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Boston Globe
27-05-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Eastern Mass. girls' lacrosse: Globe Players of the Week, May 18-25
Brooke Lomasney , Peabody — The senior standout finished the week with 18 points, including five goals and three assists in a 17-13 triumph over Beverly that clinched a share of the Northeastern Conference title. Advertisement Mayson Lower , Nantucket — The Whalers outlasted St. John Paul II, 17-11, on Friday thanks in part to eight assists from Lower, then defeated island rival Martha's Vineyard as the senior added three more assists along with five goals to hit 100 career goals. Jill Martin , Chelmsford — The Lions, winners of eight straight, leaned on the Merrimack-bound senior to cruise past Nashoba (2 goals, 1 assist, 8 draw controls) and Westford (4 goals, 1 assist). Trevor Hass can be reached at
Boston Globe
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Eight high school sports takeaways from a Saturday that crowned two Boston City League champions
1. Milestones Two girls' lacrosse seniors notched their 100th career goals. Nantucket's Mayson Lower did it during a five-goal performance to beat Martha's Vineyard, 14-3, and Hamilton-Wenham's Maisie Leland scored three goals to reach triple digits in a 19-11 win over St. Mary's. Advertisement Chelmsford announced senior captain Liam Quinn surpassed 1,000 career points in kills, aces, and blocks this week. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 🚨Congratulations🎉 to Senior Captain Liam Quinn for surpassing 1,000 career points in kills, aces, & blocks this week! Incredible season & incredible career at CHS! Let's keep it going!🚨 — CHS Volleyball (@CHSBVolleyball) 2. Walkoff wins Mimicking Haverhill's Max St. Hilaire singled to lead off the bottom of the seventh against Methuen with the score tied, 1-1, and Nick Schraffa singled him home for a 2-1 victory in a consolation game of the Hillie Classic. Related : In the Northeastern Conference, Peabody's Joe Sinibaldi picked off the potential go-ahead run in the top of the eighth, then in the 10th, Ethan Waybret walked it off with a sacrifice fly for a 3-2 win over Danvers. Advertisement And in Andover, Wakefield senior Cam DePrizio drilled a walkoff double for a 1-0 win over the host Warriors. 3. Going, going, gone Nobody's power was more prodigious Saturday than Bridgewater-Raynham senior Olivia Roy , who connected on a pair of home runs and finished with nine RBIs in a 17-5 win over Mansfield. Lexington senior Lidia Palys broke open a tie game with a blast in the top of the eighth, putting the Minutemen in position for a 10-1 win over Belmont. Plymouth North's Danny Kenney launched a two-run shot in the fourth inning, his second of the season, in a 4-3 loss to BC High, and English High's Armanis Romero raced for an inside-the-park round-tripper in the top of the fourth of a 6-4 win over Latin Academy in the BCL baseball championship. In the city league softball final, Latin Academy's Claire Hauck rallied her team to a 9-5 win with a two-run shot. Ryleigh Williams of St. Mary's joined in the longball party, as did Holliston's Jayden Hayes , who homered twice in a 19-6 win over Bellingham. 4. Daily lacrosse goals leaderboard Avery Nistl , Hamilton-Wenham, 6 Ally Bettencourt , Peabody, 5 Clare Latham , Bishop Feehan, 5 Brooke Lomasney , Peabody, 5 Mayson Lower , Nantucket, 5 Ava Nason , St. Mary's, 5 Madi Barrett , Peabody, 4 Emily Berube , Bishop Feehan, 4 Avery Texiera , Bishop Feehan, 4 5. Daily strikeout leaderboard Luke Joyce , Braintree, 15 Cam Collier , Latin Academy, 13 Jack Zimmerman , St. Mary's, 13 Luke Rogan , Mansfield, 11 Ty Southall , Georgetown, 10 Lyla Moore , Carver, 9 Tyer Alsen , Cardinal Spellman, 8 Ayden Balter , Wilmington, 8 Dylan Lawrence , North Andover, 8 Caroline Arruda , Marshfield, 7 Danny Kenney , Plymouth North, 7 6. Commitment central Payton Kamin , a 6-foot-8-inch senior forward out of Worcester Academy he has committed to play men's basketball at Penn. Advertisement Big congrats to Payton Kamin '25 on his commitment to Penn! — Worcester Basketball (@WA_VBB) BC High senior Jack Darcy , a middle infielder from Milton, who can hit 88 miles per hour with his fastball, is headed to Amherst to play baseball. Welcome to the Amherst Baseball Class of 2029, Jack!🦣 — Amherst Baseball (@AmherstBaseball) 7. College corner With a roster featuring freshman Kierstyn Zinter (North Andover/Central Catholic), freshman Danielle Cox (Norwell), junior Ali Hoyt (Boston/Tabor), and freshman Maddie Szyluk (Longmeadow), Tamp won the NCAA Division 2 women's lacrosse championship, 15-9 over Adelphi. Szyluk, a midfielder, had two goals in the championship game. WPI graduate student Avinash Bissoondial , a Millbury High graduate, capped his standout career with All-America honors after finishing eighth in the 5,000 meters (14:17.02) at the NCAA Division 3 men's track and field championship in Geneva, Ohio. Odds and ends Ella Peper , a freshman at Dexter Southfield who plays club basketball for the Bay State Jags, was selected as one of the 22 finalists for the USA Women's U16 National Team. 22 finalists have been announced for the 2025 🇺🇸 » — USABJNT (@usabjnt) Peper, who hails from Newton, already has offers from Kentucky, Clemson, Louisville, Alabama, Purdue, Indiana, Virginia, Baylor, Arizona State, Georgia, Tennessee, Maryland, and more. A video from the US Olympic Training center in Colorado showed the 6-foot-4-inch 15-year-old dunking in practice. She's 15!! Get Up 💥 📍 🇺🇸 — USABJNT (@usabjnt) Brendan Kurie can be reached at
