~ RHS Patriots Sports Roundup ~

New-look field hockey team looks for improvement

By Dom Nicastro

Revere coach Alex Butler returns to lead the Patriots this season. The team opens up the season on Saturday, Sept. 7, against Lowell. Last year, Lowell topped Revere twice, 7-2 and 5-0, so the season opener will serve as a barometer for the Patriots.

Revere will be looking for improvement after finishing last fall with a losing record. Leading the way will be captains Jordan Martelli, Ana Kalliavas and Gemma Stamatopoulos.

This is Butler’s second year coaching field hockey, and she has a new assistant coach, Victoria Correia. She is a Revere High School graduate and former field hockey player.

“I think our goalie, Sonia Haily, is going to have an incredible season,” Butler said. “She has really come a long way in building her skills and has been working hard to continue improving in her position. Ava Morris is also going to be such a strong force for our defense. We have a lot of new players on our team, as we lost nine seniors at the end of last season. We are a young and pretty new team, but everyone has been putting in the work to make this a great season for Revere field hockey.”

Revere girls soccer team looking to get back to top

The Revere girls soccer team is on a mission to get back to the top of the Greater Boston League. And they’ll do it with a new coach. Ariana Rivera, an assistant in the program last year, takes over as varsity coach. She replaces Megan O’Donnell, who stepped down to focus on her softball post in the spring.

This year’s club has a lot to live up to from last year’s standards. The Patriots finished the regular season at 16-1-1 and in second place in the Greater Boston League last fall. They dominated in the regular season at times and fell just shy of a GBL title with a loss to Somerville in the final regular season game. The Patriots fell to St. Mary’s of Lynn in the opening round of the Division 3 state tournament and finished 16-2-1 overall.

Revere had five all-stars last year but only returns one this season: Nisrin Sekkat.

The team played well in the preseason Medford Jamboree, beating Malden Catholic, 4-0, and Haverhill, 2-0.

The captains: Sekkat, Erika Mejia, Sandra Torres and Fatima Esquivel.

“The preseason has been going well,” Rivera said. “We played in the Medford Jamboree, and there was some good and bad, but so much potential for growth. The team has been working hard in practices to perfect the formation and learn new positions they might’ve not been comfortable with playing in the past. Once we can solidify our defense, we will be in a solid spot come our first game against Somerville.”

Senior-laden Revere boys soccer team shows promise

Revere boys soccer is back, healthy and entering the season with a ton of leadership. The team has a baker’s dozen in terms of seniors and had about 70 come out for the program overall.

They are coming off a great season a year ago as one of the top teams in the always-competitive Greater Boston League. The Patriots ended up drawing the No. 19 seed in the Division 2 state tourney, falling to No. 14 West Springfield in the opening around. The Patriots finished the season 9-3-3 overall and 8-3-3 in the GBL. That was good enough for third place behind champion Somerville and second-place Medford.

Revere will be led by captains Brayan Medina and Angel Ortez. “The team this year is looking strong with 13 seniors,” Medina said.