Weekly WH Athletics Update

It’s hard to believe the first month of school is just about in the books and it’s already time for Homecoming.  This year, it’s not just one single event, but rather every WH athletic team will compete here at home beginning on Thursday and wrapping up on Saturday.  The only exclusion are the cross country teams who will be competing in the prestigious Bay State Invitational on Saturday.  We would like to invite all of Panther nation and all alumni to come watch some outstanding high school athletic action.  Here is the lineup:

Thursday 10/2     Boys Golf at home at Ridder vs Hanover

                             Girls field Hockey at home vs Marshfield (4:45pm/6pm)

Friday 10/3          Girls Volleyball at home vs Pembroke at 4:45pm

                             Football at home vs Duxbury 7pm

                             (Cheerleading and Band/Majorettes perform at halftime)

Saturday 10/4     Girls Soccer at home vs Pembroke at 1pm

                             Boys Soccer at home vs Pembroke at 2:45pm

During Friday night’s football game, many of our 26 athletic programs as well as many clubs and activities will have tables selling various items and offering some fun activities.  Please be sure to take a walk by all of the tables to see how you may be able to support these great programs.  In addition on Friday night at halftime, we will have our 4^th annual Parade of Champions.  All of the teams who won championships last year, will be presented with their championship banners.  We invite all members of the class of 2014 to come back and join your championship team in the halftime parade.  Of course, as always, some lucky superfans will win the super seats and watch the game in the luxury comfort of leather couches in the endzone.  Hope to see everyone there showing their Panther Pride.

And now to the weekly update

1)      The girls cross country team rose to the occasion in a big way on Tuesday facing what many expected to be their toughest test of the season when Plymouth North came to town.  Standout Sophomore Samantha Coletti jumped to an early lead and never looked back in her wire-to-wire win on her 5K home course picking up her 4th straight dual meet victory in a time of 19:02 to lead the lady Panthers to a 19-36 dominating win.  Whitman-Hanson placed four more runners in the top seven finishers over the highly ranked Plymouth North squad.  Senior Co-Captain Kelsey Tierney finished 2nd in 20:20, 9 seconds ahead of Plymouth-North's Sophie Gorton who finished 3rd.  Co-Captain Caroline Mulrey finished 4th in 20:35, while Sophomore Abbie Newman placed 5th in 20:53.  Co-Captain Megan Concannon completed the scoring for the Panthers with a 7th place finish in 21:10, seconds behind Plymouth North's Sam Curtin who finished 6th overall in 20:58.  The girls remain in control of first place in the league but put that title on the line on Tuesday when they travel to take on the always tough Hingham squad.

2)      The boys team did not disappoint either as they topped the Blue Eagles, 21-34.  Senior Co-Captain Patrick Brett won his 4th consecutive Patriot League Dual Meet completing the 5K course in 17:48.  Juniors Sam Evans (17:52) and Lukas Moscoso (18:02) finished 2nd and 3rd.  Plymouth North took the next three spots with Tom Wedge (18:06), Todd Cushing (18:01) and Nate Shannon 18:23.) But it was Whitman-Hanson sealing the win behind Junior Jayson Keenan (18:27) and Freshman jack Ryan (18;31) picking up the 7th and 8th places.

3)      The girls soccer team survived a very tough week playing to draws against both Scituate and Weymouth before wrapping up the week with a thrilling 3-1 come from behind win at Plymouth North.  After a scoreless first half, Plymouth North took a 1-0 lead 5 mins in to the second half. Alexis Fruzzetti tied the score when she took a Katie Korzec pass and floated a shot over the keeper. Later Fruzzetti sent Freshman Eve Montgomery towards the goal which she placed in the corner and gave Whitman Hanson a 2-1 lead. With two minutes remaining Junior Rachel Kelley took a Fruzzetti pass and fired a low shot into the corner for the final 3-1 score. Elana Wood, Kelsey Gilbert, Jill Shangold and Katherine O'Kane all played strong defense in front of keeper Arianna Comendul who made 9 saves in goal. Taylor Kofton played a strong game in the middle of the field.  The girls are back in action on Monday night at home against Quincy at 6:30pm.

4)      The boys picked up 3 more points toward qualifying for the MIAA tournament with a 1-1-1 week.  The highlight of the week came on Thursday night when the Panthers beat E. Bridgewater, 5 – 0.  After a scoreless 1^st half, the Panthers got on the board at the 3:50 mark on a goal by Brian McGahan with an assist by Kyle Nehiley.  The Panthers netted another on at the 6:00 mark when Nick Haley scored with an assist going to Brian McGahan.  At the 11^th minute Brian McGahan scored his second goal with the assist going to Nick Haley.  Jarred Pendrak scored his 1^st goal of the season at the 24^th minute on an assist by Brian Barry.  The final Panther goal was the Hat Trick for Brian McGahan at the 29^th minute on an assist by Jack Bannon.

Goalies Jack Bannon and Conor Keane combine for the shutout with the whole defensive unit.  A good team effort moves the Panthers overall record to 4 – 3 – 1

5)      The injury bug has hit the football team pretty hard but the boys and coaching staff continue to work hard in their quest for a post season berth.  Unfortunately, one of the best teams in the area came to town on Friday and handed the Panthers the loss.  Junior Nick Smith had 85 yards rushing on 14 carries and was 4-15 passing for 65 yards and one rushing and one throwing touchdown to Mickey Martell. The team is home Friday night against Duxbury for homecoming.

6)      It was an outstanding week for the volleyball team as the girls won 2 of 3 to improve to 4 and 5, just one game off the playoff pace.  The Panthers won 6 straight games defeating Rockland and Bridgewater-Raynham by identical, 3-0 scores.  The BR match was much closer than the final score would indicate, with scores of 25-23, 26-24 and 25-23. In the first set B-R got out to an early lead at 8-3 but W-H was able to slowly climb back into the game to tie it up at 12-12. From there the two teams played back and forth for the remainder of the set until W-H was able to close out the game with strong defensive plays that helped the offense get going. In the second and third sets the teams again went back and forth with leads. In the end the Panthers offense was able to make the right plays when they needed to seal off the 3-0 victory. Strong players tonight for Whitman-Hanson tonight were Erin Clifford with 9 kills and 3 aces, Rachel Spillane with 7 digs, 3 kills and 2 aces and Alyssa Gacicia with 13 assists and 1 ace. The Panthers are now 4-5 and play at Quincy on Monday.

7)      The field hockey teams continue to build the new program with daily progress by all of the girls.  More than 30 girls are playing the sport for the first time and they have come such a long way.  They beat Silver Lake on Friday, 3-0.  Kristen Arthur, Emily Cook, and Colleen Hughes scored the goals. Caroline Woodward with the shutout in net. The girls are back home on Tuesday at 4:45pm.

8)      The golf team is closing in on a post season playoff berth.  The Pembroke Titans arrived at Ridder Farm Golf Club on Thursday unsure if their match against the Panthers would happen because of potential rain. Fortunately for the Panthers, the match was not cancelled, as they came out on top 234-243. 
Senior Alex Burbank led all scorers on the day shooting an impressive 3-over par 37, while fellow classmates Sam Perkins and Colin Josselyn each had a 4-over par performance. The victory improves the team's overall record to 8-3 (7-3 league).  This week's schedule will surely test the squad as they travel to the Country Club of Halifax (Silver Lake) on Tuesday, Plymouth Country Club (Plymouth North) on Wednesday, and play host to Hanover on Thursday.