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Saint Francis student athletes react to switch from division 1
LORETTO, Pa. (WTAJ)– It came as a shock to many Saint Francis students, student athletes and alumni last week when the school announced that it would be transitioning all of the University's athletic programs from Division 1 to Division 3. In a press conference last week University President Father Malachi Van Tassell cited a changing division 1 landscape including NIL and the transfer portal as the main reasons for the change. Last fall the Saint Francis football team garnered national media attention with the program's first win against an FBS opponent in program history, against Kent State. Month's later the men's basketball team qualified for March Madness for the first time in 34 years. On March 25 several student athletes were either training or studying when they got the news via email. 'It said important announcement from Father Malachi Van Tassell, and I was like oh no,' Women's Water Polo co-captain Grace Raquel said. 'I clicked on it and it was addressed to all of the athletes, this was at 11:19 am. Then it said hey we're going to division three. Immediately our water polo group chat like blew up.' Former Blair County basketball player uses injuries as momentum to give back 'My initial reaction was to start crying because I was so overwhelmed,' Field Hockey player Grace Reed said. 'I was like what is going on.' Both Reed and Raquel said their teammates began worrying about what would happen to their athletic scholarships, as division 3 can't offer them like division 1 can. 'We were all in tears, a lot of us just assumed we were going to be here for four years playing a division 1 sport together and that was that,' Reed said. 'Now all of that is being kind of taken away from us.' 'So they can either have an athletic scholarship or play, which sucks,' Raquel said. The official transition to division 3 isn't coming for another year yet. Both Reed and Raquel took to TikTok where the two would become the unofficial faces of frustration among Saint Francis athletes. 'I made one that got like 2.5 million views,' Reed said. 'It was just kind of shocking to see the whole entire like nation, the world respond to those videos and be like oh my gosh this is actually happening.' In her TikTok, Raquel expressed her concerns about how the small university will remain open in the future, with an enrollment of around 2,000 students already. 'I've heard between 50 to 70 percent of us are student athletes,' Raquel said. 'Everywhere you go you see student athlete jackets. A lot of classes are going to have to close in the fall because of not enough people. They told us to expect one or more residence halls to close.' Raquel and Reed said that the timing of the announcement of the transition from the University didn't sit well with them either, having watched the men's basketball team go on a historic run to the NCAA tournament after winning the Northeastern Conference. 'We made it to March madness, we had a great year and I felt like we did a great job just you know getting some money for the school too just by getting there,' Men's basketball forward Valentino Pinedo said. Pinedo, the junior basketball player from Spain, was in the transfer portal before the announcement was made. Now all but one of his teammates have followed him there. 'For the people that are like sophomores or like freshman it's really going to affect them it's like going from d1 to d3, like that is not what they sign up for,' Pinedo said. Head basketball coach Rob Krimmel announced that he would be retiring from his job two days after the announcement came out. Krimmel said he shared this message with his team after their historic run to March Madness. 'I told our guys that they'll be remembered as champions and that can never be taken away from them,' Krimmel said. Krimmel clarified that his decision to retire was not impacted by the University's decision. 'I realized that it was time for me to be a dad,' Krimmel said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press
19-03-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Most coaches use schools like Robert Morris as a launching pad. For Andy Toole, it's become home
