Sports: Down Early, Girls’ Soccer Stun Wilmington as Allard’s Hat Trick Secures

September 14, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: It’s all tied up!

After conceding three goals in the first 15 minutes of its game against the three-time Middlesex League champions Wilmington High School, it felt like that it would be an early night for the Belmont High Girls’ Soccer.

“I told them to keep their heads up and just play their game,” said Belmont’s long-time head coach Paul Graham, Tuesday night, Sept. 13, against a team had had not lost a league match since 2013.

But even Graham was unprepared for what happened in the next 65 minutes.

Relying on one of the hottest players in the state and taking the game to the Wildcats, a relatively young Belmont squad erased the three-goal deficit to stun Wilmington, 3-3, in a tie hardly anyone saw coming.

“Stealing a point was huge and to do it coming back against that club, a ranked team when we were down three to nothing. This was a total team ‘win,'” said Graham, whose team lost to Wilmington, 5-1, last year.

The catalyst for Belmont was junior all-star Carey Allard who bagged the hat-trick to bring the Marauders (2-0-1) back from what appeared to be a certain home defeat.

“As soon as it happened, we all got a little down. But after halftime, we got our heads back in it and fought until we tied it,” said Allard who scored her first late in the first period with a running volley from a pass by junior midfielder Emma Sass and the second at the penalty spot.

The final goal, with just under 10 minutes remaining was, simply put, a mistake. Coming down the right side, Allard cut along the touch line and sent the ball over the Wildcat’s goalkeeper and into the far corner at the acutest of angles.

“That was supposed to be a cross, but I hit it all wrong. I guess I got lucky,” said Allard who has tallied eight goals in three games.

For Graham, the tie was, in a sense, a team victory as players outhustled the competition from winning 50/50 balls to muscling Wilmington away from making a dangerous move towards the Marauders’ goal.

Placing juniors Emma Sass, Eliza Filler and sophomore Olivia Cella in the midfield in the later part of first and in the second halves proved problematic for the Wildcat playmakers “because while they’re not the biggest girls, they are fast and nipped at [Wilmington’s] heels if they are beaten.”

Graham said the game will be a bookmark for future games against the steel of the Middlesex League in coming days.

“We had them on their back heel by the end of the game,”said Graham, praising sophomore forward Ella Gagnon for attacking Wilmington’s defense which gave Allard the little bit of space she needed to work her magic.

Sports: Volleyball Rebounds for First Win, Girls Swimming Tested by Melrose

September 12, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Jane Mahon serving.

Volleyball stones Stoneham, 3-0, to even season

After meeting one of the toughest opponents it will see this season in its opener, Belmont High Volleyball rebounded to grab its first victory of the young season, downing Stoneham 3-0 (25-10, 25-23, 25-21) in a warm Wenner Field House on Friday, Sept. 9.

With a strong defense digging numerous balls from the floor, Belmont was the beneficiary of some fortunate bounces including one of the more bizarre incidents you’ll see on the court. During the third set, after clawing back from nearly a ten point deficit to take a slim 20-19 point lead, a Stoneham player put the ball into her net, causing the Belmont players to turn to celebrate the point.

But the ball was still in play and a Stoneham player hit the ball over to the Marauders’ side where it hit sophomore Jane Mahon on her head. Realizing the situation, Belmont’s Katrena Daldalian stuck the ball over to Stoneham which lost the point due to a returning error.

Head Coach Jen Couture named Daldalian the player of the match “for helping to shift the momentum” in the critical third, as she started serving at 12-18 and brought us to 21-19.

“It was very clutch,” said Couture, who added that Mahon also had a great match hitting 17 for 18 with 9 kills.

Belmont is 1-1 and will take on Wilmington away on Tuesday, Sept. 13.

Depth propels swimming to victory over a strong Melrose squad

Anyone who thought the first meet of the year for Belmont’s swimmers against Melrose High School would be a cakewalk has not been following the local swimming scene lately. The Red Raiders are a young but strong team that finished last year’s Div. 2 state championship in 7th place. And the 2016 team brought back all its top rate competitors including junior freestyle sprinter Samantha D’Alessan and a slew of good relays.

The Red Raiders are a young but strong team that finished last year’s Div. 2 state championship in 7th place. And the 2016 team brought back all its top rate competitors including junior freestyle sprinting champ Samantha D’Alessandro and a slew of good relays.

