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Field hockey

Local teams eye CMADA glory

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The regular season is winding down. The state tournament looms.

For many teams in the region, the next two weeks will provide a chance to polish their skills in pursuit of a state title while also presenting the opportunity to pick up some additional hardware.

There’s no shortage of local programs set to take part in the Central Mass. Athletic Directors Association (CMADA) tournaments next week. Across the sports of volleyball, soccer and field hockey, teams will compete in three classes for the equivalent of a sectional crown.

The top eight teams in order of the MIAA’s power rankings for each class were seeded in the CMADA tournaments.

The contests begin early next week, with dates and times set for some matchups and others still to come.

The Class A field hockey brackets alone are loaded with local teams, with three of the four matchups featuring North Central Mass. standouts. Fifth-seeded Leominster will visit No. 4 Doherty with a date and time yet to be announced, while No. 7 Nashoba Regional heads to No. 2 Algonquin Regional Monday at 4 p.m. Eighth-seeded North Middlesex Regional is at top-seeded Wachusett Regional Monday at 5 p.m.

In the field hockey Class B pairings, top-seeded Lunenburg will host No. 8 Monty Tech with a time to be determined, while No. 5 Oakmont Regional travels to Barre to face No. 4 Quabbin Regional Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.

The boys soccer Class A pairings, much like Class A field hockey, has a trio of local teams competing. Top-seeded Nashoba hosts No. 8 Westboro Tuesday at, while third-seeded Leominster plays host to No. 6 Algonquin. Fifth-seeded North Middlesex Regional heads to No. 4 Shrewsbury High.

Top-seeded Oakmont Regional hosts No. 8 Lunenburg in the Class B boys soccer tournament Tuesday at 7 p.m., while No. 8 Ayer-Shirley heads to top-seeded Sutton in Class C. In the Class D pairings, eighth-seeded St. Bernard’s will visit No. 1 Whitinsville Christian.

The girls soccer pairings saw Nashoba draw the top seed in Class A. The Wolves will host No. 8 Leominster Tuesday at 5, while in Class B, No. 6 Lunenburg travels to No. 3 Northbridge with a time and date still to come.

In the volleyball pairings, No. 6 Nashoba plays at No. 3 Nipmuc at 5:15 p.m. Monday in the Class A tournament. In those same pairings, No. 8 Leominster will visit top-seeded Shrewsbury.

Sixth-seeded Monty Tech travels to No. 3 Millbury in the Class B bracket and in Class C, No. 8 St. Bernard’s plays at top-seeded Whitinsville Christian Monday at 5 p.m.

Local roundup: Falcons rally to top Rams

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The Fitchburg State field hockey defeated Framingham State, 3-2, Wednesday in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) action from Elliot Field in a contest that saw a program record fall.

Senior goalkeeper Jenna Morse turned aside seven shots to earn the win as the Falcons (3-8, 2-4 MASCAC)  erased an early deficit. The save total pushed the Leominster resident’s career stops at 387, breaking the Falcons’ record.

Framingham State opened the scoring at the 7:09 mark of the first quarter when freshman Ashley Malmquist collected a loose ball in front of the cage and deposited a shot into the lower right corner for her fifth goal on the season.

Fitchburg State knotted the score at 1 with eight minutes remaining in the first half as sophomore Autumn Tibbetts, of Lunenburg, received a feed from classmate Sophia Yates and proceeded to find the back of the cage for her team-leading fifth score of the year

The Falcons grabbed the lead four minutes later as junior Alexis Raymond settled a loose ball at the top of the circle and blasted a shot into the left side of the cage for her first marker of the campaign to put the Falcons up 2-1 going into the break.

Following the intermission, the Green and Gold pushed the lead 3-1 in the 36th minute as sophomore Samantha Yates converted a penalty stroke, beating Rams keeper Kaitlyn Tello for her first tally of the season.

The Rams cut the deficit to 3-2 at the 51:58 mark when junior Kaylee Beck redirected a shot into the far side of the net for her fourth goal of the year.

Morse was able to make a couple key saves down the stretch as Fitchburg State held on for the 3-2 victory.