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) — Andy Toole is still here. This isn't how it's supposed to work, at least not from the outside looking in. The Robert Morris coach knows this. All but one of the seven men who preceded Toole at the private school with about 3,800 undergrads about 20 minutes west of downtown Pittsburgh parlayed their time with the Colonials into bigger and better — in paycheck, stature and perception — jobs. They all saw Robert Morris as the launching pad, not the destination. Not Toole. At least not yet. And maybe — who knows — not ever. A full decade-and-a-half since he was promoted to replace Mike Rice at the age of 29, Toole will lead Robert Morris to the NCAA Tournament for a third time in 10 years when the 15th-seeded Horizon League champions face No. 2 seed Alabama in the first round in Cleveland on Friday. Press Toole, whose face remains boyish at 44 even if there's a decent amount of gray in his TV anchorman-perfect hair, on why he seems to be an anomaly and the former Ivy League point guard with a degree in political science pitches you much like he's pitched so many recruits through the years. 'I always felt like there was more for us to do and there was more stuff on the horizon,' he said. 'I always wanted to be a part of something that I felt was growing and evolving and I felt like our program has always been doing that.' Courting change For proof, he points to 10 years ago, when the Colonials won the Northeastern Conference title. They watched the NCAA Tournament selection show in a nearby sports bar. The next day they held a walkthrough in a bleacher-filled gym considered modest even by most high school standards. On Sunday, Toole spent 30 minutes before the brackets were revealed signing autographs and shaking hands on the second floor of the UPMC Events Center, a sparkling facility that opened in 2019, a process in which he was heavily involved. Toole remembers the conversations he had when plans for the arena were announced. Many assumed in the time that it took to go from design to groundbreaking to ribbon-cutting, he'd be a memory. 'Everybody was saying, 'Oh, you're not going to be there long,'' he said. 'And I'm thinking to myself like, 'Who walks away from a $52 million arena that's going to be built as we speak?' And so seeing the completion of this ... I think those are things that keep you here.' So does a sense of purpose. Toole is deeply competitive, and the challenges have kept coming. Robert Morris moved from the NEC to the Horizon League in the summer of 2020, just a few months after the Colonials' second NCAA appearance under Toole was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic. The transition was bumpy, though Robert Morris athletic director Chris King sees one small sliver of a silver lining. Had the pandemic not brought the world to a halt, maybe Toole would have been lured away. 'It might be the only good thing that came out of COVID,' King said. Vision and vigilance The Colonials won 12 games combined in their first two years after making the switch. Travel restrictions forced Toole and his staff to recruit over Zoom, not exactly the best way to convince players to take a flier on a school whose name offers zero hints on where it is. (Robert Morris was an English-born 18th-century businessman who went on to become one of the U.S. founding fathers and later a senator from Pennsylvania). It was frustrating, sure. Yet it hardly deterred Toole. Then again, not much does. Forced to hit the reset button last spring following a fourth straight losing season, he cast a wide net and connected with guard Kam Woods, who was looking for a fresh start after appearing in just 13 games last season at N.C. State. Woods had no idea Robert Morris was in Pittsburgh the first time Toole reached out. It hardly mattered. 'He just saw a vision for me,' Woods said. 'For a coach to see a vision in you after you haven't played a whole year, that means something special.' Toole told Woods he'd have the ball in his hands all the time. That he'd have a chance to lead. To win, too. All of it came to pass. Woods leads the Colonials in minutes, points, assists and steals, providing him with a happy ending to a nomadic career in which he bounced from school to school to school before landing at 'Bobby Mo.' Woods, however, is quick to point out that he is merely part of a collective that has found common ground under Toole's steadfast guidance. 'A lot of people wanted to rewrite their stories,' he said. 