Sports: Boys’ Soccer In Tester; Girls’ Soccer, Field Hockey Hit Bumps

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The competition level rises and with it changes to Belmont High School Athlete’s seemingly endless winning streaks.

Belmont High School Boys’ Soccer remains undefeated as they defeated a gritty Arlington High School team, 2-1, on Harris Field’s cushiony turf surface Thursday afternoon, Sept. 18.

After playing what Head Coach Brian Bisceglia-Kane called his team’s “the best 15 minutes of soccer this season” to start the game, Belmont (5-0-0) were in a battle for the rest of the contest against the Spy Ponders (3-2-0).

“The guys are excited. While we try to taper expectations, this was a big game for us,” Bisceglia-Kane told the Belmontonian.

 

Belmont struck twice in the first 11 minutes on quick counter attacks. Just seven minutes in, midfield standout Charlie Frigo outran the Spy Pond back line to head in a bouncing ball from Luke Gallagher past Arlington goaltender Anthony Aggouras.

The Marauders doubled up the score at 11 minutes from Ben Lazenby‘s screamer 20 meters out – coming off an Andrew Eurdolian assist – beating Aggouras to the left post.

After settling down, Arlington took away the Marauders’ momentum by staying close to the ground with short, quick passes resulting in a pretty goal by sub Phineas Santello who dipped a shot over Belmont’s goaltender Peter Berens with five minutes remaining in the half. The goal ended Berens shutout streak to begin the season at 355 minutes.

Despite the lack of scoring in the second half, the match resembled a baseball pitching duel between two aces in which purists would enjoy how the teams attacked and countered their opponents. 

“People watching a game think poorly of a team that’s possessing the ball in their back half they think things are going wrong but that’s something we strive for,” said Bisceglia-Kane, saying it allows the team to work the ball up efficiently and create more scoring chances. 

Belmont also employed a diagonal long pass to quickly switch its attack from one side of the field to the other.

“We’ve been working on that with Gallagher doing it a lot. This game Matt Lawson and Ed Stafford began possessing the ball in the middle of the park then switching the field. Luckily, it paid dividends with one of our goals,” he said,

Five games in and Bisceglia-Kane sees a special characteristic evolving with a team-first mentality, a sort of Belmont Mannschaft.

“They take pride in the fact that they do it together. This team in particular is a group of players that sees themselves as team and not caring about individual statistics or personal achievements and that is one of their strengths,” he said.

Belmont Girls’ suffer first loss at Arlington

Belmont High School Girls’ Head Coach Paul Graham knew that Arlington High’s girls’ soccer team was good this year but did not know just how good.

It turns out the answer, to Graham and his team’s chagrin, is really good.

Belmont visited the Spy Ponders on Thursday afternoon, Sept. 18, and was sent home with its first loss of the season, 4-1. Coincidentally, the Marauders’ record stands at 4-1-0.

“You have to give it to them, they’ve got some great players,” said Graham after the game.

Despite losing, Graham was pleased with his team’s effort, saying that Belmont took control of the field for most of the first half and despite the first goal of the game, continued to be Arlington’s equal until a second goal snuck in.

“You could then see the kid’s looking down at their feet,” said Graham.

Graham thought some of the team’s lack of scoring punch – it came into the game with 21 goals – was nerves, heading into a game with an undefeated opponent appeared to bring an air of caution to the team’s play.

“They went back to not shooting the ball,” said Graham.

Only when the game was at 4-0 did the team get its tally with Kristen Gay scoring off a Katrina Rokosz free kick.

Graham said he will not dwell on the loss, taking away only positives from it.

“I think we needed a game like this. Loss the nerves with this one,” said Graham.

Field Hockey falls to Rockets

One word of warning to Belmont High School’s Field Hockey team: stay away from ranked teams.

After falling to the Boston Globe’s number one team Watertown, 4-0, in its opener, Belmont traveled to number 13 Reading Memorial High School and came home with a 4-0 loss on Wednesday, Sept, 17.