Fitchburg State held an 18-13 advantage in shots, while Framingham State finished with a narrow 7-5 edge in penalty corners.

Women’s volleyball

MCLA 3, Fitchburg State 0: The Falcons (7-9, 1-2 MASCAC) fell by set scores of 25-9, 25-21 and 25-19.

Jessica Greco finished with 14 digs to set a new Fitchburg State single-season mark with 262. Stephanie Sardella racked up eight kills, along with three aces and four digs, while Emily Gelinas dished out 16 assists and added seven digs in defeat.

High school field hockey

Wachusett 3, Nashoba 1: Kayla Flanagan scored for the Wolves (4-8), while goalkeeper Val Michel was outstanding in net, recording 15 saves.

Golf

North Middlesex 39.5, Marlboro 14.5: Shawn Amari carded a 1-over 36 at Northern Spy Golf Club to lead the Patriots (11-3). North Middlesex also topped St. Bernard’s, 35-19.

High school volleyball

Monty Tech 3, Worcester Tech 2: The Bulldogs picked up a road victory by scores of 25-17, 16-25, 25-20, 15-25 and 15-6.

Bailey Tetreault notched 18 service points, six assists and three kills in the win, while Deanna Smith chipped in with nine service points, six kills and five digs.

Local roundup: Falcons grounded by Bears

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The Fitchburg State field hockey dropped a conference contest to Bridgewater State, 5-2, on Friday evening.

The Falcons got on the board first in the second quarter when Autumn Tibbetts found teammate Sydney Alto on the left side of the goal for her first goal of the season.

Fitchburg’s lead wouldn’t last long. Just six minutes later, Brianna Gagnon would beat Jenna Morseon a quick touch on a fast-break opportunity that was set up on a pass by Raegen Perry.

The second half started with constant pressure from the Bears. They eventually broke through the Falcons defense on a deflected shot by Jordyn Perry from Abbie Zuber for a 2-1 lead.

The Bears tacked on another in the fourth after being awarded a penalty stroke. Zoe Bergeron made it a 3-1 game after scoring just over the Morse’s right shoulder.

Fitchburg came back just over a minute later to cut the deficit to one on a goal off of a penalty corner by Sofia Yates from Alexis Raymond..

The scoring continued in the fourth quarter with Bridgewater extending the lead to two with a rebounded shot and goal from Perry before adding insurance goal with under a minute left on a score from Lexi James after receiving a perfect pass from the right corner by Bergeron.

Morse finished the contest with 11 saves on 16 shots.

High school field hockey

Monty Tech 5, Fitchburg 1: Hailey Mahoney potted four goals for Monty Tech.

Peyton LaVigueur scored Fitchburg’s lone goal off a feed from captain Alisha McCall.

Nashoba 5, Shrewsbury 2: Lauren DiTullio recorded her first varsity hat trick for the Wolves, while Hannah Dwight had a goal and two assists. Meg Hourihan also scored in the victory.

Golf

Monty Tech 161, AMSA 183: Mike Cannon, Brett Cherubini, and Luke Albero shared medalist honors with matching 4-over 40s at Gardner Municipal Golf Course as the Bulldogs improved to 11-1.

Volleyball

Monty Tech 3, St. Bernard’s 0: The Bulldogs won by set scores of 25-17, 25-19 and 25-11.

Local Notebook: Plenty to see on MASCAC honor roll

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Often overlooked by those taking home weekly conference awards, there are many strong performances highlighted in the MASCAC’s honor roll every week. After all, there are only so many accolades to go around, but putting something of a spotlight on other great student-athletes is a nice touch.

Look no further than the weekly field hockey awards. Fitchburg State’s Jenna Morse took home Defensive Player of the Week and teammate Autumn Tibbetts was named Rookie of the Week, while Worcester State’s Grace Adams, a Leominster High grad, was tabbed Player of the Week.

There were plenty of other strong showings across the conference in the week prior, including a great game by Worcester State netminder Sam Gastonguay against the Falcons. The senior backstop and former Oakmont Regional standout made four saves with a 1.00 GAA and .800 save percentage in the Lancers’ 2-1 win over Fitchburg State, earning a spot on the honor roll.

