THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, SEpTEmbER 29, 2023 Page 13 Tide field hockey edges Greater Lowell to secure first win Goals by Guillaume, Orleus seal the deal on Wright’s first triumph as coach in her inaugural season The Everett High School field hockey team was all smiles after securing its first win of the season last week against Greater Lowell, 2-1. (Courtesy photo) By Joe McConnell T he Everett High School field hockey team (1-5), under the direction of firstyear coach Sabrina Wright, took on host Wakefield on Sept. 19. It was their first road game of the year, and they ended up losing by a deceptively high score of 6-0. The Crimson Tide battled the Warriors throughout the first half and only trailed by one, 1-0. “We played our best field hockey this year in that first half against Wakefield,” said Wright, “but unfortunately in the second half the little things got to us.” Freshman goalie Willins Julien was credited with 22 saves to help keep things close throughout most of the game. Wright has recently started naming a game MVP to help boost morale on her young club. “The team now looks forward to it at the end of each game,” she said. “Our MVP after the Wakefield game was Stephany Desouza, who is also our senior captain. She is a defensive player, who was taking shot after shot and really holding the circle together, while also protecting our goalie.” Everett then came home the next day to host Greater Lowell. “This was a great game to watch, you could feel the excitement on the field,” said Wright. “We scored our first two goals of the season right away in this game.” Everett’s first goal was scored by Malaica Guillaume, and Cephas Orleus accounted for the second score that turned out to be the game-winner, which secured the team’s first win of the year, a 2-1 triumph over the Gryphons. “One of our MVPs for this game was Lindsey Sylva, a forward who badly wants to score a goal. Unfortunately, she never got that goal, but she did assist Malaica’s goal, and I told her afterwards that there are no goals without assists,” said Wright. Justin Contreras, a freshman defender, was the other team MVP in this game against Greater Lowell. “He started for the first time this year, and really proved that he belonged out there by stopping many shots in the circle, before bringing the ball up field to his forwards,” said Wright. Junior Caden Sylva was the honorary captain during these two games, while Guillaume took over the leadership chores last Friday against visiting Haverhill. It was their third game of the week, and it probably showed in the first quarter, when they gave up four goals. But once they got their legs, the Tide held the Hillies scoreless in the second quarter. However, they ended up allowing three more tallies in the second half to account for the final 7-0 score. “Haverhill is a well-established team,” said Wright, “but the best part of this game was at the end of it, when there was nothing but laughter and joy from everyone on the team, despite the final score. That to me is the best, because no matter what they are still having a great time, and I couldn’t ask for anything more.” Midfielder Stephano Orleus was the team’s game MVP. “He ran his heart out to try to get the ball back to take it to the Haverhill goal,” Wright said. “He kept his stick down the whole game to prove that when you keep it down you will come up with the ball every time.” Everett girls’ soccer team explodes past Lynn English for second league win By Joe McConnell T he Everett High School girls’ soccer team (2-1 in the Greater Boston League, 3-3 overall) finished last week by splitting two games. Visiting Revere first blanked them, 3-0, on Sept. 20, before they rolled to a 5-1 triumph over Lynn English two days later. Against Revere, goalie Laura Sanchez had a great game, holding her own after turning away many shots to keep things close, according to coach Dom Persuitte. “Emilia Maria-Babcock also had a stellar game,” Persuitte said. “She stepped into a new role as a defender, and was lights out. Maria Silvestri stood out in this game, as well. “Despite the loss, we played well, and we are looking forward to playing [Revere] again to even the score next month at Revere [Oct. 12, 7 p.m.],” added the Everett coach. Against Lynn English, the Crimson Tide girls came out on fire, passing a ball around the entire field to dominate the Bulldogs. “This was a great effort particularly by Emilia Maria-Babcock, who was playing in her new role as a center-defensive midfielder,” said Persuitte. Yelsa Garcia led the way for her teammates with two goals. Her first goal was on a defensive block six minutes into the game. She also scored again from Adalmita Silva. Silva then scored a short time later with an assist going to Layla Cardona. Newcomer Maria Silvestri, who is making a name for herself by controlling the right wing, also scored on another defensive block. In the second half, the Tide scored two more goals. Alondra Flores netted one tally assisted by freshman Layla Leles. Layla Cardona then rocketed a shot home from 18 yards out. “We played extremely well, stepping up in many areas that were being missed in earlier game,” said Persuitte. Sanchez had a clean slate in net throughout the first half and only saw a handful of shots overall. Freshman Kaylee Velasquez took over the goaltending chores in the second half and played well, despite allowing English’s lone goal of the game, according to the coach.
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