Belmont Field Hockey Overwhelms Second Visiting Team

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Belmont High School Field Hockey Head Coach Jessica Smith is never one who wants to pile on the score line.

“I feel so terrible,” said Smith as the team was ahead 6-0 with a minute left to play … in the first half of the Marauders game against visiting Stoneham High School on Friday, Sept. 12.

“I’m not that type of coach but what can I tell my team? Not shot?” she said, pulling off veterans to allow substitutes to play long stretches of the game.

By the end of a long day – the game started 45 minutes late due to travel problems for Stoneham – Belmont would score a pair of second half goals to win 8-0, creating a nice bookend for the week as the Marauders drubbed Melrose 7-0 on Tuesday.

“Two big scoring victories with lots of players getting goals but just as important, everyone got to play,” said Smith.

Kerri Lynch and the team’s midfield leader, senior Suzanne Noone, scored twice while starters sophomore Annemarie Habelow and Jacqueline Hill scored a goal each. Tallying goals off the bench were Kate McArthy and Hillary Fay. Goalies Kate Saylor and Nicole Crowley shared the clean sheet. 

“Gosh, this is a great team. We really don’t have a weak spot anywhere on the field and I have really good subs that I can put in who have been scoring and other good stuff on the field. It’s like I have a second layer in some positions,” said Smith.

And while the Marauders have put in 15 goals over the past two games, Belmont will be meeting teams with greater skills and talented players. On Wednesday, Sept. 17, the team travels to Reading Memorial High School, a team that “is always very hard. It’s a game that you really want to win and it’s hard every single time and it’s never easy,” said Smith.

 

 

Football: Promise Amidst the Pain in 31-0 Opening Loss to Stoneham

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Belmont High School Football team’s game and the season didn’t start the way Yann Kumin had hoped.

Belmont’s head coach – his first ever in charge of a program – saw Stoneham High School recover the on-side kick on the opening kickoff under the Friday night lights on Stoneham’s forlorn grass field on Sept. 12.

“Not the way to start,” commented Kumin when the referee pointed towards Belmont’s side of the field.

Despite the hope for a big performance on the first game under a new football mindset, the Marauders stumbled in the season opener, losing 30-0 to the Spartans.

“Disappointing,” said Kumin after speaking to his team, greeting people he knew from when he was Stoneham’s associate head coach last season and receiving congratulations from Belmont Athletic Director Jim Davis.

“I’m proud of my guys. We fought and we were a discipline football team from start to finish. That’s what we wanted to be. We worked hard but we did not get the result we wanted,” he said.

What Belmont could not control was the quickness and football IQ of Stoneham which ran a variety of rushing plays that found gaps in and around Belmont’s front line. Stoneham’s players experience within a system that relies on technique and speed paid off for the Spartans as they made plays that the Marauders could not.

Kumin said the team was not beaten in the physical portion of the game “but [Stoneham] is a team with three years of really quality coaching and teaching them how to tackle. We have had three weeks of coaching so it’s going to take a little bit more time for us.”

“You have a series of bad habits that have been instilled and repeated over and over again,” said Kumin of Belmont’s  past football culture.

“So when our guys find themselves in situations where they’re ‘behind the eight-ball’, it’s easy to revert back to what they’re comfortable doing, So all we, as coaches, have to do, day-in and day-out, is to break those bad habits and get great habits in place,” he said.

Throughout the contest, Kumin and his young assistant coaching staff were either making every play – and mistake – into a teachable moment or encouraging the effort of players. And Kumin saw great promise in several aspects of the Maruaders’ game.

“The positives exist in the fact that we are capable of making mistakes and coming back and try to do good things. We moved the ball really well and by the end of the second quarter, our offense was clicking,” said Kumin.

As he was walking off the field, Kumin told a Stoneham acquaintance that “you’ll have to come next year to [Belmont’s] Harris Field and we’ll be ready for you.”

