As the season nears an end, winter sports teams at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School are scrambling to add a few more wins to their overall records before state tournaments begin late this month.
The girls basketball team has already qualified for the state tournament with an 11-5-0 record. After a rocky start with three consecutive losses, Coach Maureen Hill said the team found its groove with a 10-1 streak. They won their last league game on Wednesday against Somerset Berkley Regional High School, 60-47, ending league play with a 5-2-0 league record. They have four more non-league games in the season, all away. Ms. Hill said she hopes at least one of the state games will be at home.
“We have a very good starting crew core,” Ms. Hill said. In addition to the team veterans, sophomore Rose Engler has played a lot of minutes in the second half of the season, she said. Junior Erin Hill was 59 points away from scoring 1,000 points this season.
“There is a good team chemistry,” the coach said. “We’ll see how far it takes us.”
The boys basketball team is still one win away from qualifying for the state tournament after losing Wednesday to Somerset Berkley 89-88 in double overtime.
Their current season record is 9-8-0. Wednesday’s game was their last league game, but the team has three more chances to qualify for the state tournament. On Wednesday, Feb. 17 they face Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School at 4:30 p.m. at home.
Across the street at the MV Arena, the girls ice hockey team lost their game against Bourne High School on Wednesday 1-0, bringing their season record to 4-7-3. The team was able to keep Bourne out of their net for the first and second periods. Blown defense in the beginning of the third period led to the only goal in the game, giving Bourne a lead the Vineyarders could not reconcile.
“In the second period, we put it together,” said Coach John Fiorito after the loss. “We needed the score in the second period.”
After a tough season in which most of the team was inexperienced, Mr. Fiorito said they knew this year would be hard.
“It’s been a struggle. We knew it would be a rebuilding year,” he said. “Hopefully this is rock bottom.”
He praised the senior team members, who he said helped keep the team in games that would otherwise have been a wash.
“It’s going to kill us to lose our goalie,” he said.
Though they have three games left, the team will not be qualifying for the state tournament this year. Their next home game is Monday Feb. 15 at 1:30 p.m.
After tying Bishop Stang High School in an away game on Wednesday, the boys ice hockey team has one more league game this season, on Feb. 24 against Bishop Stang at home. With a season record of 2-6-3, the team must win their last four games to qualify for the state tournament.
“It’s doable, but we really have to do better to do it,” said Coach Matt Mincone.
The team is having trouble offensively, he said, and their goals been through hard work on rebounding the puck.
“Every goal we’ve had this season is not on the highlight reel,” he said. They’re not pretty.”
The team is working on breaking bad habits and building up consistent practices, and has four more games to prove themselves, he said.
Their next home game is Saturday, Feb. 13 at 7 p.m. against Lynnfield High School.
The swim team will compete in sectional championships this weekend in four events. Renee Goodale qualified for the 200-metre individual medley and the 100-metre breaststroke, Lia Potter qualified for the 100-metre butterfly, and the boys 200-metre freestyle relay also qualified. They will all compete on Feb. 13 and 14 at MIT.
Coach Jonathan Chatinover said the team was more cohesive and invested this year and several of the swimmers have achieved personal best times.
But their work is not done. “We have a long way to go to compete with some of the teams in the conference,” the coach said.
He hopes members of the team will move on to sections after the meet this weekend. Goodale is seeded 15th in her events; the top 16 places score.
“If Renee places in one of her events, that would be a Vineyard first,” Mr. Chatinover said.
Goodale has also qualified for the state meet next weekend, and Potter and the boys relay are less than one second away from qualifying. Both swim teams ended the season at 2-2.
The winter track team is wrapping up their season with nine boys and two girls qualified for divisionals this weekend.
Coach Joe Schroeder said about half of the qualified students are ranked in the top 10 of their events.
“Rankings don’t necessarily pan out, but we have a good chance to put a few people into All States,” he said. Olivia Smith is ranked second in long jump and seventh in high hurdles, while Nevin Wallace is ranked third in the 600-metre.
Mr. Schroeder said that winter track program is still finding its footing in its second year, but this season went “beyond expectations.”
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