The Sports Watch for June 6 - 11

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:

We start with some special news, as Weston junior track and field standout Olivia Brackett broke the school’s 23 year-old record by over nine seconds in the two-mile run at the recent All-State meet at Bridgewater State University and qualified for the Nationals in Greensboro, NC. Brackett finished the two-mile in 11:04.17, which was good for fifth place at the big event.

Junior Tim Grant and sophomore Craig Shytle also shined at the All-States, placing eighth in their respective events. Shytle leaped 21 feet, 5 ¼ inch in the long jump. Grant leaped 6 feet, 2 inches in the high jump.

Now to girls lacrosse, and in a furious fight to the finish, Weston and Belmont had settled nothing after the usual 50 minutes of play during their Division 2 North quarterfinal game on the Weston turf.

But with the score tied at 12-12, the second-ranked Wildcats got the job done in overtime, scoring two goals in the extra frame to outlast the No. 7 Marauders, 14-12, and advance to the semifinals against No. 3 Winchester.

"We didn't play our best game," Weston head coach Chrissy Swanson said. " I was a little disappointed the way we came out, but we stepped up when we needed to."

Less than a minute into the OT, seniors Dana White and Anna Duffey teamed up to give the the 'Cats the edge, as White finished the feed at the 2:05 mark. Duffey soon provided the dagger.

Weston overcame a tremendous effort by Belmont junior midfield star Caroline McCarthy, who led the Marauders with a whopping seven goals.

"[She] had a phenomenal game,"  Swanson said. "We didn't do a good job stopping her."

The last two Weston strikes ended an implausible afternoon, in which Belmont rallied three times in the second half to overcome two-goal deficits.

"Coming in against the No. 2 seed, we came out a little nervous, but it was an equally played game," Belmont head coach Jessica Smith said. "We gave it a shot at the end. We could've won it."

Indeed, they could have. Belmont junior midfielder Izzy Goldstein, who already had two tallies, matching teammate Erin O'Donovan, and freshman attack Cate Brams, who scored the last tying goal, fired shots that veered just wide of the net in the waning seconds of regulation to keep the game tied.

Those attempts came after a furious try by Weston to get the game-winner, only to be stopped by Belmont senior All-Star goalie Katy Ananian, who made 19 saves overall.

"She was voted the best goalie in Eastern Mass," Smith said. "She came up with some huge saves when she needed to."

At the other end, Weston junior Christina Warner was just as dazzling with a big stand-up save in overtime, among several other beauties of the same variety.

"She made some big saves," Swanson said, noting Weston's defense also shined with a shutout effort in the OT frame.

Offensively, junior superstar Emma Dagres led a balanced Weston attack with four goals. Duffey followed with three, while Julia Meehan, Bianca Brueckner, and Sarah Peters each added two apiece, before White stuck with the game-winner.   

The Wildcats closed the campaign with a 14-10 loss to Winchester in the semifinals. After trailing, 4-0, Weston (15-4-1) rallied to within 5-3 with back-to-back goals from Dagres. Weston then struck for two more goals in a span of 34 seconds to tie the game.

The Sachems regained the lead moments later, but the Wildcats would remain within striking distance until Winchester scored two man-up goals as part of a five-goal outbreak that sealed Weston’s fate.

“We came out a little flat,” Swanson said. "They were up 4-0. We called a timeout. And then the girls really dug in and came back.

 “After we called the timeout, we just fixed a lot of things," she added. "We came up with more ball control, we fought for more ground balls, the defense did a better job of stopping them. Then at halftime, we came out and it just got away from us.”

Winchester's Kate Wendell played a big role in both scoring runs, scoring two goals in the  first 20 seconds of play and later the man-up strikes.The senior attack added another score to finish with a game-high five goals.

“I thought Kate Wendell did a great job,” Winchester coach Suzanne Ontso said. “She has been coming through all year.

The third-seeded Sachems (17-2-2) advanced to play Ipswich (17-1) in the finals.

To boys lacrosse we go, and the beat goes on for Weston, which rolled to a 12-7 victory over visiting Arlington Cathlolic in the Division 3 East quarterfinals. 

The No. 2 Wildcats (18-2) advanced to host No. 3 Cohasset (15-6) in the semifinals, and they also won that game, 12-10, to move onto the finals on Tuesday against the winner of Dover-Sherborn or North Reading.

"We really played well yesterday," Weston head coach Jim Wilcon said after the win over Arlington Catholic.  "[We] got off to a very fast start and put them in a hole early."

The 'Cats were led by Joey Pasquale and Kyle Nickerson. Pasquale had five goals and one  assist, while Nickerson struck three times and added three helpers. Matt Martin, Kerry Ecker, Rob Crockett, and Jordon Fong also scored.

Weston also took charge on  defense, with Steve Iodice, Matt Atkins, and Rob Bennett leading the way, while Jared Fong held the fort in goal. Also playing well on 'D' were  Greg Lanzillo, Nick Colangelo, Harrison Fontaine, and Jarret Rowe.    

"We are very excited about being back in the final four for the [Division 3] state tourney and look forward to playing [in the semifinals] in front of our home crowd," Wilcon said.