A New Era Begins Tonight for Belmont High Football

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This is it: the start of a new era for Belmont High School Football begins tonight, Friday, Sept. 12 as new varsity head coach Yann Kumin and his young group of assistant coaches will lead a new look Marauder team to Stoneham for the season opener against Stoneham High School beginning at 6:30 p.m.

The game marks a return to Stoneham for Kumin, who matriculated at Harvard and teaches English at Cambridge’s  Matignon High School, where he was the associate head coach last season. 

The team, which finished 0-11 last season, will bring back talented sophomore Cal Christorfori as quarterback and five senior captains including Max Jones, Austin Lutz, Nick Ryan, Omar Escobar and Darren Chan.

All you need to know about this team can be found in a remarkable video made by a pair of Belmont High School students, Lucas Tragos and James Neylon.

Boys’, Girls’ Soccer: Three Wins, Three Shutouts, All Good

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Walt Whitman wrote in his collection “Leaves of Grass” of “the teeming quietest, happiest days of all!/ The brooding and blissful halcyon days!”

These are indeed the halcyon days for both of Belmont High School soccer teams. In the first three games of the new season, the teams are undefeated (3-0), scoring goals (the boys have tallied seven over that stretch while the girls are averaging a gaudy six per game) each win has been via the shutout.

And to the delight of the head coaches – the boys’ Brian Bisceglia-Kane and Paul Graham for the girls – the games has seen long stretches (sometimes the entire match) in which the Marauders have dominated possession with an aggressive brand of attacking soccer backed by a solid two-way midfield play.

In the latest pair of games, the girls’ have gone on the road to defeat Melrose, 3-0, on Tuesday, Sept. 9, and Stoneham, 6-0, on Thursday, Sept. 11. The boys’ have enjoyed their stay on Harris Field’s new turf rug with victories over Melrose, 2-0, on Tuesday and a 3-0 win over Stoneham on Thursday.

“I think the group is doing a great job staying focused on what we are trying to do,” said Bisceglia-Kane after Thursday’s game where the Marauders

scored three times in the final 20 minutes of the first half.

Senior Co-Captain Norman Kilauititu scored his second goal of the year – although his best play occurred in the second half when he nearly scored from a wide bicycle kick to the thrill of the assembled girls’ team in the stands – followed by Danny Rizzo‘s 18 meter rocket set up by a wonderful series of short passing and finally Alex Berets flew by a pair of Stoneham center backs to volley David Chen‘s pass into the side of the goal. The game was the third clean sheet for senior goalkeeper Peter Berens.

Yet Bisceglia-Kane, who is in his first year as the Marauder’s head coach, said he is not concerned with the score of the games.

“I really don’t determine success by winning; you can win a game when you don’t deserve it and lose a game when you do,” he said, but rather determine success based on the goals they set for themselves before the game.

“That is how players stay focused … and allows them to work out of situations when they are down in a game,” said Bisceglia-Kane.

For the Belmont Girls’, the attacking beat goes on as six different players scored in the first 16 minutes of their game at Stoneham as the Marauders made fast work breaking down the Spartans.

But it’s not the number of goals that has impressed Graham so far this season but in the variety they are scored. Scores are coming from set pieces (corner kicks), physical scrambles in front of the net and building up from the midfield.

“This is the first year where when I put our subs in we do not go down in quality. Everyone of these kids want to play,” said Graham.

Yet Graham, who is nearing his 300th victory, is not about to proclaim this team as anything other than “good, so far.”

“Let’s put this into prospectus; we still haven’t played the better [Middlesex League] teams,” said Graham, who believe that Arlington and Lexington “are the class of the league as of right now” followed closely by the Marauders and their arch rivals Winchester.

“We are way ahead of last year’s team but I try to be a realist. I will know much more when we meet Arlington (away on Thursday, Sept. 18 at 3:45 p.m.),” said Graham.

Belmont Field Hockey Rebounds Past Melrose

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The first two games of the 2014 seasons has been like night and day for the Belmont High School Field Hockey team.

