Sports Roundup: Four Games, Four Wins For Nantucket Sports On Tuesday

It was a busy but successful day for Whaler sports on Tuesday with the field hockey team, girls soccer team, cross country team, and boys soccer team all in action and earning victories as we slowly creep closer to state tournament time.

Field Hockey Shuts Out Sturgis East

The Whaler field hockey team set a program record for wins in a season following their 10^th win of the year on Tuesday over Sturgis East by a score of 6-0.

“I actually thought it was one of the better games we played all season offensively,” Whaler head coach Dan Weber said. “There was good flow, good passing, good movement. It was probably one of our stronger games of the year I think. The defense was great. They weren’t under pressure the whole game, but every single time they had to they were great.”

The defense, led by senior Ieva Meidus, juniors Sophia Yelverton and Lil Wullschleger, as well as junior goalie Shelbi Harimon and senior midfielders/captains Mayson Lower and Maddie Lombardi helped the defense earn Nantucket their ninths shutout of the season.

“We were a little banged up today because we had a couple people out sick,” Weber said. “Everybody stepped up. I said after the game to the girls I thought it was a real team effort today.”

The Whaler goal scorers included Marin Mooney (two goals on Tuesday; four in her last two games), seniors Claire Genthner and Sam Zadroga, junior Sadie Paterson, and sophomore Evie Phelps.

“Their goalie is very, very good,” Weber said of the Storm’s netminder. “I thought she was strong again today. She was unbelievable when we played them at their place. She must have had 40 saves. She is very good. But yeah, I thought we came out and played well, did what we needed to do, and move onto the next one.”

In the latest state power rankings, the Whalers are currently the #10 seed in the Div. 4 bracket with four games remaining in their regular season schedule. They will have some time to rest and practice before their next game, which is scheduled for Sunday, October 20 at 11:30 a.m. against Marshfield High School on the island.

The final three games on the schedule include a home matchup against Falmouth High School on Tuesday, October 22 at 3:45 p.m., a road matchup on Thursday, October 24 at 3:30 p.m. against Dennis-Yarmouth, and a road matchup against Martha’s Vineyard on Saturday, October 26 at 11 a.m.

Girls Soccer Shuts Out Sturgis West

The Whaler girls soccer team improved their record to 6-3-3 this season following a 4-0 victory over the Sturgis West Navigators Tuesday afternoon.

The Whalers jumped out to a fast start with four first half goals. The first came with 23:30 to go in the half when senior captain Adney Brannigan put a shot on net, which led to a juicy rebound that junior Sutton LeBrecht buried to give Nantucket the 1-0 lead.

About one minute later, junior Myah Johnson was able to bury another loose ball and make it 2-0.

Nantucket continued to dominate time of possession and had several more scoring chances in the games next 20 minutes, and finally scored again when Brannigan took advantage of an aggressive Navigator’s keeper who vacated the net to go for a loose ball – creating an easy score for the Whaler’s leading scorer.

Just 30 seconds later, LeBrecht scored her second goal of the game off a nice pass from junior captain Chelsea Gross to make it 4-0 heading into halftime.

From there, the Whalers shut down the Navigators to earn the victory by that same score. In the latest power rankings, Nantucket was pegged as the #18 seed in the Div. 4 state tournament bracket. They will have a chance to earn their seventh win of the year on Thursday, October 17 when they travel to face the Monomoy Sharks at 4:15 p.m. The Whalers hosted Monomoy on Oct. 3 and tied 1-1.

Cross Country Beats Falmouth Academy On Senior Day

The Nantucket boys cross country team honored their two seniors – captain Rory Murray and Iain MacIver – Tuesday afternoon and went on to cap the day off with a 22–39 victory over Falmouth Academy at the Gardner Farm trail.

The final times were as followed.

Rory Murray – 18:36

Dorian Manov – 20:01

Mike Sullivan – 21:35

Jimmy Fuller – 22:06

Nick Ferrantella – 22:30

Hayden Roberts – 22:52

Numa Solano – 23:14

Finn Seip – 23:20

Malachi Seip – 24:21

Harlan Wright – 24:48.

Boris Boychev – 25:02

Will Manning – 28:43

Iain MacIver – 31:57 (PR)

The Whalers are now 5-1 and their next meet is on the road against Cape Cod Academy on Tuesday, October 22 at 4 p.m.

Boys Soccer Shuts Out Sturgis West

The Whaler boys soccer team beat the Sturgis West Navigators 3-0 on the road Tuesday afternoon despite having gone 12 days between games, with the last game being October 3 against Monomoy on the road (a 3-1 win).

The victory improved Nantucket’s record to 6-1-4 this season and Whaler head coach Rich Brannigan told the Current Tuesday evening that his team was playing fast and well quickly – with freshman striker Stoyan Popov scoring one of the team’s early goals followed by a strike off the foot of fellow freshman striker Aldo Lemus.

The 2-0 lead held going into the second half, but Nantucket wasn’t satisfied and scored their third goal of the game following a strike from junior Santos Perez.

The three goals were all the Nantucket needed as they showed very little rust and cruised to their sixth win of the season. Junior keeper Alex Ivilov made four saves and Brannigan said sophomore Edvin Valentukevicius held the back line intact while senior Bryan Mejia and senior captain Jake Johnson managed the midfield.

The Whalers were slotted as the #18 seed in the latest Div. 4 state tournament bracket released Tuesday morning, and will attempt to improve their record to 7-1-4 when they host the Dennis-Yarmouth Dolphins on Wednesday, October 16 at 3:30 p.m.

The Whaler golf team also completed their season this week, and we will have a recap of their year in our Friday newsletter.

SCHEDULE AHEAD:

Wednesday, October 16:

The boys soccer team will host the Dennis-Yarmouth Dolphins at 3:30 p.m.

Thursday, October 17:

The boys soccer team will host the Monomoy Sharks at 4 p.m.

The girls soccer team will travel to play the Sharks at 4:15 p.m.

The volleyball team will travel to the Cape to face the St. John Paul II Lions at 4:30 p.m.

For more updates on Whaler sports throughout the year, you can:

Follow Nantucket Current Sports on Instagram here.

Follow Sports Editor David Creed on X here.

Follow Sports Photographer Chris Tran on Instagram here.

View State Power Rankings Here.