“I knew we had to be on our toes to get by this team. They have wonderful girls and great coaches,” said Belmont’s long time head coach Ev Crosscup.

With the help of a sophomore stalwart and surprising depth in several events, Belmont was able to secure a hard-won victory, 90-75, with scoring stopped with two events remaining.

Taking over from recently graduated swimming star Jessie Blake-West – she is competing for Brown this year – is 10th grader Nicole Kalavantis, who came off three state championship swims last year. And the sophomore picked up where she left off, powering through some very impressive times this early in the season, winning the 200 and 500 yard free with ease (2:05.57 and 5:37.07) and anchored the 200 medley and the 4×400 free relays to victories.

The Marauders’ deep bench was seen in events such as the 200 individual medley as Dervla Moore-Frederick, Angela Li and Molly Thomas finished 2, 3 and 4 to secure 9 of 16 points while Sophie Butte, Stephanie Zhang and Lulu November performed the same feat in the 100 free with Butte chomping at D’Alessandro’s heels coming home in 58.68.

Butte came back to finish second in the 100 backstroke as Molly Thomas secured first in 1:05.66 with Moore-Frederick winning the 100 breaststroke.

“It was a nice victory because it shows that I have some talent to work with this season,” said Crosscup.

Sports: Boys’ Soccer Resilient In Fight To Tie Stoneham ‘At The Death’

September 12, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Belmont’s Simon Sivers’ shot alludes Stoneham’s goalie Caio Barbosa for the tying goal.

The term “at the death” is the very British way of meaning the dying moment of an event, popularly used in sports matches.

On Saturday, Sept. 10, Belmont High Boys’ Soccer was attempting to breath a little life into the final minute of its match with Stoneham High at Harris Field. Despite having the best chances throughout the game – including a penalty kick (missed) and hitting the wood work in both halves – Belmont was preparing to leave the field with a loss, down 2-1 with less than a minute remaining.

As Belmont continued pressing, a last glimmer of light came to the Marauders in the form of a penalty at the left edge of the box. The resulting free kick “at the death” was directed to the feet of senior midfielder Simon Sivers who roped the ball beyond the hands of Stoneham keeper Caio Barbosa high into the back of the net to insure a 2-2 tie, keeping Belmont undefeated after two games of the season.

For Belmont Head Coach Brian Bisceglia-Kane, “the biggest positive from this game is the resilientcy the team showed” especially after the Spartans’ Giovanni DeVargas scored his second goal midway through the final half on Stoneham’s only scoring chance in the second 40 minutes.

“They let themselves be disappointed for like 30 seconds before becoming composed again … and continued to work to salvage something which is something we can build off for the rest of the season,” he said.

After going down 1-0 midway in the first, Belmont used some pretty combination passing to control the game and tempo. The Marauders finally broke through 17 minutes into the second half when senior captain Daron Hamparian pounced on the rebound of a shot from fellow senior Luckson Danbo to power a shot by Barbosa from six meters out.

Marauders take opener vs. Melrose

The weekend tie came after Belmont won its opener, 1-0, over Melrose on Thursday, Sept. 8, at Harris Field on what is an early candidate for goal of the year. With less than two minutes left to play in the first half, sophomore midfield John Campbell took a high pass in traffic about 15 meters out of goal, turned in one movement and struck ball in the air where it cleared the Red Raider’s goalkeeper before curling in.

“I got the ball and wanted to go for the corner but it went straight at the [keeper]. But it was high enough to clear him before dipping into [the net],” said Campbell scoring his first varsity goal in his first varsity game.

Bisceglia-Kane said he was proud of the team as they worked on holding each other accountable throughout the game , pointing to Danbo as being the best player on the field.

“He’s really composed. There’s no sense of being anxious on the ball. He’s alway composed, calm and collected and makes the right decision,” said Bisceglia-Kane.

Sports: Allard Lead Belmont Girls’ To Late Win At Stoneham, Now 2-0

September 11, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: A happy Belmont team swarm Carey Allard after the junior scored the winning goal at Stoneham.

Give Carey Allard an inch … well, you know the rest.

Belmont wins.

