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College Sports

Local roundup: Tibbetts propels Falcons to OT win

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The Fitchburg State field hockey team needed extra time to get there, but when all was said and done Wednesday, the Falcons had captured win No. 1 on the season.

Fitchburg State picked up an overtime victory, winning 2-1 over Anna Maria in Worcester to improve to 1-4.

Sophomore Autumn Tibbetts, of Lunenburg, potted both goals for the Falcons, notching the game-winner in the third minute of OT off a feed from Joyce Arbia. The reigning MASCAC Rookie of the Week also netted a marker in the second quarter, giving Fitchburg State a 1-0 lead off an assist from Sophia Yates.

The AmCats pulled even in the fourth quarter with just 3:22 to play as Carly Drew poked home the equalizer.

Senior backstop Jenna Morse made three saves to earn the victory for Fitchburg State, which returns to action Saturday with a MASCAC matchup against Westfield State at Elliot Field at 11 a.m.

High school field hockey

Monty Tech 0, Blackstone Valley Tech 0: The Bulldogs are 2-1-1.

Marlboro 2, Oakmont 1: Rachel Simkewicz scored for the Spartans (1-3).

Girls soccer

AMSA 3, Monty Tech 1: Reyna Moran scored the lone goal for the Bulldogs.

Golf

Shrewsbury 209, North Middlesex 221: Max Caliri was the medalist, carding a 4-over 40 for North Middlesex (2-2) at The Haven.

Monty Tech 146, Blackstone Valley Tech 166: Michael Cannon was the medalist with a 1-over par 37 at Highfields Country Club for the Bulldogs (4-1).

Local roundup: Falcons grounded by Western New England

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The Fitchburg State field hockey suffered a 4-1 setback to Western New England in non-conference action this afternoon from Elliot Field on Thursday.

Western New England (5-0) broke a scoreless stalemate in the 25th minute as sophomore Kara Edwards rifled a shot into the left side of the cage for her third goal of the season..

Fitchburg State (0-3) nearly knotted the score with three minutes remaining in the first half when senior Joyce Arbia ripped a shot on frame, but Golden Bears keeper Ella Henry turned the shot aside to preserve the advantage going into the break.

Following the intermission, the Golden Bears threatened at the 43:08 mark with sophomore Haley Kaczka was awarded a penalty stroke, only to have Falcon goal keeper Jenna Morse make the save to keep the score at 1-0.

Western New England upped the lead to 2-0 in the 47th minute of play when Kacaka received a feed from senior Carly-Anna Barba and struck for her second marker on the year. The visitors secured the victory three minutes later as junior Sarah Johnston collected a loose ball in front of the cage and deposited a shot inside the far post to make the score 3-0.

Fitchburg State dented the scoreboard with just over four minutes remaining in the contest as Arbia redirected a loose ball into the lower right corner for her first collegiate score.

Morse stopped 14 shots for Fitchburg State, which returns to action Saturday with a MASCAC tilt at Framingham State at 11 a.m.

Boys soccer

Nashoba 2, North Middlesex 0:  Lucas Messier scored twice for Nashoba, with Angel Bustrillo notching an assist for the Wolves.

Volleyball

Nashoba 3, North Middlesex 0: Set scores were 25-15, 25-12 and 25-19.

Jess Allard had four kills and six digs in defeat, while Joann Nolan added a pair of kills and Anne McNabb had 10 digs.

Golf

Nashoba 194, Leominster 212: The Wolves (3-1, 2-1 Mid-Wach A) were led by Mason Bowie and Irv Carnes, who each carded 3-over 38s at Gardner Municipal Golf Course.

Luke Grebinar earned medalist honors for Leominster (0-2, 0-2) with a 1-over 36.

Monty Tech 158, Bay Path 196: Michael Cannon was the medalist for Monty Tech (3-1) with a 2-over 38 on the back nine at Gardner Municipal Golf Course.

