THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, MARCH 31, 2023 Page 21 Crimson Tide introduces new varsity sport next week Everett girls’ lacrosse gets going next Thursday at Somerville By Joe McConnell T here’s a new sport in town, and Everett High School girls are anxious to try it out. Thanks to the efforts of coach Christina Buckley, the Crimson Tide athletic department now has lacrosse to offer for the female athlete in the school. The sport actually got its start in Everett last spring, but only with a club team that played a series of scrimmages against rivals Medford and Somerville. “We are a brand-new varsity program,” said Buckley. “Everett has not had a girls lacrosse program in decades, perhaps maybe never. Last year, we started a club team made up of 15 girls. We scrimmaged Somerville and Medford, and that was it. This year, we decided to create a full varsity program, competing against the GBL [Greater Boston League] teams that have lacrosse programs.” Buckley had 30 girls sign up to tryout and plans to carry 26 on the varsity roster. “We decided to keep a larger roster so that we could have Red vs. White scrimmages a few times a week to learn the rules and positional play faster,” the Tide coach said. The roster will consist of Girls’ Varsity Lacrosse team, pictured from left to right: Kneeling, bottom row: seniors Anaya Rivera, Julianna Edwards, Sophia Sousa, Riley Avelar, Kim Herrera, Kamily Aguiar and Valandy Pierre; middle row: Samantha Roldan, Aura Linares, Amanda Verterio, Ana Carolina DaSilva, Isabella Bicalho, Esmerelda Restrepo, Yasmin Linhares, Natalie Vaquerano-Lopez, Brigette ReyesCortez and Camille Camilo; top row: Assistant Coach Emily Korb, Katherine Olivares Guzman, Leilani Ros-Morales, Ludmila Bassani, Nicole Damaceno, Emily Acacio, Natalia Ruiz, Sophia DePaula, Khadija Ailane and Head Coach Christina Buckley. eight seniors, seven juniors, five sophomores and six freshmen, and their primary goal will be to learn the sport and improve every day. “Everyone on this roster is brand new to lacrosse with the exception of the girls who were briefly introduced to it last year,” said Buckley. “Defensively, I want the girls to focus on stopping an attack at midfield, communicating with each other, play on the ball defense and winning groundballs as often as possible. Offensively, I want to focus on spacing out around the 12-meter mark and being confident with the ball in their sticks, while attacking the goal.” Seniors Riley Avelar, Sophia Sousa and Cristina Snook; juniors Katherine Olivares Guzman, Brigitte Reyes Cortez, Camille Camilo and freshman Amanda Verterio have impressed the coach to date. “I’ve mostly been impressed by either their speed or their enthusiasm to learn the skills as quickly as possible,” she added. “Junior Khadija Ailane is set to be the goalie for the first time in her life, and she’s getting better with each practice.” Team captains are scheduled to be announced later today, March 31, while positions are slowly being determined based on performance in practice and from the Red vs. White scrimmages, according to the coach. It will all come together for the team’s first varsity game ever on Thursday, April 6, against host Somerville. Great expectations again for Everett High softball Last year’s GBL champs are ready to defend their title starting Monday at Malden By Joe McConnell The 2022 campaign couldn’t he Everett High School softball team gets the 2023 season underway on Monday, April 3, against host Malden, starting at 4 p.m. It’s always best for a varsity team in any high school sport to have a roster filled with experienced players, because a winning season might be more doable. In the case of this year’s Crimson Tide girls diamond squad, experience starts at the top, where coach Stacy Schiavo is beginning her 25th T year along the sidelines. “This will be Year 25 for me as the Everett head coach, and I’m looking forward to an amazing year with my coaching staff and players,” said Schiavo. “This year’s team is made up of a great group of girls that are not taking anything for granted.” have gone any better for these Tide girls. They ended the regular season with a 16-4 overall record, 12-2 in the Greater Boston League (GBL), and as a result they shared the League championship with Lynn Classical. Schiavo’s crew, ranked 33rd , then lost a heartbreaker to Concord-Carlisle, the 32nd seed, in a Division 1 state tournament preliminary round game, 2-1. “We had such a great year last year, and the girls are more determined than ever to win another league title,” the veteran coach said. The veteran Everett coach welcomed six freshmen, 15 sophomores, 10 juniors and three seniors to tryouts on March 20. “We have 11 of our 13 players returning from last year, and only have room for Tide’s Kayley Rossi looked to make her way to second base during last season’s action. (Advocate file photo) three new players on the varsity,” Schiavo said. Kayley Rossi, Kristi Skane and Julian Curran are the senior class representatives, and all three will serve as captains on this year’s club. Emma Longmore, Bryana Mason, Gianna Masucci and Arabela Cvitkusic are all back from last year – just one year older as juniors. They are joined by classmate Alessandra Foster. The returning players who are now sophomores include Jayla Davila, Ashley Seward, Emilia Maria-Babcock and Alexa Uga. Kassidy Rivera and Peyton Warren are their classmates, who will give the team always needed depth this spring as newcomers to the varsity roster. Schiavo has simple expectations at the beginning of the season. “Our goal is to take it one game at a time, while ultimately ending up with another GBL title,” she said. “Our strengths are the returning starters, who will occupy all but two spots in the field.” “Last year ’s starting right-fielder Kristi Skane will be stepping onto the mound this spring, while our other pitcher Peyton Warren will be splitting time between the JV and varsity squads. We have many options to replace Skane in right, and whoever goes into that spot will be solid. Hitting may be a weakness. We have struggled being consistent with our at-bats, but many players have been working on their batting in the off-season, and so we are hopeful that this will be another strength of ours as the season wears on,” Schiavo added. The Tide girls were scheduled to scrimmage Winchester on March 28 to get ready again for Monday’s opener against the host Golden Tornadoes.
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