The junior all-star forward used a moment of indecision by Stoneham defender Mari Avola who had dogged her successfully for 74 minutes, charging by her using track sprinter speed to break alone against Stoneham’s keeper. The Division 1 commit quickly slipped the ball into the left side of the netting to give Belmont a 1-0 win on a warm, humid Saturday afternoon, Sept. 10, keeping the Marauders’ perfect after its first two games.

On Thursday, Sept. 8, Belmont opened the season with a 5-1 win at Melrose with Allard scoring Belmont’s first four goals of the season.

For Belmont Head Coach Paul Graham, the team’s performance at Stoneham was “just good enough for us to win.”

“Something always happens on this field,” said Graham of the grass surface that is noticeably narrow.

“I’ve been 22-0, and I can only win 1-0 here. I don’t know what it is,” he said.

“Thank goodness we have Allard. She’s a difference maker,” he said.

But for much of the match, Allard could not shake her shadow Avola who played Belmont’s main scoring threat tight and physical including a yellow card Avola picked up with 10 minutes remaining in the game. While Belmont did have its chances – junior Emily Duffy breakaway in the second half was parried away as well as a post being hit – the team did not dominate the game as it did against Melrose.

Stoneham’s pressure put Belmont’s midfield and defense on the back heel for portions of the match especially in the second half, as Stoneham hit the crossbar and narrowly missed the post on a header midway through the half. The one shot the Spartans had within the box was stopped by senior goalkeeper Georgia Parsons who recorded her first clean sheet this season.

With both sides having chances in the final minutes, it was likely the first goal by either team would be the winner. After a threat by Stoneham was kicked downfield by sophomore forward Ella Gagnon, it was time for Allard to make her mark on the game.

“Ella played a great ball, and I saw that [Avola] was getting in front of me, so I just went with her and then cut her off,” said Allard, who lost her voice after the game.

Allard said her scoring prowess is due to her “teammates playing me great passes. I’m just the one who finishes them for goals.”

Allard will need to be at her best as Belmont meet ranked Wilmington at home on Tuesday, Sept. 13 at 6 p.m.

Sports: Belmont Volleyball ‘Stands Tall’ in Loss to Powerhouse Melrose

September 9, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Mindee Lai (left) and Jane Mahon for Belmont at the net.

It was going to be a tough opening match of the 2016 season for Belmont’s volleyball on Wednesday, Sept. 7.

But every season for the past five years has started with the Marauders taking on Div. 2 powerhouse Melrose, this year at home at the Wenner Field House.

And while the scoreboard showed a 3-0 (25-12, 25-17, 25-12) victory for the visiting Red Raiders, the performance by Belmont (0-1) – a mix of young first-time varsity performers and veterans – kept Head Coach Jen Couture “jumping up and down off the bench.”

“We were serving great, very aggresively and consistantly throughout the game while on defense we were digging balls off the court for the entire match,” said Couture.

“We fought for every point and every point was very exciting even though we didn’t win them all,” she said, pointing to the play of senior captain Su Jing Chen who was “playing out of her mind” from the back row.

Sophomore Jane Mahon led the team with four kills followed by senior Kendra Valerius with three as Belmont ended the match with 13 of 30 set.

Couture praised “player of the match” freshman Sophia Estok for her work setting plays and on defense.

“I’m pretty excited about the season after this performance,” she said.

Preview: Belmont High Volleyball ‘Work Hard No Excuses’ [Video]

September 7, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Su Jing Chen (left) and Fiona Martin, co-captains of Belmont’s Girls’ Volleyball team.

Season after season, Belmont High School participates in a wide range of MIAA and club sports, which a majority of students participate. But for the most part, the squads are represented by their records or on the scoreboard.

The Belmontonian will give an opportunity for each team to present their hopes for the fall season ahead. Some are powerhouses; others will be rebuilding. But they all have expectations to build on.

The first team profiled is Girls’ Volleyball which is attempting to rebound from just missing the postseason by a single game and return to the 2014 15-5 team ranked 7th in the Div. 2 North Sectionals.

Preview: Belmont High Field Hockey ‘Never Settle’ [Video]

September 6, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: This season’s Field Hockey captains: seniors AnnMarie Habelow and Julia Chase.

The Belmontonian will give an opportunity for each team to present their hopes for the fall season ahead. Some are powerhouses, others will be rebuilding. But they all have expectations to build on.

The first team profiled is Field Hockey which is coming off the best regular season in school history last year – 14-2-0 – and a Middlesex League Liberty championship.

