08 | October | 2021 | McClelland Miscellanea

Daily Archives: October 8, 2021

October 8, 2021 · 10:43 pm

Clippers now 12-0 after 3-0 win over Royals

Georgetown GK Kyle Davies under attack from Henry Acton (6) and Max Gagnon (10)

(Newburyport MA) All Georgetown wanted to do was keep the game close on the scoreboard.

So they packed in the defense around goalie Kyle Davies.

The undefeated Clippers (12-0) were still able to win, 3-0, but their high-powered offense was slowed down a bit.

“We were just trying to keep it close,” said Georgetown coach Chris DiFranco afterwards. “I thought our guys did a good job at that.”

The Royals (3-8) gained some satisfaction defensively, but in doing so, they surrendered on the offensive end.

About thirteen minutes into the game, a weak roller reached Newburyport goalkeeper Owen Tahnk. That was the ONLY time he touched the ball the entire game.

Down the other end, Georgetown goalkeeper Kyle Davies was busy.

“It was crazy back there,” said Kyle postgame. “They had a ton of shots on net (20?), but I had my defense in front of me keeping me alive.”

Jameson Brooks and Henry Acton scored in the first half while Caelan Twitchell added a goal in the second half.

“Georgetown had a defensive plan for us, and it frustrated us for a bit,” said Coach Shawn Bleau of Newburyport afterwards. “They made it difficult for us after the first two goals.”

“They dropped a lot of guys back and were well organized,” added Coach Bleau. “They always had 2-3 players around our top players.”

“We did well possessing the ball,” recalled Clippers senior Jack Fehlner. “They didn’t seem to want to go on attack. They would boot it out. We would settle it and pass it around some more.”

“The score doesn’t show how well we played,” added Jack.

The Clippers moved closer to the school’s record for goals scored in a season. The record is currently forty-five. By adding three goals today they have now reached forty-four.

“We had some great goals today,” said Coach Bleau.

“We work in practice on getting the ball to the end line and then cutting it back,” said Coach Bleau. “That’s what happened on the first goal. Great timing and the shot (by Jameson Brooks) went inside the side post.”

“The shot was unstoppable,” said Royals GK Kyle Davies. “He got it at the top of the box and turned and shot. It went in the bottom corner.”

Jameson’s goal happened four minutes into the game.

Thirteen minutes later (23:21) it was Henry Acton’s turn to score. Instead of a pass to get closer to the goal, a back pass set Henry up further away from the goal. Henry had time to really get his foot into a shot.

“It was a complete bomb from twenty-five yards,” said Coach Bleau. “He couldn’t have gotten a much better hit.”

“It was just a rip to the top corner,” recalled Kyle Davies. “I couldn’t do anything about it.”

Coach DiFranco said that he, “hadn’t seen a shot like that all year.”

The Royals persisted with the defensive strategy in the second half.

“Their goalie was good,” said Jack Fehlner. “He’s big and he came out and caught a lot of our crosses.”

Although the outcome was settled, the Clippers wanted at least another goal.

“We pressed and pressed at the end to try and get one more goal on account of the ranking stuff,” said Coach Bleau.

With 7:50 remaining, Caelan Twitchell ruined Georgetown’s second-half shutout.

“It was off a side volley which is a pretty impressive shot,” recalled Coach Bleau.

“He made a good move,” said Kyle Davies. “It was a good turn-and-shoot.”

It has now been eight years since Georgetown had a win versus Newburyport.

The Royals have now lost four straight games. They have wins over Triton, Cristo Rey, and Hamilton-Wenham.

The twelve wins to open the season are the best in NHS history.

The Clippers have nine shutouts in their twelve wins. I did see NHS goalie Owen Tahnk make some saves in practice!

Newburyport is 49-14-17 since the start of the 2017 season.

I asked Coach Bleau what makes the 2021 team so good. “We have a lot of kids who came up through our youth system. They’ve been together for a while. We’ve got depth. We’re playing a lot of guys, so we don’t have any injuries.”

