Belmont High’s Career Night, with Actual Workers, Tonight

By Leave a Comment

More than 50 recent high school/college graduates will be advising high school seniors and juniors on the actual world of work at Belmont High School’s Real World Career Night tonight, Tuesday, Sept. 23, in the school’s cafeteria from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. 

BHS senior Tess Hayner has recruit young professionals who graduated from Belmont High and any other public or private high school between 1999 and 2010 to participate in this evening of short, informal talks with the school’s upperclassmen to share stories of their own work experience and discuss possible career paths.

This evening’s schedule is:

  • 6 p.m.: Volunteers arrive in the Belmont High School cafeteria.
  • 6:15 p.m. – 6:25 p.m.: Session 1 students arrive and get assignments.
  • 6:25 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.: Welcome and instructions for Session 1.
  • 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.: Seven minute conversations with a two-minute rotation.
  • 7:30 p.m. – 7:45 p.m.: Break for Volunteers / Arrival of Session 2 students.
  • 7:45 p.m. – 7:50 p.m.: Welcome and instructions for Session 2.
  • 7:50 p.m. – 8:50 p.m.:  Seven minute conversations with a two-minute rotation.

Sports: Girls’ Soccer, Field Hockey Back to Their Winning Ways

By Leave a Comment

After stumbles to solid teams in league play, Belmont High School’s Girls’ Soccer and Field Hockey got back on the right foot winning their latest contests against tough completion.

McCarthy’s hat trick paces Field Hockey over Arlington

All Kate McCarthy needs to do is keep her stick to the ground and the ball will find its way into the back of the field hockey goal.

“Having your stick down is really important when you’re a forward,” said the junior forward after scoring her first career hat trick in the final 10 minutes of Friday night’s game, Sept. 19, as the Marauders took the measure of Arlington High, 5-0, at Harris Field.

“I’ve scored before but it was good today,” she said.

“Today she showed me that she can touch the ball in front of the net and you need that in field hockey. A hat trick is spectacular, especially in field hockey,” said Belmont Head Coach Jessica Smith

It’s either feast or famine for Belmont (3-2); each of its victories have been via the shutout as the team scored at least five goals; each loss has been 4-0 affairs (although both were to a ranked team.)

After a disappointing loss earlier in the week to 11th-ranked Reading Memorial High School – “Don’t ask,” said Smith – Belmont needed a strong game to get back on their winning ways.

And a pair of veteran varsity players put Belmont out front and kept them there.

Senior midfield stalwart Susanna Noone put the Marauders’ in the lead in a game Belmont had most of the best chances when she scored seven minutes from the end of the first half with an unassisted bullet.

Her fellow senior goalkeeper Kate Saylor kept the SpyPonders at bay when she stopped three breakaways and several shots from the side of the goal.

“If she had let one go in, this is a much different game. It’s great to have a senior back there,” Smith said of Saylor.

For pure field hockey playing pleasure, sophomore standout Annemarie Habelow apparently heard Smith yelling that the team still had 30 seconds to score. She then dribbled by two Arlington midfielders, lost the ball, got it back, took a few steps inside the scoring zone then rocketed a shot passed the goalie with 13 second left in the half.

“Both (Noone and Habelow) are really distributing the ball better and not taking it all on themselves which makes them better players and everyone around them better,” said Smith.

With the game in the balance as Arlington began pushing players forward, McCarthy was in the right place – the right side of the net – and pounced on a loose ball and knocked it in at the 10 minute mark. It didn’t take long for the second – just 64 seconds – and the third came with 4 minutes left to complete her first career hat trick.

McCarthy acknowledged her teammates for getting the ball to her.

“There was really good passing in the midfield. They do a good job getting the ball to the goal,” said McCarthy.

Rough and tumble Saturday matinee as Girls’ Soccer gets by Medford

Harris Field resembled a rodeo arena Saturday afternoon,  as players from Belmont and Medford high school girls’ soccer teams kept falling to the ground as if thrown off a nasty buckin’ bronc. 

While the teams were playing soccer, it was on the physical side as each team challenged for the ball to gain even the slightest advantage.

In the end, Belmont’s tall midfield co-captain senior Lizzie Frick scored the brace to lead the Marauders by the visitors, 3-1, in the matinee.

“We were shaky today; our first touches were not good,” said Paul Graham, Belmont’s head coach after the game.