Three-Sports Standout Christofori Verbally Commits To Backstop Yale’s Hurlers

August 16, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: Catching the playoff win vs Woburn, 2016.

A flurry of social media announcements over the weekend of Aug. 13 report that three-sports standout and rising Belmont High School Senior Cal Christofori will be heading to New Haven to backstop Yales pitchers as he made a verbal commitment to play for Bulldog’s Head Coach John Stuper.

Christofori has been a varsity standout since his freshman year, starting in three sports: quarterbacking the Marauders’ football team, playing goalie for ice hockey, and being the battery mate for three seasons of pitchers as an outstanding two-way catcher.

This past high school season, Christofori (class of 2017) was behind the plate for the Middlesex League MVP senior pitcher Matt Bartels as he helped control the game. His defense was evident as the gun down numerous opponents attempting to steal second. He also batted above .400 and was a lights-out reliever.

Habelow In Tryouts For Junior National Field Hockey Squad

July 5, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: AnnMarie Habelow in action.

The past two months has been busy ones for Belmont High School rising senior AnnMarie Habelow.

In early May, Habelow was named by MAX FIELD HOCKEY one of its “TOP 50 2017 Field Hockey Players” participating in high school and prep schools.

Later that month, she was a catayst on her club [Boston Field Hockey] team’s U19 (under the age of 19) squad that won its third consecutive regional title which qualified it to compete in the US national championships in mid-July in Pennsylvania. Also on the club are Belmont High to-be-senior Julia Chase (who has verbally committed to play at the University of New Hampshire) and 2016 graduate Serena Nally.

And this week, after attending the National Futures tournment in Pennslyvania, Habelow was invited to tryout for the Junior National Team (U19 team), one of 40 players nationwide selected to tryout. If she is named to the team, Habelow will have a chance to play internationally with the US Junior Team.

“It’s a pretty exciting summer for us!” wrote her mother, Eileen.

Course Records Fall At 15th Brendan’s Home Run 5K

June 22, 2016 By Franklin B. Tucker Leave a Comment

Photo: And they’re off!

It was perfect Father’s Day weather – dry, no wind, a bit warm – on Sunday, June 19 which translated to wonderful conditions for the nearly 400 participants who came out to Harris Field to run the 15th Brendan’s Home Run 5K.

And the lead runners didn’t disappoint as both the men’s and women’s course records fell in outstanding performances by a pair of young up-and-comers.

The men’s race was a tight three athlete competition for the entire 3.1 miles with 2014 champion Louis Serafini outsprinting Brian Harvey and Liam Hillery to the line. The 24-year-old former Boston College runner’s time of 14 minutes and 32 seconds was eight seconds better than the previous record of Zack Schwartz’s set last year. In addition, Harvey (14:34) and Hillery (14:35) dipped under Schwartz’s previous record.

In the women’s race, Providence College grad and NCAA Cross Country All-American Laura Nagel finished in 17:15, running away from Karen Roa, who finished second Sunday in 17:47. Jessica Barton took third in 18:06. The 24-year-old New Zealand-native who was a member of PC’s national champion cross country squad, Nagel broke Roa’s women’s record set in 2013 by two seconds.

Leading Belmont residents were 19-year-old UMass runner Ari Silverfine (8th in 16:50) and 23-year-old Flora Berklein who cruised home in 22nd/6th woman in 18:52.

The wealth of young, strong runner who travel some distance to participate in the Home Run each year has all to do with making a personal connection with them, said the long-time event’s director.

“I think to get good people here all you need is a couple of conversations and let them know that there’s something special happening in Belmont every Father’s Day,” said Brian Rogers.

Rogers said it also helps when seven-times race winner and 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials finisher Dan Vasallo of Peabody “is always telling other runners about this race.”

But for the vast majority of runners, the race was a chance to put in a few miles before the Dad Day celebrations commenceed. The back-of-the-packers (including parents running with their children) were cheered on and enjoyed the same swag – thanks to sponsors Belmont Savings Bank, Fitness Together, Belmont Dental Group and the DerKazarian family – as those what finish 10 to 20 minutes head of them

“When we started this thing 15 years ago, we knew we had a significant chore in front of us because Brendan Grant was a quality kid. And if we are going to do anything in his name, this event had to be quality too,” said Rogers.