Coach DiFranco was very optimistic about the future for Newburyport this season. “They have a good chance at a state championship. It’s a special year for them.”

Senior Jack Fehlner has been a terrific athlete for NHS in soccer, basketball, and baseball. I asked him about next year: “I haven’t really decided. I probably won’t play soccer at the next level. It could well be baseball.”

New England weather! A nice warm morning and afternoon turned into a cold, windy evening.

(All pictures above and below will enlarge considerably if you click on them.)

Will Acquaviva on the attack for Newburyport

Newburyport rallies to defeat Triton 3-1

Sophia Messina had fourteen kills for the Clippers

Clippers break a five-game losing streak

(Byfield MA) Newburyport hadn’t won in over two weeks.

And they were blown out by Triton (25-10) in tonight’s first set.

After that, the Clippers (5-7) managed three straight happy endings to catch a 3-1 win over the Vikings.

The endings, however, weren’t so happy for Triton.

“Those last three games could have gone either way,” lamented Triton coach Bob Van Etten afterwards.

The Vikings (4-7) led 23-22 in the second game, 25-24 in the third game, and 24-21 in the fourth game. The Clippers were able to rally back each time; 25-23, 27-25, and 26-24.

“I don’t know what it is about Triton,” said Newburyport coach Lori Solazzo post-match, “it’s always a battle.”

Last time the two teams met, it took five games before the Clippers prevailed.

“We always end up having drastic highs and lows against Triton,” said Coach Solazzo.

“The first game was certainly a low, but we worked through it,” she added.

A key to the win was the play of Newburyport junior Sophia Messina who had fourteen kills.

“I switched her to the outside part-way through the set and she made a huge difference for us,” said Coach Solazzo.

“We struggled with our offense the first two sets and Sophia came out and hit well tonight,” explained Coach Solazzo.

“We’re a work in progress,” explained Coach Van Etten. “We have a lot of new players.”

Two of the Vikings veterans (Mia Berardino and Molly Kimball) carried the team tonight. Mia had nineteen kills while Molly had twenty-two assists.

Mia will be playing volleyball for D2 Stonehill next year.

“The team was very welcoming,” said Mia about Stonehill. “I love the coach. I’ll be playing at a D2 level in a very competitive conference.”

“We dominated the first set tonight,” recalled Mia, “but Newburyport adjusted.”

One of the “adjustments” was moving Sophia Messina to the outside.

Coach Van Etten noticed another one: “They kept feeding our setter (Molly Kimball) on free balls to take her out of the play.”

When Molly has a chance to set Mia up, good things usually happen for the Vikings.

Newburyport’s Ava Hartley is a senior and has seen Mia play numerous times. “Mia is insane,” laughed Ava. “You can’t necessarily stop her. We wanted to keep the ball away from her and on our side.”

Ava did a good job of blocking some of Mia hits and receiving some of her hard serves.

“Coach has been stressing blocking a lot recently,” added Ava.

Ava is hoping to play volleyball at Endicott next year. “I’ve been talking with the coach,” said Ava, “and things look good.”

Triton has now lost three straight, but they are optimistic about the future.

“We have a path to .500,” said Coach Van Etten with seven matches remaining. “We have a lot of new players but by the end of the season we’re going to be ready to go. We should make the states.”

Mia was also optimistic. “I’m really proud of our team,” she said. “Almost all of the girls were JVs last year. They are improving and getting better.”

Ava Hartley: “Tonight was important for us mentally so that we know that we have a team. We’ve had a lot of losses the last couple of weeks.”

Coach Solazzo: “We knew that this would be a rebuilding year, but we do have a lot of talent. It’s a matter of who plays where and trying to get that magic combination.”

Anna Rossi had six aces for Newburyport while teammate Abby Dwyer had four blocks.

Trinity Cole had twelve digs for Triton and teammate Kendall Liebert had three blocks.

My wife and I are officially back in Amesbury after 3 ½ months in Maine. Hoping to cover several area games each week.

(All of the pictures above and below should enlarge considerably if you click on them.)