyngsborough-Groton-Dunstable.

Early last week, the girls’ squad set their sights on the pool record of 1:40.61 in the 200-yard freestyle relay.  On best splits, the 2011 GLOWS were approximately one-second off the mark, and hoped for a big swim by the foursome of Captain Seena Potter, rookie Victoria Bryson, Captain Cheryl Lang, and junior Bianca Tocci.  With hopes high and teammates lining the sides of the pool, the quartet blasted their way to an astonishing 1:38.89 clocking in the event, setting a new best-ever swim for the Weston facility.  For several minutes, the Weston girls celebrated the new standard, then something completely unexpected became obvious; the GLOWS had just established a new varsity mark in the race.

 “The varsity record was a complete surprise – not even on our radar screen,” said Head Coach Claude Valle, after the meet.  “It was so far away from what we were expecting that it took a few minutes for us to realize what just happened.  Easily, it was the most shocking record in team history.”  For senior captains Lang and Potter, it was a fitting finale to their dual meet careers.  “I’ve been involved in a few of these (record setting performances),” said Lang, “but this is easily the most surprising.”  The new mark is just two-tenths of a second off the All-America consideration cut.

Just four events earlier, a classmate of Lang and Potter, fellow tri-captain Dale Ziobro, set a pool record of her own.  In the one-meter diving, the senior performed an 11-dive program (the normal dual meet format calls for a six-dive performance.)  Diving unofficially, and performing two dives to her opponent’s one, the senior totaled 376.15 points. Her score barely eclipsed the oldest mark on the Weston record board – 375.75 points by Jan Watkins, in 1982.  “I’m very happy for Dale,” said first-year Diving Coach Luke Henesy, “she’s a hard worker, great leader, and very deserving.”

Other winners in the Tyngsborough meet for the GLOWS included Potter in the 50 free, junior Eliza Robson in the standard, 6-dive diving format, Tocci in the 100 free, and sophomore Katie Kim in the 100 back.  Potter’s victory gave her 1,000 career points; just the 11^th girl in team history to achieve the feat.  The win gave the GLOWS an 11-3 record (6-3 in the DCL) on the year.

 For the boys, there were nine different athletes that took first place in nine individual events, en route to a 96-67 DCL win over Tyngsborough.  The victors included seniors Jonny Greb (first varsity win) and Nick Peacher, juniors Tommy Fitzgerald (a sectional cut) and Tyler Lewtan, sophomores Jack Blyzinskyj, Ryan Burrow, Jamie Packs, and Tommy Peacher, and freshman Dan Spellman.  The win gave The Tide a 14-1 regular season record; 10-1 in DCL competition.

Late in the week, both squads took part in the DCL championships, at Atkinson Pool, in Sudbury.  For the boys on Friday, Weston’s divers led the way as Packs (4^th), senior Will Brewer (5^th), and junior Kian Nowrouzi (10^th) led the way in out-scoring the rest of the league in the competition.  Weston’s other big event proved to be the 100 freestyle as sophomores Blyzinskyj (4^th) and Ian Delaney (5^th) combined with senior Ryan Szeto (10^th) and freshman Sam Cekala (15^th), got Weston’s top-scoring race of the meet.  Other individual place-winners for The Tide included senior Nick Peacher, juniors Tommy Fitzgerald and Lewtan, sophomores Burrow, Tommy Peacher and Geoffrey Pendergast, and freshman Dan Spellman.

 Weston’s lone victory came in the 200-yard freestyle relay.  The quartet of Blyzinskyj (22.97), Lewtan (22.92), Burrow (23.09), and Tommy Peacher (22.68), combined for a 1:31.66, first-place clocking.  In the end, Weston took 2^nd overall at the meet, behind Division I foe Lincoln-Sudbury.

For the GLOWS, junior Bianca Tocci led the way taking the league title in the 100 butterfly (58.41) and swimming to a second-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle (24.75).  Tocci also combined with Lang, Kim, and Bryson for Weston’s highest relay finish – a 3^rd – in the 200-yard freestyle relay.  Other individual place-winners in swimming events for the GLOWS included the senior Potter, juniors Laura Beaudry and Stephanie Palocz, and freshmen Bryson, Anna Neufeld, and Hart Rippe.  The GLOWS’ divers also fared well, taking sixth (Ziobro), 13^th (sophomore Camille Casey), and 14th (Robson) in the one-meter event.  Their event total was second-best in the competition to Concord-Carlisle.  Weston’s female meet total of 257 points was good for fourth, just four points ahead of C-C.

 Brian Fabry and Weston athletics contributed to this report.