Boys cross country

Ayer-Shirley 17, Tahanto 43: Jake Leone won the race in 18:14 for the Panthers (1-0) and was followed by teammates Cole New and Jack Holden in second and third, respectively.

Girls cross country

Ayer-Shirley 26, Tahanto 31: Carolyn Mason, Marissa Grace, Jane Marshall and Ada Perwak took second through fifth, respectively, for the Panthers (1-0).

Local notebook: Smith returns to Lunenburg

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Lunenburg High School alum Von Smith is coming home.

Smith has been named the new Blue Knights girls soccer head coach per Lunenburg athletic director Kevin Bigelow.

Smith, a 2006 Lunenburg High graduate and standout on the Blue Knights boys soccer team, had been the boys soccer head coach at Athol High School since the fall of 2020. After his playing days for the Blue Knights wrapped up, Smith played semi-pro soccer in Sweden before he spent time in the United States Army.

Smith takes over for Ethan Cheeseman, who replaced Tim Normandin at the start of the 2016 season. Cheeseman, also a Lunenburg High graduate, was a teammate of Smith’s when the two played for the Lunenburg boys soccer team.

Smith will inherit a Lunenburg team that finished 8-7-4 overall last fall, qualifying for the Division 4 Tournament before bowing out of the tournament in the Round of 32 against Cohasset Regional in a 7-0 defeat. The Blue Knights are slated to open the season Sept. 7 against Fitchburg High with a league contest at Game On Fitchburg at 4 p.m.

Kassel moves on from FSU

When Fitchburg State opens the 2023 field hockey season by hosting Colby-Sawyer on Sept. 1, it will do so without Lena Kassel, who rewrote the program record books in her first and only season with the Falcons.

Kassel, a German student studying abroad in Fitchburg last year, has moved on to Michigan State to play Division 1 field hockey. Following the completion of the 2022 season, Fitchburg State head coach Kayla Quinn noted that her phenomenal freshman midfielder had drawn the attention of several big-time collegiate programs and would not be back this fall.

Fitchburg State's Lena Kassel scored her team-leading 16th goal of the season in Friday's loss to Rivier. (Courtesy Fitchburg State Athletics)
Former Fitchburg State standout Lena Kassel will play Division 1 field hockey at Michigan State this fall. (Courtesy Fitchburg State Athletics)

A Division 3 All-American Third Team honoree following her freshman campaign, Kassel set new program single-season marks for goals (31) and points (67) and broke Fitchburg State’s record for goals in a game with seven in an 8-0 win over UMass Dartmouth.

Named to the Little East Conference (LEC) All-Conference First Team, Kassel earned LEC Rookie of the Week honors five times and was tabbed LEC Rookie of the Year. She’ll have two seasons of collegiate eligibility remaining at Michigan State.

Kassel and the Spartans will face another player with Central Mass. ties twice this fall, squaring off with former Nashoba Regional standout Caylie McMahon and Michigan in a preseason tilt as well as a Big Ten meeting. McMahon is a sophomore goaltender for the Wolverines.

Fall season nearing for Falcons

The start of the fall season at Fitchburg State is now less than a month away.

The field hockey team will be the first group of Falcons to play this fall, hosting Colby-Sawyer at 1 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 1. But the rest of FSU’s programs won’t be far behind, with both the men’s and women’s soccer teams getting underway later that day and the rest of the Fitchburg State teams kicking off their campaigns by the end of that weekend.

The women’s soccer team hosts Rivier at Elliot Field at 4 p.m. on Sept. 1, while the men’s soccer team is Elms that night, kicking off at 7 p.m.

The Fitchburg State football team starts its 2023 season under new head coach Zach Shaw, opening with a Saturday game at Dean on Sept. 2 at noon. The women’s volleyball team will welcome Dean to Fitchburg that same day, with their season-opening match getting started at 11 a.m.

The men’s and women’s cross country teams will open at home, hosting the annual Jim Sheehan Invitational on Sept. 2. The start time for the meet at the Doyle Conservation Center in Leominster has yet to be announced.