Frick scored her first goal before most in the crowd got to their seats, ripping in the shot by Medford’s goalkeeper Mary Donnelly after only 130 seconds.

It looked like it could be a run away as sophomore forward Julia Cella slotted in a rebound of a shot from Sophia Eisenbach-Smith that eluded Donnelly at the 34 minute mark in the first.

But Medford has improved as a team since last playing Belmont a year ago, using the speed of their wingers to sneak away for two clear breakaways only to be stopped by great positioning from Belmont senior goalkeeper Linda Herlihy.

But the Mustangs broke through on a wonderful dipping goal by Korey O’Rourke that beat Herlihy at the 26 minute mark.

Frick took her second goal in the 9th minute before the half after a Medford foul 25 meters from goal. Set piece specialist Katrina Rokosz lofted the ball into the box where Frick headed the ball past an on-rushing Donnelly.

The second half was as physical as Belmont has seen this year with knocks handed out for the rough but mostly fair “rough and tumble.” Yet the Marauders controlled the midfield and were not threatened in the final 40 minutes.

Belmont High Garden Club Helping Those in Need of Food Justice

By 2 Comments

As autumn comes this week, Belmont gardeners will be busy harvesting the promise of what was sowed in the spring.

But unlike most of Belmont’s small gardens located in backyards or along sunny sidewalls, one is situated close to the baseball batting cages at Belmont High School. The four raised beds are filled with a summer growing season of eggplants, tomatoes, lettuce and green beans.

Nor will the garden’s yield end up on the dinner plates of those who dedicated the past year to its creation and care. Those benefiting from the effort of a dozen young growers will be those most in need in the community.

In a project promoting awareness and action around food in town and around the globe, members of Belmont High School’s Garden and Food Justice Club have been dropping off the garden’s harvest to the Belmont Food Pantry, which serves residents desperate for food aid.

“The entire experience of making a garden and harvesting is very exciting, but the best impact is see this food being delivered to the people who need it and enjoy it,” said senior Maggie O’Brien, who with fellow senior Olivia Cronin led the effort to establish the garden and start the club.

“There is another part of our town filled with people who don’t have enough money to provide food and especially fresh produce, so walking in with all these vegetables is great to see how this helps,” she said.

Partnering with the Belmont Food Collaborative – the people who sponsor the Belmont Farmers Market – the initial blueprint for a garden and later the club was the brainchild of Cronin who served two years as a Collaborative intern in its Community Growings program where residents plant a garden to raise fresh produce for the Food Pantry.

“I thought this was a practical project since I had the background, and the Food Pantry is located at the High School,” said Cronin.

In the summer of 2013, Cronin and O’Brien, with the help from Collaborative member Suzanne Johannet and Joan Teebagy, started the process of creating a garden plot like one established at the Beth El Temple Center on Concord Avenue.

But “[i]t turned out to be a lot harder than what we thought it would be,” said O’Brien, with long negotiations between the girls and the school administration on where the garden would be located and establishing a club to garner student support.

After the approval of the current garden location, the girls began organizing the club around gardening and food justice.

“We asked students to help start a local garden on campus as well as become involved in food insecurity and global food issues,” said Cronin, who said the club received a great deal of interest.

While waiting for spring, the club’s held a food drive competition and brought speakers in during the High School’s Global Awareness Week. It also sponsored a hunger banquet in which participants randomly draw tickets assigning them to a high-, middle- or low-income country based on the latest statistics about the number of people living in poverty. Each income level then receives a corresponding meal.

When spring finally came in May, the club built the raised beds; the collaborative provided wood and seeds with soil donated by Hillside Garden & True Value on Blanchard Road.

“It was a lot of fun to have a solid visual that a garden was growing on campus,” said Cronin.

After planting the seeds, Cronin and O’Brien said there were “definitely some issues” getting students to commit to a garden schedule during the height of the growing season which ran during the summer break. Finally, six club members “could be counted on to come and water, weed and harvest,” said Cronin.

“Summer is a hectic time for all of us, but people continued to stay involved,” said O’Brien.

With the garden up and running, the girls ran into some practical problems.

“We quickly learned that broccoli was a favorite of a predator. We didn’t know what it was until someone sent us a photo of the geese reaching into the beds,” said Cronin.

Currently, the club has picked a row of green beans, two variety of tomatoes, beets, lettuce and eggplants all which “tends to go quickly by pantry customers,” said Cronin.

