Football

By Peter Palmer, Andrea Bilton and Matt Jillett

What better way to spend your Friday nights than with watching a game of football? This year’s football team and coaches prided themselves on attracting so many people to the high school football games. It was a good feeling to know that the team was able to fill a fan bus to go to the team’s Dennis-Yarmouth playoff game, and Coach Landolfi was much appreciative of the support. He also showed his gratitude to the dedicated players when he told them, “Thanks guys for working so hard every day and being there every day… we’ve had a pretty good year.” The record overall was 5-4, and 3-1 in the league. The team looks forward to continuing their ongoing season until the final game against Norwell on Thanksgiving Day.

“This season was a real turnaround from past seasons and the coaches made a lot of difference,” said Josh Masse, ’14, a linebacker who missed being out on the field because of an injury. “We got a lot of support from the town and the fans and overall it was a great year.”

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Field Hockey

By Cate Marchetti

Hanover’s varsity field hockey team had an outstanding conclusion to a rewarding season. The team finished with a record of ten wins, five losses, and three ties, allowing them to qualify for the MIAA Division 2 South Shore Sectional Tournament. The girls played a strong game, scoring the first goal against Falmouth on Hanover’s home turf. Although the team lost 2-1 to end the season, they asserted themselves by ranking fifth in the Patriot League.

“We made tournament for the first time in four years which was really something special, ” said head coach Judy Schneider.

Hanover’s field hockey team will bid a fond farewell to 14 seniors this year, all of whom put in tremendous efforts this season. Congratulations to next year’s captains Molly McMahon, Amy Leonard, and Hannah McCorkell, and best of luck to the team in the future!

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Boys Soccer

By Matt Jillett

The 2013 boys soccer team “got off to a rough start at the beginning,” according to senior captain Kevin Ghostlaw. “We went up against a tough schedule but fought through it.”

The team’s record was 5-11-2, but the players put in a true effort throughout the long season. At the wrap-up rally on Nov. 13, Coach Stephen Rodday was proud to say that “Boys finished strong overall with a 3-game winning streak. We never lost for a lack of effort.” The season’s highlight would definitely be reclaiming the Gerrish Cup, an accomplishment that the whole team can be proud of. Coaches Stephen Rodday, Brian Rodday, and Mark Centorino really pushed the boys to their full potential this season and are hopeful for the up-and-coming captains for next year’s season. The captains for the 2014 season are Jack Phelan, Drew Zwart, and Jonny Ferrarini, and will be following in the footsteps of previous captains Kevin Ghostlaw and Billy Taylor.

 

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Girls Soccer

By Emma Devine

When the 2013 Girls Soccer season started, the team was more motivated than ever. Months before the season, the program lost head coach Garth Nelson, who started the program 32 years ago and has been the only head coach the team ever had. With this loss, the season wasn’t just any other seas. It became a season for Nelson. Each game players wrote “Nelson 32” on their arms and donned “GN” bands on their shinguards to honor Mr. Nelson. Not only did the team honor him physically, but they honored him by the way they played. Nelson always advocated hard work and this season the team worked harder than ever. The girls’ season record was 5-9-5. This included a tie to powerhouse Division 1 Duxbury, a comeback tie against Silver Lake, and enough wins in Division 3 to get into tournament.

Hanover entered tournament lucky number 13 seed, the last seed in the bracket. The first round was against the number 4 seed, Seekonk. Hanover dominated the game with a 3-0 win. The next round was a tough match against the number 5 seed Medway. Medway was heavily favored to win the game but that wasn’t going to dampen the team’s spirits. With a goal from Karly Atturio and outstanding keeping skills from Ashley McGann, Hanover beat Medway 1-0. The Hanover fans stormed the field at the end of the game and celebrated with the team. The win put the team into the South-Sectional semi-finals against the number 1 seed, Cardinal Spellman. The Hanover Spirit was palpable with 2 full fan buses joining the team. Hanover almost had the win and were evenly matched against this seed 1 school, but couldn’t pull off the win, losing 0-2. At the end of the game Hanover fans chanted, “We love Hanover,” which truly showed how incredible the fans were. Although the team lost, in their minds and the minds of their fans they had won. They honored Mr. Nelson and had the best time doing it.