Post 151 ready for another summer on the diamond

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As is almost always the case, there’s no shortage of talent on the roster of the Leominster American Legion Post 151 baseball team.

Drawing from Leominster High, Fitchburg High and Lunenburg High, among other area schools and universities, Post 151 should have a formidable team take to the diamond each and every time it sets foot on Pin Cannavino Field. American Legion players can range in age from 14 and 19 and come from designated areas for each team.

Post 151 opened its 23-game season Friday night at Northboro, with the contest suspended after minor innings with the score knotted at 4. Its home opener is scheduled for Sunday, when Leominster hosts Milford.

This year’s group features six players from Leominster High, which just wrapped up a 20-2 campaign. Seniors Tyler Godin (Anna Maria), Ryan Garner (Husson), Alex Oquendo (Worcester State) and Tony Salvatelli (Assumption) will be joined by junior Angel Baez and freshman Mark Garner from the ranks of the Blue Devils.

Fitchburg's Henry Bruun pitches Thursday afternoon versus St. Bernard's High.
Recent Fitchburg High grad Henry Bruun will once again play for Leominster American Legion Post 151. (Sentinel & Enterprise File Photo)

Recent Fitchburg High grads Henry Bruun (UNH) and Declan Bourgault (Springfield College) will be joined by fellow former Red Raider Adam Bessette, while Lunenburg class of 2023 members Dylan Adamson (Salem State) and Tristan Dance (Bridgewater State) will reunite with former teammate Daniel Wright (Worcester State).

Recent Nashoba Regional grads Ashton Malzahn (WPI) and Trevor Robichaud (Colby Sawyer) are with the team, as is Winchendon School senior Thomas Rupp (Limestone). Ayer-Shirley class of 2023 member Cam Marshall (Merrimack) and recent Wachusett Regional grad Justin Mariani (Bryant) have hopped onboard for the summer, as has North Middlesex Regional freshman Nicholas Colavito.

Leominster will play in the Zone 4 A division, along with East Side, Hudson, Northboro, North County — featuring several players from Oakmont Regional — and Sturbridge. The B division is comprised of Cherry Valley, Framingham, Main South, Milford, Northbridge and Shrewsbury.

Post 151’s schedule is comprised mainly of contests against Zone 4 teams, though it will participate in the Holy Cross and Beverly tournaments this summer, with opponents to be determined, and will play a non-divisional game against Nashua, New Hampshire, on June 22.

Local roundup: Blue Devils power past Masco

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The Leominster High softball team fought through a bit of adversity early in its Division 2 first round game against Masconomet Regional before rolling to a 9-3 victory at the Lassie League Complex.

Masconomet, seeded 23rd, led No. 10 Leominster (9-10), 3-2 after three before the Blue Devils rallied. The hosts pulled even in the fourth and went ahead for good with a four-run fifth.

Leominster's Megan Dube delivers a pitch during Thursday's victory over Masconomet. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)
Leominster’s Megan Dube delivers a pitch during Thursday’s victory over Masconomet. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)

Victoria Belcastro had a double and a homer and drove in three as the Blue Devils advanced to face either Somerset-Berkley or Westwood.

Megan Dube struck out 16 for the Blue Devils, while Abigail Barnaby went 4-for-4 with an RBI, scoring three times. Georgina Wilson added a 3-for-4 showing at the plate, driving in a pair for Leominster.

Ayer-Shirley 24, Springfield International 1: The 28th-seeded Panthers (8-12) rolled to a home win in the Division 5 preliminary round.

Holbrook 7, St. Bernard’s 0: The 32nd-seeded Bernardians (6-13) were blanked by No. 33 Holbrook in a Division 5 preliminary contest.

Baseball

Snowden 6, Lunenburg 2: Senior Tristan Dance notched an RBI double, but it wasn’t enough for the 26th-seeded Blue Knights (8-11) in a Division 4 prelim loss.