Like O’Brien, Cronin said the experience of walking over to the pantry with a handful of produce and talking to those waiting in line to the Pantry to fill their boxes and bags with what the club has grown has been a transformative experience.

“The customers are all really appreciative, and that makes a big impact on myself,” said Cronin, who said the garden itself has been a welcome success.

“I had high expectations for the garden, but I honestly been surprised how its turned out as well as it has,” she noted.

“I’d come during the summer just to water and stay for an hour just weeding. It’s nice to be out here. It’s a little oasis from the high school,” Cronin said.

 

Football: Progress As Marauders’ Offense Sparks in 35-21 Loss to Bedford

By Leave a Comment

When senior running back Max Jones scored his second touchdown of the game mid-way through the third quarter, it finally appeared that Belmont High School Football was turning the corner from a team hoping just to be competitive to one on the verge of taking over a game by the scruff of the neck.

Jones’ five-yard run “right up the gut” at 6:16 brought the Marauders within 7 points of host Bedford High School, 28-21, on Friday, Sept. 19, after Belmont’s defense stuffed the Buccaneers on the first three plays of the third quarter and then took advantage of a muffed punt to put the ball deep in Bedford’s end.

“Our guys seized the momentum. It was great,” Belmont’s first-year Head Coach Yann Kumin told the Belmontonian after the game.

But after the resulting kickoff, Belmont’s defense would not leave the field for nearly nine minutes as Bedford grounded out a sustained drive that lasted the entire quarter and then some. Three times Belmont put the Buccaneers in a third or fourth down (4th and 2 yards, 3rd and 5 and 8) only to see Bedford use its stellar rushing attack to convert each time.

“There were a couple of times when we really couldn’t seem to get off the field. We did have some great stops in the first half and then shot ourselves in the foot. That’s just a young and inexperienced player making a mistake,” said Kumin.

Despite the 35-21 loss to the Buccaneers (3-1), Kumin said the goal for the game was to show progress from the last game, which the Marauders showed everywhere on the field.

“I’m really proud how the guys played football tonight. There is a fight in this team,” he said.

After being overwhelmed by a quick Stoneham team in the opener a week earlier, Belmont could not have started the game any more brightly as Jones took the handoff from sophomore Quarterback Cal Christofori down the right sideline 65 yards for a touchdown on the first offensive play of the game.

“[Jones] is  just a tremendous athlete and one of the hardest working guys we have on our team. At any moment when he has the football in his hands, he can make something explosive happen. But he also ground out some tough yards for us,” said Kumin.

Behind the running tandem of Aaron Lee (243 yards) and Jake Eliason (107 yards), Bedford grounded out a 28-7 lead in the second quarter until Belmont RB Jamar Paul scored off a slant after a Christofori 35-yard pass to RB/WR Robby Aiello put the ball deep into Buccaneers territory. 

Kumin said a great deal of the offense’s success this week lies at the feet of the line, as they “came together tonight as a unit. We talk about about those guys as not being individuals but as all five as one. They worked for us every step of the way.”

And after both sides of the line for Belmont contributed to the third score, momentum appeared ready to move to Belmont’s side of the field.

But the four-year varsity veteran Lee was able to exploit the young left side of Belmont’s defense during his team’s journey down field before scoring with eight minutes remaining in the game. By the time the Marauders got the ball, Bedford’s aggressive defense along with a few blown plays and an ill-advised penalty, stalled Belmont’s chances.

Next up for the Marauders is, once again, an away game, this time to Division 1 Lexington High School on Saturday, Sept. 27 at 1:30 p.m.

“Times are bright in Belmont,” Kumin told his team after the game.

“Don’t you lose faith in this program. Don’t you lose faith in this staff. Let’s go home like men, our heads up.”

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

By Leave a Comment

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.

Town Clerk Holding ‘Late’ Night Voter Registration Sept. 23

By Leave a Comment

To celebrate National Voter Registration Day, the Belmont Town Clerk’s office will remain open until 8 p.m., on Tuesday, Sept. 23.

Residents of Belmont who are citizens of the United States and will be age 18 or older on the day of the State election, Nov. 4, may register to vote at the Town Clerk’s office in Town Hall, 455 Concord Ave. Registrants should be certain to have identification that complies with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).

A voter registration day will be held for Belmont High School students and staff on Wednesday, Oct. 8 from 10:40 a.m., to 12:40 p.m. outside the cafeteria at the high school. Staff and students who are U.S. citizens and will turn 18 on or before Nov. 4 can register to vote.

