Rockets Review: Boys Lacrosse Takes on State Champs, Seedings and More

Boys Lacrosse takes down State #1 Duxbury 6-4!

On Monday, , a team that had not lost an in-State game in its last 48 tries. The Rockets got some pay-back for last spring's State Championship loss, and brought home a thrilling 6-4 upset win!  Below is the story the Boston Herald posted about the game along with video footage of the contest:

See the Boston Herald article and a game highlight video here.

Needham then beat top-15 Newton North and Dedham to complete a BSC sweep, finishing 11-0 in league and as the overall champion.

The MIAA South Girls Lacrosse seeding and tournament scheduling will take place on Thursday (5/23).

Rockets See 3 Spring Teams Wrap Up League Titles: Boys Volleyball, Boys & Girls Lacrosse!

After dropping their first league match of the season, 3-2, to Norwood on Monday, Boys Volleyball bounced back with a big 3-2 victory on the road at Newton North on Wednesday to clinch at least a share of the BSC title!  

On Friday, the Rockets wrapped up the BSC title, the first since 2006, taking down Natick 3-1 on Senior Night.  The team's last regular season game is on Monday vs Xaverian and they will find out their State Tournament seeding and schedule on Tuesday (5/21).  Postseason matches will start as early as May 23rd.

Following form from the Boys, the Girls Lacrosse team also completed the league season without losing this spring, beating Newton North Tuesday on Senior Night and then taking down Dedham for the 11-0 finish.  The Girls have two tough tests left, as they will host undefeated Westford Academy on Monday and then host a tough Duxbury team on Wednesday.  The MIAA East Boys Lacrosse seeding and tournament scheduling will take place on Friday (5/24).
Here is a write-up from head coach, beth O'Brien:

The Needham Girls Lacrosse Team finished the week by wrapping up the Bay State League Title with a 16-0 win over Dedham.  11 different players scored in the win including goals from Emma Slicklen, Sarah Epstein, Mikayla Michals and Allie Brinkhaus (all JV players who were pulled up for regular season finale and the State Tournament). Senior Night was on Tuesday night against Newton North where Needham honored it's five seniors; Brittany Danielewski, Julia Fletcher, Sarah Morse, Maddie Stenberg, and Molly Strakosch.  The Rockets ended the night with a 12-4 win.  Needham also beat Wellesley on Saturday 14-6. Katie Belval came up with 6 draw controls and Kira Oberle forced 5 turnovers to help secure the win. 

Six Needham Rockets will represent Lower New England at the National Tournament over Memorial Day Weekend. These players took part in a competitive two day tryout where the field was cut from 400 to 100. The final 100 players will travel to Lehigh University to play on one of five teams competing from New England. Team # 1 and Team #5 won the national championships last year, the first time the top New England Team took the National Title. Ally Hickey will compete on Team #2, Catherine Conley, Clara Nowlan and Kira Oberle on Team #3, Annee O'Connor Team #4 and Kailey Conry on Team #5. 

Postseason underway for some, Tourney Seedings to be set this week for others!

Rugby finished up the regular season with a 35-14 victory over Scituate to move to 5-0-1, earning the top seed in the Division 2 State Championships.  The boys will travel to Fort Devens on Saturday to take place in the Championships, against, Division runner-up, Scituate.  The time of the game has not yet been announced.

Athletes from the Boys Tennis Team took part in the Individuals State Tournament the past two weekends, here is information from head coach, Drew Lawrence, on how the Rockets did:
 

Senior Matt Levine and Sophomore Jake Davidson advanced to a 2nd round match, after winning their first, only to fall to the top seeded team from BC High.  Junior Jonah Simon and Freshman Jacob Shuman lived up to their #7 seeding after a pair of wins, only to fall to the #2 seed from Newton North.

Sophomore Sam Cohen was quite impressive as he was a (9-16) seed, and made it to the quarterfinals, after upsetting the #8 seed ( convincingly, I might add). He fell to the 3 seed in two tough sets.  Captain Ben Okonow lived up to his seeding (9-16), but after a few wins fell to the #2 seed from Xaverian.

Captain Matt Bejian (seeded 6) motored through the tournament, beating 2 seeded players, including the 4th seed.  He eventually lost in the south sectional quarterfinal, which places him in the top 32 players in the state!

The schedule for the Girls Tennis Individuals was set back due to weather, but the BSC Top Doubles Team of Juniors Karissa Chao and Jodi Katz (seeded 6th overall), advanced to the Quarter-Finals to face the 3rd seeded team from Hingham.  In Team action, the Rockets will host Newton North on Monday before traveling to Wellesley on Thursday to wrap up the regular season.

Seeding and tournament schedules for the Boys & Girls MIAA Team Tournaments will not be set until next week on Wednesday, May 29th.

Track and Field BSC Championships

Boys and Girls Track & Field took part in the BSC Championships on Wednesday in Weymouth and came away with some strong performances, including individual titles in the: Boys 100 (Hantzly Murat); Boys 400 (Harrison Hall); and Girls Mile (Margie Cullen).  The teams will compete this weekend in the EMASS DII States on Saturday at Notre Dame Academy in Hingham.  For more information about the teams and the spring season, please visit the NHS Track Blog at http://www.needhamrunning.blogspot.com.

