Two shutouts for EHS girls soccer, now stand at 8-2-2

The Everett High girls soccer team improved to 8-2-2 with a pair of shutout victories this past week on their home turf over Greater Boston League (GBL) rivals Lynn Classical and Lynn English.

The Lady Crimson Tide’s week began with a 3-2 loss to Greater Boston League (GBL) rival Malden last Monday. snapping Everett’s six-game unbeaten streak. After the Lady Golden Tornados took a 1-0 lead, a goal by Johanna Flores off a nice crossing pass from Melany Arana brought the contest back to level. Everett’s second goal came on a penalty kick (PK) by captain Sofia Arana-Quintanilla after a blatant handball by a Malden player.

“Sofia is our PK and free kick specialist,” said EHS head coach Dom Persuitte, who also lauded the play of Tiffany Aguilar, both Arana sisters, and keeper Julianna Rivera in net.

The Lady Crimson Tide shook off the loss the following day to post a 4-0 shutout on Classical last Tuesday. “It was a great bounce-back game after losing to Malden,” noted Persuitte. “The team is beat up with injuries, but they’re still giving it their best.”

Arana-Quintanilla scored the first goal with a free kick from about 25 yards out. Brianna Santos made it 2-0 with an assist from captain Kayla Andrade. Odilas Sandoval got back into her scoring groove by dribbling through the Lady Ram defense to make it 3-0. The final goal came from Flores, who mirrored Sandoval by dribbling through the Classical defense.

“Overall, it was a good game; the team worked on moving the ball around and limiting their touches to focus on quicker play,” said Perssuitte. “Both goalies, Julianna and Kaylin Rivera, earned another shutout on the season.”

This past Friday the Lady Crimson Tide turned in an offensive onslaught to power to an 8-0 win over Lynn English. Santos got the Tide rolling off a nice pass from Rosa Romero within the first two minutes. Brianna later would score two more goals to record a hat trick, one of which was assisted by Mel Ribeiro.

Norma (Sofia) Chaves scored a brace (two goals), both of which came off deflections on which Norma was in perfect position to deliver the ball into the net. Kayla Andrade and Connie Paz Hernandez also scored goals, with the final Everett goal coming on an own-goal by the Lady Bulldogs.

Goakeepers Julianna and Kaylin Rivera combined to earn another clean sheet.

“It was a good game to see the girls move the ball around with precision and pace,” said Persuitte. “Overall, there was great team play by everyone, notably Tiffany Aguilar, Sofia Arana-Qunitanillia, and Gissell Lemus. It was a solid overall team effort. I was quite pleased with the way they all played.”

Persuitte and his crew were scheduled to host GBL foe Somerville yesterday (Tuesday) and will travel to Malden tomorrow (Thursday). They will entertain non-league opponent Lowell next Tuesday.

The Everett High boys cross-country team came up on the short end (or, in the case of cross-country scoring, the long end) of a close 26-33 decision to Malden last Wednesday on the Crimson Tide’s home course at Rivergreen Park.

Everett star Chris Portillo once again was the first runner across the line among the large field of 32 competitors, winning the race with a clocking of 17:50, which was 35 seconds faster than his closest Malden opponent.

Kaleb DeFreitas took third place in 18:27, just two seconds behind the second-place Malden boy. Domenico Delle Rose was the third Everett finisher in sixth place in 19:16, but the Golden Tornadoes took the next four spots to claim the meet.

Tien Nguyen was Everett’s fourth runner in 11th place in 20:54 and Praytush Darai completed Everett’s scoring in 15th place with a clocking of 21:31.

They were followed by teammates Michael Lemus in 21:37, Oseas Erazo (22:33),

Brasesh Maharjan (23:20), Ethan Ngo (25:32), and Jad Lahssan (36:27).

“It was our second race on our home course this season and most of the team ran a personal record (PR) time,” said RHS head coach Brendan Hahesy. “All of the improvement in times over the past month is a reflection of all the hard work the team has put in this season. The team showed tremendous competitive spirit.”

The Tide were scheduled to travel to Somerville today (Wednesday) and will host Revere next Wednesday.

The Everett High girls cross country team dueled their Malden opponents to a 28-28 deadlock that was decided by a tiebreaker last Wednesday on the course at Rivergreen Park.

“Ties like that are quite rare,” said EHS coach Brendan Hahesy. “In my 15 years of coaching cross-country I think this is the first time.

“The meet was a thrilling battle that came down to each team’s sixth runner,” Hahesy continued. “After the first five runners from each team crossed the finish line, the score was tied at 28-28, but Malden ended up winning the tie breaker because their sixth runner finished before our sixth runner.

“That is as close as a cross-country meet can possibly be,” Hahesy added. “It was an outstanding performance by the girls’ team, who showed tremendous competitive spirit.”

The top finisher for Everett once again was Shashi Pokhrel, who finished in second place in a clocking of 23:33.Teammate Lina Sherrer was next across the line in third place with a time of 24:16.

Ana Maciel grabbed fifth place in 24:37 and Nathalia Dos Santos came across the line in seventh in 26:54. However, Lady Golden Tornado runners took the next three places before the Tide’s Eve-Lynn Joseph finished 11th in 29:21.

Aliesha Thelus (30:48), Princika Humagain (33:16), Bao Nguyen (35:02), Berthy Muscade (35:54), and Carolina Bernardina (42:51) also competed for Everett.

The Crimson Tide girls were scheduled to travel to Somerville today (Wednesday) and will host Revere next Wednesday.

