Rockets Review: Two Teams Make Postseason

By Micah Hauben, NHS Director of Athletics

Girls soccer and the golf team were the first Needham High School teams to qualify for the postseason this fall as, between the two squads, they went 5-0 last week. 

Entering the week, the golf team was 6-2, with six matches left to play and needing one win to qualify for the state tournament (50 percent winning percentage qualifies a team). They not only got the win they needed but two more during a 3-0 week—beating Walpole, Braintree and Norwood.  

Girls soccer entered the week at 6-0-2, needing two wins to qualify (18 total games), and got both, beating Brookline and Milton to move to 8-0-2. For their efforts, the girls moved up to seventh in the Boston Globe rankings.

Cross Country

The girls cross country team also remained undefeated on the season, taking down Newton North and Walpole en route to a 7-0 record. The boys and girls varsity teams traveled to the Thetford Invitational in Vermont on Saturday, Oct. 6, where the girls finished fourth and the boys finished fifth. For more details about the teams, visit the program blog at www.needhamrunning.blogspot.com.

Boys Soccer

Boys soccer beat Brookline and Milton before tying Newton South. The team now stands at 8-1-3 and needs one win or one tie to qualify for the postseason. They will travel to Framingham and Norwood this week.

Football

Coming off of the Football Team's thrilling win over Mansfield, High School Sports Weekly (an online high school football program) featured senior defensive end Tim McCarthy in their weekly story. McCarthy was instrumental in helping the Rockets earn a big-time win over non-league power Mansfield and is one of the anchors of the Needham defense. Read more at http://bcove.me/ufil0xmw.

Coming off the heartbreaking loss to Weymouth last week, the boys looked to get back on the winning path as they hosted Brookline on Friday night, Oct. 5. A sluggish first half saw the Rockets take a 13-6 lead, while 20 unanswered points in the second half led to the final 33-6 score and moved Needham to 4-1 on the season.

The team will travel to Milton this Friday, Oct. 12 before heading to Walpole on Oct. 19 for a big Bay State Conference match-up.

Check http://nhs.needham.k12.ma.us/athletics for full team schedules.

Rockets Review is a weekly update distributed by email by Needham High School Director of Athletics Micah Hauben and published with permission on Needham Patch. Additional athletics information can be found on the NHS Athletic Department Web site.