Saugus High Weekly Sports Roundup

By Dom Nicastro

Saugus girls soccer team nets fifth win

The Saugus High School girls soccer team dominated Swampscott on Tuesday as it poured 18 shots on goal and came away with a 3-1 win at home. The team improved to 5-1-1. The Sachems had goals from Layla Manderson, from 35 yards out, and Madison Botta and Kendall Hatch, who notched her first goal of the season. Goalkeeper Tori Carter made crucial saves, including a diving save at the end. The team’s offensive strategy emphasized patience and communication.

The team is now bracing for some upcoming games against tough opponents like Beverly and Danvers. The coach, April Martinez, is pleased with the first half of the season and emphasizes the importance of continued hard work and communication.

Martinez praised Hatch for her first goal of the season, noting her hard work and understanding of her role. “She knows her role and where she should be,” Martinez said. “And she was right where she needed to be.”

Manderson’s goal came on a beautiful shot from 35 yards away, a line drive that found a home in the back of the Big Blue net. “It was a hard shot into the upper corner of the net,” Martinez said. “It was a great shot.”

All in all, the coach loved how the team moved the ball all night. “I liked it,” she said. “They were patient in moving the ball around and not forcing shots, not forcing passes. And we made some bad passes up in their third but they were being patient, moving around, changing fields, communicating movement off the ball, running off the ball being providing options. That’s something that they really haven’t done well up until now. But I told them they need to do that against better teams that we have coming up, like Beverly. We need to dominate and control the ball. If we can control the ball, you control the game.”

The team is approaching the end of the first half of the season. Martinez, with only one loss and one tie, likes the way things have gone overall. “I’m very happy with this first half,” Martinez said. “I mean, we have a couple hard games coming up. We’ve got Beverly on Friday. We have Danvers coming up. We have to play St. Mary’s again. And those are all hard games, which I’m looking forward to. But the girls, they need to just continue playing hard and communicating and controlling the ball, and you know they’ll be successful.”

Before the Swampscott game, Saugus tied Marblehead, 2-2. Its two goals were scored by Botta and Shawn Sewell.

Saugus boys soccer team ties Ipswich

Saugus ended up in a 1-1 draw against the Tigers. Each team scored on PKs, the Sachems getting their tally from Noah Giron.

Saugus boys golf team sees progress

The Sachems had three matches last week that resulted in losses but did see some progress. The team fell to Northeast Metro Tech but collected 31.5 points as a team with a great performance by freshman John Morello. As the No. 3, he won his match, 7-2. Sophomore Artie O’Leary tied his opponent, 4.5-4.5, and Dalton Diozzie also earned a draw. Junior Nathan Soroko won his match-up in the No. 8 spot, 5-4.

The team lost to Beverly and Swampscott but showed signs of improvement, which was encouraging, according to Saugus Coach Dan Bertrand.