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Golf

By Andrea Bilton and Matt Jillett

This year’s golf team did very well this season, finishing 13-3 and winning its division of the Patriot League again. “At some point during the season, everyone was a standout player,” said Coach Jay Durfee. At the fall sports rally, Captain Tyler Powers agreed. “We had a solid team this year,” he told everyone.

Sophie Morrill, the team’s top scorer with a scoring average of 37.6, was named a Patriot League All Star. Also named were Powers and freshman Charlie Banks, who scored a hole in one in a match against Silver Lake. Captain Brendan Cornell received Patriot League Honorable Mention. Christian Abbate and John Carroll also were strong contributors to the team’s success, Durfee said.

The 15 boys and one girl on the team played 9 rounds every Monday to determine who would play in that week’s varsity matches. Durfee said 95 percent of the team qualified for varsity play. Co-captain Brendan Cornell is among the seniors that the team will miss next year. But with many of the team’s top players returning, the outlook for next season is pretty good.

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Cross Country

By Matt Jillett and Andrea Bilton

This year’s cross country team was led by Mr. Brown for the boys team, and Mr. Perry for the girls team. But these weren’t the only leaders on the team. “We had some great leadership,” Mr. Brown said about the dedicated captains who influenced their teammates. The captains of the 2013 cross country team included Joe Eastman, Brendan Hoar, and Brian Meehan for the boys and Sydney Packer, Michaela Nee, and Christina Nee for the girls.

“The season went very well,” said Eastman. The boys had a record of 5-5 and the girls finished 4-6. Top runner for the boys, Shawn Doolin, added, “We put a lot of heart into our races and leave it all out on the course.” The whole XC team would undoubtedly agree.

As Mr. Brown addressed the gym during the Nov. 13 rally, he claimed, “We’re really as good as the slowest runner on the team, and it’s about getting them to work.” He also made sure to praise Stephanie Flynn for qualifying for the All-State meet on Saturday, Nov. 16. Great job to all of the cross country runners and best of luck in the off-season!

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Volleyball

By Andrea Bilton, Matt Jillett and Stephanie Flynn

The volleyball team’s coach, David Jakub, had a lot to say about the valiant efforts of this year’s team when it came to adapting to new situations. “My team did really well this year for all the injuries we had,” he told the audience at the rally. “We had major injuries to some of our starters, which meant younger players had to fill in. The team worked extremely hard.”

This did attest to be true. The team prevailed over whatever struggles they may have had and fought as hard as they could throughout the season. The team finished with a record of 7-13, thanks to all of the hardworking senior players who will be rightfully missed. Senior Britton Lastowka was nominated as a Patriot League All-Star and Samantha Colaw was an honorable mention.

“Although the record was not the best, most of the losses were that close that they could have been wins,” said coach Jakub. “The team showed much determination and desire with a great competitive attitude; never giving up never, looking back and preparing diligently for the next match.”

Senior captains Colaw and Mikayla Matheson make way for new leaders, Katherine Hussey and Maranda Grant to take on the upcoming 2014 volleyball season.

The Junior Varsity team finished with a 9-11 record and the Freshmen team finished with a record of 2-18.

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Cheerleading

By Andrea Bilton

Hanover High’s cheerleading team was led to great heights this year by coaches Amanda Albright and Ann Galotti. After their 2012 season, the whole team aspired to improve and sharpen their skills and efforts before competing for the second consecutive year at the Patriot League Cheerleading Competition, and for the first time ever, HHS held cheerleading tryouts before school let out for summer. The most amazing thing brought about by these tryouts were four new freshmen who had never been a part of a cheerleading team before, and proved themselves greatly.

Like all teams, there were injuries, sicknesses, and other minor conflicts that put pressure on the whole team to strive for solutions. As Coach Albright put it, “Cheerleading is different from all other sports because if somebody gets sick or hurt, you can’t simply sub in another player.” This does in fact ring to be true since each member of the team is trained for a specific job, and a lot of weight rests on each person’s shoulders to be the best they can be. If someone were to get sick or injured, it is nearly impossible to find somebody to do their job exactly the way it ought to be done.

But in the end, the cheer season concluded with a great accomplishment. At the Patriot League Competition, the team earned the second highest score in the division! Unfortunately, this year the team says goodbye to senior Nicole Manning and senior captains Megan Galotti, Allison Galotti, and Lauren Collins, but will welcome the new season with even more effort and determination to become the best team possible.