The Everett High boys soccer team engaged in a pair of hard-fought contests this past week with Greater Boston League (GBL) rival Lynn Classical and non-league opponent Marblehead.

Last Wednesday the Crimson Tide traveled to Lynn and dueled the Rams to a 0-0 draw. “We had a very strong game, maintaining possession from the beginning and had a strong midfield cohort of Mateus Callahan Bueno, Lucas Hercules, and Kevin Renderos,” said EHS head coach Rodney Landaverde. “We had clear chances to get ahead in the first half, but their keeper had some good saves to keep us at bay.

“In the second half we started with a more aggressive approach and added an additional attacking player up top to create more chances, but once again we were just a few misses away from sealing the game,” Landaverde said. “They only had two dangerous chances all game, but Diego Teixeira was able to keep us a clean sheet.

“Mateus Callahan Bueno and Lucas Hercules had a solid game maintaining possession and distributing the ball. Sophomore Calleb De Souza also saw solid minutes and has earned a great rotational role this year,” Landaverde added.

In Friday evening’s contest at Everett Stadium vs. Marblehead, the teams were level at 1-1 at the intermission, with the Everett goal coming from senior Whitney Pereira on a great ball from Cesar Rengifo.

“We conceded early on a mistake and got caught ball watching,” noted Landaverde,”but then we held our own and Whitney scored on a quick sub.”

The Tide moved out to a 2-1 advantage early in the second half when Daniel Henriquez soared high to head the ball into the back of the Magician net after Rengifo sent a far cross to the back post.

Everett held onto its lead until the midpoint of the half when Marblehead erupted for three unanswered tallies, the first coming on a counter and the next two off a throw-in rebound and a free kick.

With five minutes remaining, senior Pedro Nascimiento subbed in and quickly found himself 30 yards from the goal, from where he sent a great through-ball for Coelho, who buried the ball in the back of the enemy net for the 4-3 final score.

Landaverde and his crew, who stand at 3-6-1, have four key matches with GBL opponents in the coming week: They were scheduled to play at Somerville yesterday (Tuesday) and will host Malden tomorrow (Thursday) and Somerville Friday before traveling to Medford next Tuesday.

“We’re looking forward to the upcoming GBL matchups as we look to secure a spot in the top four in the league and fight for the GBL Cup,” Landaverde said.

The Everett High girls volleyball team played three quality opponents last week and suffered three 3-0 losses.

Last Monday against Malden, the Lady Crimson Tide were competitive, but ultimately suffered too many lapses, falling 25-18, 25-19, and 25-20. In the first set, junior setter Abigail Falkowski had two aces and senior captain Cassandra Tayag had a pair of aces in a run of serves that tied the game at 12-12.

“We did not tally a single kill in the set,” said EHS head coach Michael Fineran. “It’s hard to win in this league if you don’t get your attack on track.”

In the second set, Tayag notched a pair of kills and Falkowski had a block. Junior Cecilia Da Silveira had a kill, and freshman Maria Cunha had an ace, closing the gap to 19-18 before falling.

In the third set, senior co-captain Melissa Meireles had a pair of kills and Tayag had another. Falkowski had another ace, and senior co-captain MariaJose Cardenas had an ace in a set that was 20-19 before the Tide’s last lapse of the match.

In Wednesday’s rematch against Lynn English, a team Everet had beaten earlier this season, the Tide were more aggressive attacking, but that also led to a number of unforced errors.

Everett welcomed junior outside hitter Elora Philippe back to the lineup, and Elora scored four kills on the night. Cardenas had four as well, and she was perfect serving in 15 attempts with three aces. Meireles also served 15 times and notched three aces and a kill. Cunha and senior QiongQiong Chen each scored kills, and sophomore Lelilah Ros-Morales had a pair of kills.

“We played much cleaner the next day against Lowell, but we were ultimately outgunned in this one, too,” Fineran noted. Philippe had four kills. Cardenas was perfect on four serves and added four kills. Tayag had a pair of aces and kills. Ros-Morales had nine serves and a kill. Senior Kiana Flores had three serves and played solid back row defense, as did junior libero Giyanna Desamours.

“We know we are capable of playing better, but we don’t have much of a margin for error,” said Fineran. “Almost every team we play has a height advantage, and they all have hard hitters. If we aren’t perfect for the entire match, we won’t get the results we are looking for.

“We are disappointed in the results, especially because we see flashes of what we are capable of when we don’t beat ourselves,” Fineran added. “We have to commit to doing the little things and minimize our mistakes. We don’t have a lot of time left, but we do have eight more matches in three weeks to try to get on track.”

The Tide will be on the road for their next five contests. They were scheduled to play at Lynn Classical yesterday (Tuesday) and will make the long trek to non-league opponent Lawrence tomorrow (Thursday). They will travel to Medford on Friday, to Somerville next Monday, and to Lowell next Wednesday.

Although the Everett High field hockey team came up on the short end of a 7-0 decision to Stoneham last week, head coach Yasmine Akib saw some encouraging signs from her squad.

“Soleyana Mehari,.our seventh grade goalie, played the first half and did really well for her first time ever,” said Akib. “She won our varsity player of the game. It’s an award we give out where they get to wear our hype chain. Our team is very skilled and they always hustle. It’s going to be a few seasons of rebuilding for us. We started the season off with barely any players, and now we have a roster of 18.”

The Crimson Tide are scheduled to host Lowell today (Wednesday) and Hamilton-Wenham on Friday before traveling to Revere on Monday. They will return home to entertain Malden next Tuesday.