Just remember, the final day to register to vote or make any changes to your party, address or name, to qualify for the State Election is Oct. 15.

The Town Clerk’s office at Town Hall, 455 Concord Avenue will remain open until 8 p.m. on Oct. 15  to accept voter registrations and changes that evening; mailed registration form .

To learn more about registering to vote, HAVA, and upcoming elections, or to print registration forms, please visit the Town Clerk’s website or telephone the Town Clerk’s office at 617-993-2600.

Sports: Boys’, Girls’ Soccer Still Unbeaten, Volleyball Ace Spartans, Harriers Empty Watertown

By Leave a Comment

A busy – and successful – two days for Belmont High School athletic teams:

Soccer: Unbeaten on the field and between the posts

Belmont High’s Boys’ and Girls’ soccer remain undefeated and not scored upon after tussles with Reading Memorial High School.

Not that Belmont Boys‘ Head Coach Brian Bisceglia-Kane was all that pleased with his charge’s 3-0 victory over the Rockets in Reading Monday, Sept. 15. 

“We did not play very good in the first half,” said Bisceglia-Kane, whose team has advanced to 4-0-0 after scoring three goals for the third consecrative game. “We played better in the second half but we have areas of improvement.”

“Peter Berens was the man of the match as he was outstanding. He kept us in the match,” said Bisceglia-Kane of his senior goal keep.

Midfielders Nick Andrikidis, Charlie Frigo and Ben Lazenby scored for the  Marauders.

In their first real test of the season, Belmont Girls‘ Soccer waited until the final minutes of both halves to score, beating the Rockets, 2-0, on Tuesday, Sept. 16 at Harris Field.

“We were a little flat especially in the second half but I am proud how they played together. This was a real team victory,” said Paul Graham, Belmont’s long-time head coach.

Much of the credit for the tightness of the game rested on Rocket senior goal keeper Meghan O’Brien who was a rock in net, making two brilliant saves including a diving stretch to palm the ball off the line off a header by Belmont’s Alex Dionne midway in the first.

Belmont broke through when freshman scoring machine Carey Allard slide the ball into the net after a scramble out front with three minutes left in the first.

The Rockets played with renewed spirit in the second and took the majority of the play against Belmont. It was the Marauders back three, led by senior center back Lucia Guzikowski, that pressured Readings forwards into erred shots. 

When they got through, senior goalkeeper Linda Herlihy made two outstanding stops on her right post.

The final goal came within the final two minutes off of Belmont’s favorite corner kick. Junior Katrina Rokosz, who just came off the bench, struck the free kick which was headed by midfield star Lizzie Frick finding a poaching junior forward Kristin Gay who roofed the ball past O’Brien. 

Next up for the Marauders will be a clash of undefeated against hosts Arlington High School on Thursday, Sept. 18.

Aces up as Belmont ups record to 4-2

That was close.

“Wow, we nearly blew that,” said Belmont High Volleyball Head Coach Jen Couture after her team was sent into extra points in a fourth set after dominating the Spartans in the initial two sets.

“We were working on some new set ups that included a new setter and libero. And they were doing well until they got frustrated when they lost a few points,” said Couture, seeing the team drop the third set, 20-25.

And Couture’s team was nearly stretched to a fifth set when, after leading 24-20, they dropped four points to see the score tied, 24-24. But a service ace and a Stoneham mistake in setting a return saw Belmont take their fourth match of the young season, 3-1 (25-11, 25-11, 20-25, 26-24).

It was a special afternoon for junior Kabita Das as she broke the team’s record for aces in a game with 11. In addition, Alex Davis made numerous plays out front, helped by the team’s new setter, junior Faye Regan. 

“We are seeing a lot of great hitting and that’s what we wanted at the start of the season,” said Couture.

Up and running and winning

Belmont’s harriers took a quick trip to Watertown and easily put second victories in their column as both the Boys’ and Girls’ Cross Country teams won going away. Both teams won 19-42 with the Marauders taking first, third, fourth, fifth and sixth places.

Next up for the squads will be at powerhouse Reading Memorial next week.

A Return to the Halls: Belmont High’s School Resource Officer

By 2 Comments

There’s something new at Belmont High School this school year: a Belmont police officer.

“The first thing [students] asked me was ‘what did we do wrong to deserve this?'” said Dr. Dan Richards, Belmont High’s principal.