It was like night when the Marauders visited defending state champions (and undefeated for more than four years) Watertown High in the season opener last Friday as the Red Raiders kept the Marauders in the dark on how to break down the four-time consecutive state champs, losing 4-0..

On Wednesday, Sept. 10, the light was back on for Belmont as they celebrated playing on their newly-renovated turf field for the first time with a convincing 7-0 drubbing of Melrose High on a cool night, Sept. 10.

Where Belmont was sputtering at times against Watertown, the team – and especially the offense – was playing with all cylinders running as six players scored and everyone played.

“Things that we have been hoping would occur actually did,” said Head Coach Jessica Smith.

“I was looking for Suzanne [Noone] and Annemarie [Habelow] to work well together and they did,” said Smith pointing to the most impressive goal of the night when the senior midfielder Noone fed the high-scoring sophomore Habelow a picture perfect pass into the attacking circle that the talented 10th grader buried in the back of the net from distance.

“I’m picturing that play many times this season,” joked Smith.

Yet Smith said the win was impressive because everyone played with “a real drive” after the first-game loss.

And that determination led to a battery of goals from a slew of players. Habelow scored twice with fellow starters Noone, Kerri Lynch and Julia Chase picking up one each while subs Jacqueline Hill and Kate McCarthy each got their first goals of the season.

Senior goalkeeper Kate Saylor shared the clean sheet with backup Nicole Crowley who kicked out a breakaway attempt late in the game to preserve the shutout.

With the midfield, led by varsity veteran Noone, communicating and working together better and the defense, backstopped by Lauren Noonan and Emma Pejko, being more assertive and confidence, the team “is showing they can compete.”

“But there are a lot of teams between Watertown and Melrose in talent so I want to see how we handle teams in the middle of the group,” said Smith.

Fast Freestylers Wanted: Contact Belmont High Swimming

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All Belmont High School Girls’ Swimming Head Coach Ev Crosscup wants are a few freestyle swimmers who can quickly travel from Point A to Point B.

That would make the legendary coach happy.

After the season opening duel meet clash with powerhouse Acton-Boxborough High at the Wenner Field House Pool in Belmont, on Wednesday Sept. 10, Crosscup was clearly pleased with the overall performance of his team as the Marauders held their own against the visitors who placed fourth in last year’s Division 1 championships.

“I thought we had some real strong efforts. I was happy and pleased with that but we have to get better in some important areas,” he said, after the final score, a 96 to 87 A-B win, was announced.

And that area is the team’s current deficit in the shorter-distance freestyle events. The lack of a steady point producer in the 50 and 100 yards has been a thorn to the team’s side for the past few years and Wednesday’s opener was not an encouraging one for Belmont’s long-time coach.

“That was glaring again as it was last season,” said Crosscup, a season which Belmont took second in the Division 2 state championships.

In the 50, 100 and 200, Belmont’s highest placement was third with the remaining swimmers finishing in 5th and 6th while the 200 relay finished in the bottom

“We don’t seem to have that sprint freestyler and that killed us again today,” he said.

While the shorter free distance races didn’t go to plan, there was a nice surprise in the 500 yard free with Sara Noorouzi taking first, breaking six minutes, with a 5 minute, 50.72 second race, and bringing home the sweep as Elizabeth Levy (5:57.21) and Dervela Moore-Frederick (6:07.07) followed.

As expected, Belmont’s big hitters came through, led by junior star Jessie Blake-West who won her speciality, the 100 fly (which she won the state championship last year), already breaking 59 seconds with a 58.75 in addition to winning the 200 Individual Medley by just about 10 seconds over teammate Maya Nagashima (2:13.41 to 2:23.31).

Also showing great form was Emily Quinn who held off A-B’s Tiffany Shao – who finished second in the Div. 1 state meet last year – in the best battle of the afternoon, taking the 100 breaststroke, 1:12.28 to 1:13.93.