Seventh-ranked Arlington Cathlolic finished at 17-5.

Pasquale led Weston with six goals in the ensuing semifinal win.

Well, they may feel the sting now, but somewhere down the line the senior members of the Weston baseball team will remember this season for the strong 13-9 campaign it was.

"We will miss our 11 seniors,” Weston head coach Jon Berry said, after the host Wildcats fell to Saugus, 8-4, in the Division 3 North quarterfinals. “So many of them have really grown over the last four years, not only as baseball players, but as men, and we are proud of them.”

The veteran cast led Weston to a solid ninth seed in the tourney, after the ‘Cats played .600 ball (12-8) during the regular season. But, Weston was well aware of the No. 17 Sachems (8-15) ability to put the ball in play.

“We knew Saugus was a good hitting team coming in and we told [our] players that the ball will be put in play and we need to play solid defense,” Berry said. “To be honest, our defense has been our strong suit all year long, but there were about four plays that we usually make that we didn't that were real momentum killers and led to most, if not all, of their runs.”

But Berry wasn’t taking anything away from how well Saugus played in its third straight tourney victory, including a 2-1 upset special over No. 1 Greater Lowell in the prior round.

“I give Saugus all the credit in the world,” Berry said.  “They made the plays they had to when they had to. They got the key hits when they needed to and they took advantage of our mistakes. Their pitcher pitched a gutsy game. He threw 142 pitches and was still competing right down to the last out. They did a nice job.”

Trailing, 7-2, Weston rallied for another run in the bottom of the sixth, when David Miller (2 for 4) drove in Matt O’Connor (2 for 3), who led off with a double. But, for the second time, the Wildcats left the bases loaded.

“The story was simply missed opportunities,” Berry said. “Both teams had opportunities to put runs on the board. We left the bases loaded twice and two men on in another inning. The opportunities were there for us to drive in runs. Unfortunately, it just didn’t happen.”

Weston senior right-hander Robert Charpie pitched well in defeat, allowing only three earned runs.

The entire Weston baseball graduating class includes: Tom Wells, David Miller, Robert Charpie, Matt O’Connor, Nick Neu, Mike Guappone, Vincent Nardone, Zach Cannon, Zeke Silverstein, Tom Neufeld, and Nolan Neu. 

Meanwhile, the Weston softball team made a courageous postseason run, slipping into the state tourney on the last day of the regular season, winning a preliminary round game, and then battling No. 3 ShawsheenTech to the bitter end in the first round of the Division 3 North Sectionals. The No. 19 Wildcats put a stamp on their campaign with a 4-3 loss to the Rams.

"Overall, it was an exciting game," Weston head coach Kelly Harrington said. "Despite the second inning, [we] played a great game."

It was in that inning that the 'Cats made four consecutive errors that led to three Shawsheen runs.

Weston chipped away to tie the game at 3-3.  The Wildcats got on the board in the top of the fourth. With two outs, Ariana Vasquez ripped a double off the fence in centerfield, and Sarah Goldman delivered an RBI triple over the left fielder's head. Tanner Skenderian drove in Goldman with a single to make it 3-2.

But, Shawsheen was helped by a great defensive play by its left fielder, who made a sensational over-the-head catch to rob Sarah Ober of a hit.

In the sixth, Weston rallied again with two outs. This time, Vasquez led off with a walk. Goldman reached on a mishandled throw by the first baseman and  then Skenderian walked.  Emma Walsh, who was running for Vasquez, scored on a passed ball to tie the game, before Shawsheen got out of the inning.

But, it was a strong defensive effort by Weston in the bottom fourth that helped keep the Wildcats in the game. With a runner on second and one out, Shawsheen leadoff hitter Danielle Cacciola singled to centerfield. Centerfielder Sami Gosman hit the cut-offf, but the ensuing throw went wide, pulling catcher Talia Cramer off the plate. But Cramer was still able to catch the throw and toss to first baseman Katherine Anderson, who was covering home and tagged out the runner trying to score. Amazingly, the play went 8-1-2-3, though it wasn't that easy.

Gosman and right fielder Skenderian also made terrific running catches in the outfield to rob the Rams of extra base hits in other innnings, and Goldman caught a pair of well-struck line drives and had two assists at shortstop.

Harrington, meanwhile, praised Vasquez and Cramer for keeping the Shawsheen hitters off balance.

"[They] did a great job to keep the [Rams] batters guessing," she said.

Vasquez went the distance, allowing only one earned run, while striking out one.  She didn't walk a batter.  

The Rams took the lead in the bottom of the sixth on a pinch-hit single that scored the runner from second.

Weston had one last try and just missed in tying it.  Cramer led off with a single, and Gene Miller reached on an error. But the Rams got out of the jam with a strikeout, a fielder's choice and a popup.

Weston wishes its seniors, Co-captains Sarah Ober and Jessilee Gross, Julia Bruce, and Katherine Anderson the best of luck as they end their high school softball careers.

Finally, the Weston boys tennis team defeated Bedford, 5-0, in the Divsion 3 North final. The Wildcats will take on Cape Cod Academy tomorrow in the state semifinals.

Peter Shanley contributed to this report.