If the beginning of September is any indication of what the rest of the fall season brings it will be another exciting one for the books. The joy of teamwork for the Rams starts here.
Photo credit: Portland PressGirls Soccer in action v. Scarborough
Girls Soccer – Coach Jeanne Zarrilli
The 2023 season was a special one for the Rams girls varsity soccer team. The squad propelled themselves into the regional championship game that went into overtime with cross town rival Scarborough. Katilyn Nichols and Giselle Doucette led the way as seniors who are now in college. This year’s seniors (captains/leaders/players to watch) are: Ashley Connolly, Bailey Hatch, Piper Forgues, Lily Tukey and Sarah Rosingana.
Coach Zarrilli explained, “Expectations and challenging opponents will be Scarborough, TA, Windham, and Cheverus. All of these games are going to be a battle – big senior classes on every one of these teams (including ours) with high expectations.” Coach added, “this team is super supportive of each other and do a lot of fun things together and in the community. The group raised awareness and participated in the MCCP walk last week. This cohesive group is a team to watch.”
Photo credit: Eric TirrellVolleyball team post game win
Volleyball – Coach Emma Tirrell
Meet the Class A State champs of 2023. The team went 16-2 in the regular season. The squad graduated ten seniors including: Meryk Lewellen, Summer Gammon, Amber Bretton, Sophia Diphilippo, Caroline Morrell, Lydia Fluet, Andi Cloutier, Addison Canty, Lily Andreasen, Grace Desmond.
The 2024 seniors are: Brooke Kazimer, Natalie Smith (Capt), Vanessa Walker (Capt). Challenging opponents for this season will be Scarborough, Biddeford and Cheverus.
Coach Tirrell shared, “we are expecting good volleyball, and hoping to be a top team again. The team is off to a great start.”
Photo credit: Colleen HealBoys soccer in action
Boys Soccer – Coach Nick Viola
The Rams boys varsity squad ended the ‘23 season 12-2-1 and lost in the quarterfinal in an intense back/forth game on both offense and defense. This year’s seniors (captains/leaders/players to watch) are Owen Spera, Riley Dever, Aidan Madore, and Adam Lembarra. Coach Viola’s expectations for challenging opponents this year is to compete with the other top conference opponents. Coach Viola shared, “a positive, outside of our day-to-day, is our program development at the youth levels (GYSA) is thriving. There are a record-breaking three, 9U GYSA boys teams this year.”
Photo credit: Ellery HerrickFootball pre-season game action v. Cony
Football – Coach Sam Morrison
Last regular season the Rams went 2-6 with 3 losses by a total of 12 points. The team grappled with a lot of injuries but came back to make the playoffs as the #6 Seed and lost to the #3, with a 1-point margin.
This year’s seniors (captains/leaders/players to watch) are the following: Seniors – Jack Karlonas, Andre Dube, Patrick Downey, Ethan Verrill, Jeff Legere II, Casey Skolfield, Landon Levan, Nasir Manahe, Rhys Saunders, and Gavin Hakizamana. Players to watch are Karlonas, Dube, Downey, Verrill, Skolfield, along with Atticus Whitten, Thomas Sylvia, Garrett Poulin and Camden Martell. There are six captains this year including: Skolfield, Downey, Verrill, Whitten, Karlonas and Dube.
Challenging opponents will be Massabesic, Kennebunk, Westbrook, Deering and Fryeburg Academy. Coach Morrison added, “If we can stay healthy we will be able to compete in every game with our senior leadership and athletes. This year’s goal is to earn a top 4 seed in the playoffs.”
Photo credit: Coach MansonField Hockey team photo
Field Hockey – Coach Becky Manson
Last season the Rams finished with an overall record of 14-2 making it to the semifinals for two seasons in a row. Coach Manson shared, “We had many team and individual career/season records broken by graduating seniors, Brooke Farquhar (DIII fh Colby-Sawyer), Hannah Bickford (DI fh Stonehill) and Emerson Homa (DIII Ice Hockey UMass Boston). Other graduating seniors were valedictorian Ella Downing (playing DIII fh at RPI this fall) and salutatorian Julia Wareham (attending Duke University) Ari Morse (DIII fh at Lasell University) Camryn Caruso (becoming a pilot at Embry Riddle).”
This year’s seniors (there are ten) include: captains Sophie Kaczmarek & Madison Tibbals (both 3-year varsity starters). Abby Chamberlin, Kayla McLean, Emily Beal, Brooke Stevens, Emily Fadrigon, Payson Plummer, Olivia Price, and Sherry Garnett.
Other top players returning are Annie Collier Jr. (3-year starter, committed to play DI at Sacred Heart for 2026) Reece Leclerc and Grace Cunningham.
Coach Manson added, “We will once again be in playoff contention with many returning starters and other key players. We expect to have a very strong season with tough opponents being Biddeford, Cheverus and Sanford.”
Coach shared, “On Sunday September 8th, the high school field hockey program, including the coaches, ran/walked the Stephen Ward Memorial 9-11 5K. Grace Cunningham (jr.) and Madison Tibbals (sr.) came in first and second in their age group. Our new JV coach MaryBeth Carion (GHS alumni and went to school with Stephen Ward) won the “middle of the pack” award. It was a very special day.”
Tuesday September 24th is the Field Hockey program’s annual “Purple Game” for mental health awareness. The varsity game begins at 4 p.m. This is also in conjunction with the homecoming football game and the first annual Golf Drop fundraiser organized by the Reed Allen Community Fund.
Cross Country – Coach Jason Tanguay
The boys and girls teams had runners who qualified to compete in the state championship in 2023 including: Finn Henderson, Ryan Morrill, Nick Munyaneza Raiyah Babinsky and Abby Rogers. Other runners to watch this season are: Boys team: senior, Finn Henderson; senior, Nick Munyaneza; sophomore, Harrison Crider; sophomore, Harvey Crider; sophomore, Owen Cummings; freshman, Abe Palme. Girls team junior,
Zoe Dellinger; junior, Winni Moreland; sophomore, Lola Vance; sophomore, Annabelle Vail; freshman, Abby McCrillis; freshman, Nara Holland.
Coach Tanguay shared, “Both our girls and boys teams graduated some talented seniors, but I am grateful to see some promising new faces join our team. If these new runners can work hard to improve their physical and mental fitness, then I feel our teams can be competitive in our league schedule.”
Golf – Coach Patrick Horgan
The Golf team is off to a great start with 4 wins over Westbrook, BE, Windham and Greely. The team had two match losses to Thornton Academy with 4 more matches to go in the season before rounds begin mid October in Vassalboro for the Maine state championship. This year’s top golf players for the Rams include; Will Provost, Jackson Altham, Eli Castles, Jack Cyr, Aiden Cahill and Graham Staples. Provost, Altham and Staples have won by two holes with 1 hole remaining v. Greely and v. TA at Biddeford-Saco Country Club.