Not that Belmont Police Officer Melissa O’Connor is a stranger to the school; the 2001 Belmont High graduate and former captain of the soccer team use to roam the hallways with her friends and teammates.

“It doesn’t look that much different since I was here,” said O’Connor – a seven-year veteran of the force – standing in the central entrance as the final classes of the day are being dismissed.

There remains a perception that whenever a police officer enters a school building “it means there’s trouble inside,” said Richards.

But to the town, school and public safety officials who supported a dedicated school resource officer, those days have changed and with it, the role of the police and schools.

“The law hasn’t come to the hallways of Belmont High School,” said Richards, noting the high school is one of just a few in the area not to have an officer in the halls.

IMG_5011

The re-introduction of the resource officer – one was assigned to the district until budget cuts about a decade ago ended the program – has now less to do with law enforcement than an added hand to assist educators with nearly 1,200 students at the high school, O’Connor and Richards both said.

A 2013 Congressional Research Service study on school resource officers concluded that schools with law enforcement officers did not see any greater reduction in crime or offenses than in the general school-age population. Belmont High has a very low rate of serious incidents compared to schools statewide, which itself is one of the least violent in the country.

Rather then spend her time patrolling the halls targeting minor offenses – a policy the Congressional Research Study calls out as detrimental to students – O’Connor will be supporting the work of the administration and staff, said Richards.

“[O’Connor] will be assisting the administration. The school has a student handbook that we go by, and Melissa doesn’t trump those regulations. When we need further assistance, she’ll be invited in to help us,” said Richards.

“Being a resource to everyone in the school is the most important thing we are trying to do in addition to building relationships with the students,” said O’Connor.

O’Connor’s “beat” now includes being in the hallways, in the cafeteria, at sporting events; seen but also available to anyone, be it student or staff.

“I’m here so the kids can ask me questions in an environment where they are safe and comfortable and can I build relationships with them,” said O’Connor, who holds an MA in legal studies from Curry College.

And within the first week of being at BHS, O’Connor was asked to assist with two female students who had rekindled an argument from the previous school year.

As the assistant principals mediated the issue, O’Connor added a “real world” element to the resolution: “if you continue making ‘bad’ decisions, this is what will occur to you legally. Don’t go down that road,” said O’Connor.

“That’s something no assistant principal has the background to express,” said Richards.

More than resolving disputes

Nor is O’Connor there to work only on dispute resolution. Teachers are approaching her on education subjects, including one who asked her to discuss criminal procedure in the “You and the Law” class.

“For example, I told the class how should kids act and what should we say during a police stop or if the police shows up to a house party. I gave them my take on the matter,” said O’Connor.

O’Connor arrival occurs after a summer filled with images of the militarization of the law enforcement and the reaction to alleged police misconduct.
Yet O’Connor believes being a presence around campus will breed a familiarity and create an openness with the student where “they’ll be seeing me in a different light.”

“I believe soon she’ll be pulled in all sorts of directions as people get more comfortable with [her],” said Richards.

While O’Connor’s role is expected to expand, the question brought up at this year’s Belmont Town Meeting was the appropriateness of removing a police officers from servicing the entire town and into the school, a role that could be performed with an additional counselor or assistant principal.
Richards counted the argument saying that a councilor “can not respond to certain things that Melissa.”

“In this day and age, threats do exist and are part of the everyday life of kids. We are bringing in expertise or insurance to make sure things are safe here,” said Richards. As an example, a councilor can not review the school’s lock-down procedures or be as effective in a stay-in-place emergency as O’Connor.

“She will also bring a new set of eyes to the school’s overall safety and show how we can be safer if you do this and take away what’s wrong,” said Richards.

In the rare case of a major crisis, “I think she will take the lead role and we’d step aside,” he said, hoping that the administrator’s expertise rubs off on O’Connor to where she gains in the education aspect of the job and the administration can view the school through a public safety lens.

O’Connor has been seeking an opportunity to reestablish the position at the high school, noting that she was a sports coach at the high school and Bentley University and “enjoyed creating relationships “because as a student I had a coach or adult who I could talk to to figure out issues.”

After an admittedly “cool” start, the students are beginning to warm up to O’Connor, said Richards. “At first they were a little shy but that’s changing,” said O’Connor.

“They no longer are asking about police duties but the ‘I have a question’ question,” she said.

Belmont Field Hockey Overwhelms Second Visiting Team

By Leave a Comment

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

By 1 Comment

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.”