Blake-West and Quinn have returned to swim the 200 Medley Relay this season – the relay is the defending state championships – finishing second to A-B’s number one in 1:58.03, swimming with Solvay Metelmann and Maya Nagashima

Nagashima placed second in the 100 backstroke in a fast time of 1:04.06.

And junior Thea Kelsey scored three 8’s for her reverse dive in the pike position which help win her the 1 meter diving competition with 210 points.

“You can see the effort they are putting into their swimming. It’s a good start to the season,” said Crosscup.

Now, about those freestylers.

Rookie Coach Leads Belmont Boys’ Soccer Over Powerhouse Watertown

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Brian Bisceglia-Kane is undefeated for his coaching career.

OK, he’s been in charge of Belmont High School Boys’ Soccer for just one game. But that contest was the season opener against two-time Div. 3 final-four participant Watertown High School in which Belmont took home a 2-0 victory.

Not bad for a rookie head coach.

“This was a good test of our play but then every game has its unique challenges,” said Bisceglia-Kane, who was Belmont’s JV coach for six years before moving up to the top spot this campaign.

“[Watertown] have many quality players; it was the first game of the season so we had a lot of nerves to start the game, and it was super hot (temperatures reached 90 degrees despite a 10 a.m. start time) so conditioning was a factor. Luckily those three things worked out for our team. Hopefully, we will keep progressing,” said Bisceglia-Kane, who played collegiately at Brandies.

Belmont’s victory Saturday, Sept. 6 at Victory Field, was constructed on top of the foundation of simply outworking their opponents – winning most of the contested ’50/50″ balls – and a willingness to emphasize team play over individual skills. While several Watertown players were adept in dribbling with possession – and enjoyed showing it – Belmont relied on the skills of each player on the field.

As commentators noted at the recent World Cup in Brazil while many teams were known for their superstars, Germany’s – the eventual winners – “star is their team.”

Saturday saw “Die Mannschaft” Belmont style.

“I just think we did the simple things right like possession of the ball and variations of passes,” said Bisceglia-Kane, who teaches third grade at the Butler Elementary School.

The first half was a back and forth affair with a few good scoring chance for both teams with Belmont’s senior goalkeeper Peter Berens making a one-hand save on a blistering dipping shot from Watertown’s Roman Davis.

“A couple of fixes at half time and I though we were more aggressive forcing them into mistakes,” Bisceglia-Kane said.

That push was rewarded when Belmont senior Danny Rizzo was fouled in the box in the 53rd minute with senior Charlie Frigo slotted the ball by Watertown’s goalkeeper Joe Keikian.

Belmont got its second score three minutes later after the Marauders took the play to the Red Raiders. After sophomore Marvyn Dorchin had battled to win procession deep in the Watertown end, the ball ended up off Luke Gallagher‘s boot which was parried into the air by Keikian. As the ball came down, Belmont’s senior forward Norman Kilavatitu out jumped a Red Raider and headed the ball over Keikian and into the net.

While he won his inaugural game of his coaching career, Bisceglia-Kane deferred any self-congratulation to praise his players.

“All the credit goes to them for the off season training for the hard work in the pre-season. They are probably the fittest group of guys I’ve seen in Belmont,” said Bisceglia-Kane.

Belmont’s next game is Tuesday, Sept. 9 against Melrose at 3:45 p.m.

Frosh Scores Five as Belmont Girls’ Soccer Blitz Watertown in Opener

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Wasn’t it once when high school freshmen were nervous types that were pretty much hopeless during the first week of school?

Someone from Watertown should have told Belmont High School’s Carey Allard that observation before the Belmont High School Girls’ Soccer season opener on Saturday morning, Sept. 6 as the 9th grader scored five goals (including the game’s first four in an eight minute stretch in the first half) and added an assist in the Marauders’ 10-0 blitz of arch-rival Watertown High School.