Girls tennis

Masconomet 5, Nashoba 0: Bella Cosentino and Grace Hanley battled in a 6-1, 6-2 first singles loss for the 36th-seeded Wolves (10-10) in a Division 2 round of 32 defeat.

Volleyball

Fitchburg 3, Keefe Tech 0: The 16th-seeded Red Raiders advance to the round of 16 in the Division 2 tournament.

College baseball

Fitchburg State senior catcher Vincent Eramo has been selected to participate in the 2023 New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) All-Star Game at Dunkin Donuts Park, home of the Hartford Yard Goats in Hartford, Conn., on June 5 at noon.

This season, Eramo batted .395 with 58 hits, 11 doubles, two triples, 12 home runs, 37 runs scored, 55 RBI, 18 walks and 13 steals for the Green and Gold, while rewriting the Falcon record books in the process as the senior catcher set the single season program record for home runs (12), RBI (55) and total bases (109) as well as setting the Falcons career record for home runs (22) and total bases (280).

For his efforts, the Shitley native was selected to the MASCAC All-Conference First Team, the D3 Baseball.Com All-Region First Team and the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings All-Region First Team.

Eramo has played five games with the Worcester Bravehearts of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League, batting .294 with a home run and six runs driven in.

White hot at the right time

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Nick White has picked a fine time to get red-hot.

The former North Middlesex Regional and American Legion Post 151 ballplayer has come on at the exact right moment for the University of Maine baseball team, putting together an outstanding pair of games for the top-seeded Black Bears in the America East tournament.

Since returning from a separated shoulder that kept him off the diamond for most of March and all of April, the junior has been producing at a notable rate.

A utility player who transferred to Orono from Northern Essex Community College, White has posted some strong numbers in his first season of Division 1 baseball. He’s batting .375 on the season with three home runs and 13 RBI in 21 games. White has also scored 15 runs and played flawlessly in the field, recording 33 putouts without an error.

But as the regular season came to a close and the conference tournament rolled around, White’s numbers have begun to rise. He’s been a critical cog in the Black Bear offense, which has landed Maine in the America East final after taking the first two contests in tournament.

The Black Bears (31-19, 19-5 AE) will vie for the conference crown Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. at Binghamton in Vestel, New York, against the winner of Friday’s late elimination game between No. 3 Binghamton and second-seeded UMBC. Should Maine fall in that tilt, it would have a second chance to claim the title in a winner-take-all second contest 45 minutes after the completion of the first.

In his last five games, White is 9-22 (.409) with two homers and four RBI. In Thursday’s 10-7 quarterfinal victory over UMass Lowell, White went 2-for-5 with a double and home run, driving in three and followed that up on Friday with a 1-for-4 showing at the plate against UMBC in the America East semifinals.

White had been solid through the early stages of the season, but missed nearly two months worth of games after a shoulder injury. But White returned on May 5 and has played in a dozen contests since then.

Nick White notches a base hit for Leominster American Legion Post 151 baseball team during a 2018 game. (Sentinel & Enterprise File Photo)
Nick White notches a base hit for Leominster American Legion Post 151 baseball team during a 2018 game. (Sentinel & Enterprise File Photo)

And many of his Division 1 season highs have come since that return. He notched a season-high four hits in a May 20 game against Bryant, and scored a season-high three runs in that contest. The left-hand hitting and right-hand throwing White set his high for the campaign in RBI in Thursday’s win over the River Hawks.

To those familiar with the 6-foot, 200-pound former Patriot, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that he’s excelling. After starring on the diamond in Townsend and then with the American Legion Post 151 team in Leominster under Jeff Dedeian, White played two seasons of junior college ball at Northern Essex.

All White did during his time with the Knights is twice be named a National Junior College Athletic Association and help the team to a berth in the NJCAA World Series last spring. Having completed two years at the Haverhill school, White announced he head north to Orono to join the Black Bears.