A postseason birth is still at play for Softball, but at 7-10, the Girls will need to win their final three games this week to advance.  After playing Newton North Monday and Dedham Tuesday (7pm in Dedham), the team will finish up the regular season on Senior Night on Thursday, hosting Medfield at 6:30pm at Claxton Field.  Baseball's season will wrap up this week at Newton North on Monday and then on Thursday at home on Senior Night (6:00pm) vs Dedham.

For Needham Athletics program updates and links, and to follow the NHS teams through the postseason, please visit http://nhs.needham.k12.ma.us/athletics and follow on Twitter:@NHSRockets. 

See also the NHS Boosters Athletic Events Photo Galleries atwww.davearnoldphotography.com for photos of Needham HS athletes and teams in action.

Athletic Events Schedule 5.20-5.26

Day, Date Start Team(s) H/A Opponent(s) / Event Location Bus Depart Monday             5/20/13 3:15PM Var Softball H Newton North HS Needham/Claxton #1   5/20/13 3:15PM JV Softball H Newton North HS Needham/Claxton #2   5/20/13 3:30PM Var/JV Baseball A Newton North HS Var @ NNHS / JV @ W. Newton Commons 2:35pm 5/20/13 3:30PM Boys Var/JV Tennis A Newton North HS Newton North HS 2:35pm 5/20/13 3:30PM Girls Var Tennis H Newton North HS Needham HS Tennis Courts   5/20/13 3:30PM Girls JV Tennis H Newton North HS Needham/Mills   5/20/13 3:45PM Fresh Baseball A Framingham HS Framingham/Winch 2:45pm 5/20/13 3:45PM Girls Var Lacrosse H Westford Academy Needham/Memorial   5/20/13 3:45PM Girls JV Lacrosse H Westford Academy DeFazio Brock Field (Turf #1)   5/20/13 3:45PM Boys Var Volleyball H Xaverian Brothers HS Needham HS A Gym   5/20/13 5:15PM Boys JV Volleyball H Xaverian Brothers HS Needham HS A Gym   5/20/13 4:00PM MS Track & Field A Lincoln-Sudbury Invitational Lincoln-Sudbury HS 1:30 HR/1:45 Pollard 5/20/13 4:00PM Boys Fresh Lacrosse H Natick HS Needham/High Rock   5/20/13 4:00PM Girls Fresh Lacrosse A Milton HS Milton/Brooks Field 2:45pm               Tuesday             5/21/13 3:45PM JV Baseball H Braintree HS DeFazio Fields Warner Diamond   5/21/13 3:45PM Fresh Baseball A Newton North HS Newton/Lincoln 2:45pm 5/21/13 4:00PM Boys Fresh Lacrosse H Weymouth HS Needham/High Rock   5/21/13 5:00PM JV Softball A Dedham HS Dedham/Memorial                                                           4:00pm JV Shuttle           5:30pm Var Shuttle 5/21/13 7:00PM Var Softball A Dedham HS Dedham/Memorial               Wednesday             5/22/13 4:00PM Girls Var Lacrosse H Duxbury HS Needham/Memorial   5/22/13 4:00PM Girls JV Lacrosse H Duxbury HS Needham DeFazio #1   5/22/13 4:00PM Girls Fresh Lacrosse A Weymouth HS Weymouth/Mitchell 2:45pm               Thursday             5/23/13 3:45PM Fresh Baseball H Dedham HS DeFazio Warner Diamond   5/23/13 3:45PM Boys Var Tennis H Wellesley HS Needham HS Tennis Courts   5/23/13 3:45PM Boys JV Tennis H Wellesley HS Needham/Mills   5/23/13 3:45PM Girls Var/JV Tennis A Wellesley HS Wellesley HS 2:45pm 5/23/13 4:00PM MS Track & Field A Holliston HS Holliston HS 2:35pm 5/23/13 4:00PM Girls Fresh Lacrosse H Winchester HS Needham/Cricket Field   5/23/13 6:00PM Var Baseball H SENIOR NIGHT vs Dedham HS Memorial Field Diamond   5/23/13 5:30PM JV Softball H Medfield Senior HS Needham/Claxton #2   5/23/13 6:30PM Var Softball H SENIOR NIGHT vs Medfield HS Needham/Claxton #1                 Friday             5/24/13 3:30PM JV Baseball H Dedham HS Memorial Field Diamond                 Saturday             5/25/13 9:30AM Boys/Girls Track & Field A EMASS DII Championship Notre Dame Academy (Hingham) TBA 5/25/13 TBA Boys Var Rugby A State Championship vs Scituate Fort Devens (Devens, MA) TBA 5/25/13 10:00AM Var Baseball A Memorial Tourney vs Newton South Newton South HS TBA               Sunday             5/26/13 TBA Var Baseball A Memorial Tourney (Consolation/Finals) Newton South HS TBA