Boys’ Soccer: The MIAA power rankings have Concord-Carlisle first in Division One, while the Boston Globe has the Patriots ranked #2 in Eastern Mass, up from #3. They showed why with a 3-0 week in which they had three more clean sheets, C-C is now 12-0-1 overall, and 8-0-1 in the Dual County League.
The Patriots opened play on October 17 at Wayland and came away with a 3-0 win. All three goals came in the second half and were scored by senior Brady Poor for his first hat trick of the season, giving him 13 goals on the season. Next up was DCL foe and fifth-ranked Acton-Boxborough on October 19. Concord-Carlisle handed the Colonials their first defeat of the season with a 1-0 win. Senior Myles Alternative netted the game’s lone goal in the 58th minute. Senior goalkeeper Brady O’Toole had the shutout. This was the ninth clean sheet for the Patriots, who have only allowed four goals all season.
“We work well together on defense,” said Senior captain dDfender Doug Fortier. “We communicate a lot and support each other.” Asked about playing as the top-ranked team, Fortier said, “We do have a target on our backs… We have been doing a good job of matching the other team’s energy.”
The Patriots ended the week on October 21 with Senior Day. Head Coach Ray Pavlik and his staff honored 18 seniors for their contributions to the program: goalkeepers Brady O’Toole and Ben Wasserman; defenders Stage Casparis, Sean Trudeau, Doug Fortier, Nate Besthoff; midfielders Matias Bout, Harry Nerrow, Gavin Cheung, Sean Fernandez-Davila, Myles Alternative, Chris Forsberg and Jackson Yeager; and forwards Benny Bury, Sam Kiefer, Griffin Niemann, Peter Morris and Brady Poor. They won the game 2-0 over Burke on Poor’s 14th goal of the season and junior Eli Siefer’s second goal of the season.
In JV boys’ soccer, the team was 2-0 on the week and is now 6-5-1. They won 5-0 at Wayland in the rain for their first road victory of the season. Sophomore Joe Ferrari paced the offense with two goals. Also scoring: sophomore Chris Rigazio and juniors Joe Park and Hector Derzi. In the final home game of the season, they edged Acton-Boxborough 2-0 on goals by Rigazio and Derzi. All seven goals came in the second half. The clean sheet versus A-B was the Patriots’ fifth of the season. Against Wayland, Sophomore Nico Kocic had the shutout, while the blanking of A-B was a combined effort of Kocic and Sophomore Carter Hack.
Girls’ Soccer: In three games last week, the Patriots went 2-1. They beat DCL foe Wayland 4-0 on October 19 at home. On October 19 they traveled to DCL opponent and eighth-ranked Acton-Boxborough and won 1-0. The team closed out the week with a 2-1 loss to fourteenth-ranked Newton North at home. C-C is now 10-3-2 overall and 8-1-1 in DCL action and currently tenth in the MIAA power rankings.
Girls’ Volleyball: A busy week for the volleyball team saw them split four matches. They began the week traveling down the Battle Road to Lexington on October 16. In a tough four-game set, the Patriots were victorious, winning 25-22, 24-26, 25-21 and 25-17. Senior middle hitter Ella Gardner paced the offense with 16 points (11 kills, three aces, two blocks). Senior captain outside hitter Isabel Jaffe was right behind Gardner with 15 points (11 kills, two aces two blocks). Junior opposite hitter Gabby Kakas added eight points (six kills, two blocks). Sophomore setter April Tang contributed four aces and 34 assists. Senior captain libero Isabelle DiRocco led the defense with 15 digs and added two aces.
In a return match with Dual County League foe Acton-Boxborough, they were swept 15-24, 23-25, 16-25. The Patriots lost to A-B on September 26, 3-2. Ella Gardner again led the offense as she scored nine points (five kills, two blocks, one ace). While senior outside hitters Lily Johnson, Bella DiRocco and April Tang each had two service aces.
On October 20, the team returned to CCHS for its home finale. The Patriots battled DCL leader Weston in a five-set Friday Night Marathon 25-15, 17-25, 27-29, 25-12, 8-15 to come up just short of a win. Lilly Johnson paced the Pats’ offense with 18 points (12 aces, six kills) as she set a personal-record eight service ace/12 point run to close out set four. With C-C leading 13-12, Johnson served out the game as the Patriots rallied for 12 straight points to even the match and send it a fifth game.
After Ella Gardner was felled by an ankle injury midway through the first set, Gabby Kakas stepped into the middle hitter role and responded with 11 points (five kills and a season-high six blocks).
“The entire team responded valiantly,” said head coach Jim Crandell. In their response to Gardner’s injury. “Our team defense was outstanding,” Crandell added.
DiRocco, Jaffe, Johnson and Tang each had 11 digs.
Junior Middle Hitter Reese McCullar, coming into her first varsity start added a kill, two blocks and two aces for 5 points. Jaffee had a team-high 16 kills. Tang added seven points (five kills, two aces). Coming off the bench with two key service aces was Junior Jo Wigton.
The team ended the week with a Saturday matinee at Arlington. The Patriots defeated the Spy Ponders 3-0, winning 25-23, 25-20, 25-17. In her return to the lineup from an injury for C-C, junior defensive specialist Alex Tyson led the way with four aces. Both senior outside hitters spearheaded the offense as Isabel Jaffe had 12 kills (12 points) and Lily Johnson added nine kills and two aces (11 points). Senior middle hitter Maddie Smack was a tall presence at the net with three kills, a block and countless deflections.
Field Hockey: 2-1 for the week in three Dual Couty League matchups. They started the week with a 4-3 loss to Weston at home on October 16. The team rebounded from the loss to post consecutive shutouts, 7-0 over Bedford on October 18 and 3-0 versus Lincoln-Sudbury at home on October 20. The team is now 12-4-1 overall and 8-2-1 in the DCL. In the MIAA Division One Power Rankings, which came out before the game on the 20th, the team was ranked 12th. The only DCL team ranked ahead of the Patriots was Acton-Boxborough at 7th with an 11-2-1 record.
Cross Country: Both boys’ and girls’ teams have completed regular season meets and are training for tournaments. On Friday, October 27, both teams will compete in the Dual County League Championships held at Franklin Park Playstead. The boys’ team will participate in the Boys Varsity Invitational on Saturday, November 4 at the Wrentham Development Center. Both teams will be running on Saturday, November 11 in the MIAA Divisional Meet, also at the Wrentham Development Center, and both will be competing in the All-State Meet on Saturday, November 18 at the Devens Athletic Complex.
Golf: Defeated Wayland on October 16 at the Wayland CC, 39.5 – 32.5. They were edged by Weston on October 18, 35-37, at Pine Brook CC in the last match of the season. The MIAA Sectional Tournament was held October 23, and the state tournament is on Monday, October 30