In the past two years, entering Belmont High School freshmen has made big impressions on their sports: in 2012 cross country’s Leah Brams and swimmer Jessie Blake-West while last year Annemarie Habelow in field hockey, Jalyn Hinton in basketball (who has since transferred to The Governors Academy) and Julia Cella on the track left their marks.

And it was a (hot) day to remember for the lanky frosh. While some will explain the score away as occurring against an inexperienced and undermanned Watertown squad – the visitors suited 13 players to 21 by Belmont – Allard proved quickly that she had a nose for the ball, scoring from the wing, in close, on the break and at the end of a pass.

Allard’s willingness to take a shot was the reason long-time Belmont Head Coach Paul Graham to select Allard as one of three freshmen on the varsity squad.

“[Allard] has got the speed to get to the ball, and that’s important,” said Graham in the pre-season.

While the headlines of the first game will be Allard’s to savor, the contest also unveiled a varsity that gained markedly in skill and poise over the past season, one which the Marauders miss the playoffs for the first time in 20 years and just a year after winning the Div. 2 North sectionals in 2012.

“I think the whole team is playing better,” said Graham, who is nine wins away from reaching 300 victories. “I’m very pleased today.”

With a back line anchored by senior Lucia Guzikowski and the midfield captained by fellow senior Lizzy Frick – two of the 11 12th graders on the team – the Marauders played effectively both a quick passing inside game in addition to laying the ball off to speedy wingers.

“Frick and [sophomore] Ava [Colasin] are doing a great job in the middle and getting the ball up the field.

In addition, Graham’s wish for more scoring opportunities this season has been answered as four Marauders other than Allard scored –Guzikowski, Flick, senior midfielder Alex Dionne and junior forward Kristin Gay.

“We’re crashing the goal something that we didn’t do last year. We got a goal on a scramble in front and from the corner. It’s encouraging,” said Graham.

Next game is Tuesday, Sept. 9 at Melrose, which lost to Winchester, 3-1, in its first game.

 

Belmont Field Hockey Battles Watertown Tough in Opening Game

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Belmont High School Field Hockey Head Coach Jessica Smith said she preferred to play a strong team to begin the season “as a way to know early where we stand.”

On Friday, Sept. 7, on one of the hottest days of the summer, you couldn’t select a tougher challenge: playing the four-time consecutive state champions, Watertown High School, at their home ground at Victory Field.

(Oh, by the way, Watertown hasn’t lost a game in the past four years.)

And while Belmont kept the game close for three-quarters of the game, three goals – including a penalty shot – in the final 16 minutes resulted in a 4-0 loss giving the Belmont squad an outstanding team to compare to during the season.

“Now I see what we need to work on,” said Smith after the game.

Despite the score, Smith was encouraged with the team’s play and growing composure against the Red Raiders playing on an artificial field where the temperature reached three digits.

“Coming into the game, I thought we could look like cones on the field, but we didn’t. We were a true opponent. We made them play hard,” said Smith.

“We are great at making the transition from defense to midfield but when it goes to the offense, we slam on the brakes,” due to a very young offensive line, said Smith, who is entering her 11th year leading the Marauders

“Coming into your first game against Watertown is tough, they had to be a little shocked as they do a lot more in practice. But they held it together well,” she said.

The most dominate player on the hot turf Friday afternoon was Belmont’s sophomore leader Annemarie Habelow, who moved from her familiar role in the attack – she led Belmont in scoring last year in her freshman campaign – to the center back position. Her dominate stick skills deadened Watertown’s attack in the middle of the field, forcing it to play the wings that Belmont mostly contained by sending multiple players on the Red Raiders attackers.

“She is by far the most poised player on the field today. She has such a set of free hits, she conceptionally knows where to put the ball, and she’s a great leader,” said Smith.

As for the remainder of the season – the first with Belmont in Division 1 – Smith believes her team will grow as a team through the season, especially upfront.

“Let’s hope [Watertown] is the toughest team we meet this year. We are meeting teams in the next weeks that haven’t had great records recently so it will be a great chance to practice things,” said Smith, who took her team to the playoffs last year.