Likewise, Fitchburg State’s Jessica Greco earned the Women’s Volleyball Defensive Player of the Week honor, but teammate Stephanie Sardella picked up an honor roll nod after registering 29 kills, three assists, nine aces, 35 digs and one blocking assist in a 3-0 week for the Falcons.

In women’s cross country, Fitchburg State’s Skye Goba, earned recognition after finishing 20th out of 183 runners at the Keene State Invitational. The sophomore completed the 5K course with an average mile time of 6:22.

On the men’s side, Fitchburg State’s Michael Burns was highlighted after finishing 27th out of 232 runners at Keene State. The sophomore crossed the finish line in 27:04, with an average mile of 5:33 over the 8K layout.

Fitchburg State sophomore linebacker Camren Topkin earned a nod after posting 13 tackles — including four solo stops — to go with half a sack, a tackle for loss and a fumble recovery in the Falcons’ loss to Bridgewater State on Saturday.

Jones does it again at UNE

Former St. Bernard’s standout Damien Jones continued his strong freshman campaign for the University of New England on Saturday, notching a pair of touchdowns as the Nor’Easters downed Castleton, 31-14.

Jones scored on runs of eight and two yards, popping in the first two touchdowns of the day for UNE, which opened a 21-0 lead after the opening quarter and never looked back.

On the day, the Fitchburg native tallied 29 yards on six carries. Jones and the Nor’Easters return to action on Oct. 14, welcoming Nichols to Biddeford, Maine, for a Commonwealth Coast Conference contest at 1 p.m.

Local Notebook: Plenty to see on MASCAC honor roll

by

Often overlooked by those taking home weekly conference awards, there are many strong performances highlighted in the MASCAC’s honor roll every week. After all, there are only so many accolades to go around, but putting something of a spotlight on other great student-athletes is a nice touch.

Look no further than the weekly field hockey awards. Fitchburg State’s Jenna Morse took home Defensive Player of the Week and teammate Autumn Tibbetts was named Rookie of the Week, while Worcester State’s Grace Adams, a Leominster High grad, was tabbed Player of the Week.

There were plenty of other strong showings across the conference in the week prior, including a great game by Worcester State netminder Sam Gastonguay against the Falcons. The senior backstop and former Oakmont Regional standout made four saves with a 1.00 GAA and .800 save percentage in the Lancers’ 2-1 win over Fitchburg State, earning a spot on the honor roll.

Likewise, Fitchburg State’s Jessica Greco earned the Women’s Volleyball Defensive Player of the Week honor, but teammate Stephanie Sardella picked up an honor roll nod after registering 29 kills, three assists, nine aces, 35 digs and one blocking assist in a 3-0 week for the Falcons.

In women’s cross country, Fitchburg State’s Skye Goba, earned recognition after finishing 20th out of 183 runners at the Keene State Invitational. The sophomore completed the 5K course with an average mile time of 6:22.

On the men’s side, Fitchburg State’s Michael Burns was highlighted after finishing 27th out of 232 runners at Keene State. The sophomore crossed the finish line in 27:04, with an average mile of 5:33 over the 8K layout.

Fitchburg State sophomore linebacker Camren Topkin earned a nod after posting 13 tackles — including four solo stops — to go with half a sack, a tackle for loss and a fumble recovery in the Falcons’ loss to Bridgewater State on Saturday.

Jones does it again at UNE

Former St. Bernard’s standout Damien Jones continued his strong freshman campaign for the University of New England on Saturday, notching a pair of touchdowns as the Nor’Easters downed Castleton, 31-14.

Jones scored on runs of eight and two yards, popping in the first two touchdowns of the day for UNE, which opened a 21-0 lead after the opening quarter and never looked back.

On the day, the Fitchburg native tallied 29 yards on six carries. Jones and the Nor’Easters return to action on Oct. 14, welcoming Nichols to Biddeford, Maine, for a Commonwealth Coast Conference contest at 1 p.m.

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).