'A lot of people came here this year (from other places) for whatever reason. Once you see somebody else try to rewrite their story, that encourages you to go hard. We're kind of an inspiration to each other.' Robert Morris heads into the tournament having won 16 of 17. The bump up from the NEC to the Horizon League means the Colonials aren't a 16-seed for the first time. A year ago, league champion Oakland and March Madness hero Jack Gohlke dethroned Kentucky in the first round. The Golden Grizzlies are coached by Greg Kampe, a somewhat rumpled everyman who is the longest-tenured head coach in Division I. You don't have to scan that far down the list to get to Toole, whose 15 seasons at Robert Morris ranks in the top 30ish out of 362 Division I schools. Here to stay? For how much longer, no one knows. Not even Toole, who insists he's happy. He's become part of the firmament at Robert Morris. His and his wife's two sons are fixtures in his office and at home games when they're not in school or playing on their AAU team. 'If he ain't left yet after those winning years, it's definitely something that's keeping him here,' Woods said. 'I feel like it's just the city ... People love him.' Woods, who was born in Cleveland, likened Toole's popularity in the community to that of NBA great LeBron James. Yet even James left northeast Ohio. Twice. If the Colonials — 23 1/2-point underdogs to the Crimson Tide, according to BetMGM Sportsbook — can pull off a stunner or two this weekend, maybe Toole and his 252-240 record finally move on. Or maybe they don't. The grass, or at least the money, might be greener elsewhere. Success, however, is another matter. Not every coach who left Robert Morris found stability elsewhere. Given the chaotic nature of college sports, there's something to be said for knowing what you have. And what you've built. Toole has a deep appreciation of both. 'A lot of coaches don't get to coach for 15 years period, let alone in one place,' he said. 'I think I have a lot of pride in what we've been able to accomplish as a program and how we've been able to grow over my time here. A lot of people have contributed to that. It's been fun.' So maybe he's not an anomaly. Maybe he's just smart.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Most coaches use schools like Robert Morris as a launching pad. For Andy Toole, it's become home
Most coaches use schools like Robert Morris as a launching pad. For Andy Toole, it's become home Robert Morris head coach Andrew Toole celebrates in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in the championship of the Horizon League tournament against Youngstown State in Indianapolis, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy) MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) — Andy Toole is still here. This isn't how it's supposed to work, at least not from the outside looking in. The Robert Morris coach knows this. All but one of the seven men who preceded Toole at the private school with about 3,800 undergrads about 20 minutes west of downtown Pittsburgh parlayed their time with the Colonials into bigger and better — in paycheck, stature and perception — jobs. They all saw Robert Morris as the launching pad, not the destination. Advertisement Not Toole. At least not yet. And maybe — who knows — not ever. A full decade-and-a-half since he was promoted to replace Mike Rice at the age of 29, Toole will lead Robert Morris to the NCAA Tournament for a third time in 10 years when the 15th-seeded Horizon League champions face No. 2 seed Alabama in the first round in Cleveland on Friday. Press Toole, whose face remains boyish at 44 even if there's a decent amount of gray in his TV anchorman-perfect hair, on why he seems to be an anomaly and the former Ivy League point guard with a degree in political science pitches you much like he's pitched so many recruits through the years. 'I always felt like there was more for us to do and there was more stuff on the horizon," he said. 'I always wanted to be a part of something that I felt was growing and evolving and I felt like our program has always been doing that.' Advertisement Courting change For proof, he points to 10 years ago, when the Colonials won the Northeastern Conference title. They watched the NCAA Tournament selection show in a nearby sports bar. The next day they held a walkthrough in a bleacher-filled gym considered modest even by most high school standards. On Sunday, Toole spent 30 minutes before the brackets were revealed signing autographs and shaking hands on the second floor of the UPMC Events Center, a sparkling facility that opened in 2019, a process in which he was heavily involved. Toole remembers the conversations he had when plans for the arena were announced. Many assumed in the time that it took to go from design to groundbreaking to ribbon-cutting, he'd be a memory. Advertisement 'Everybody was saying, 'Oh, you're not going to be there long,'' he said. "And I'm thinking to myself like, 'Who walks away from a $52 million arena that's going to be built as we speak?' And so seeing the completion of this ... I think those are things that keep you here.' So does a sense of purpose. Toole is deeply competitive, and the challenges have kept coming. Robert Morris moved from the NEC to the Horizon League in the summer of 2020, just a few months after the Colonials' second NCAA appearance under Toole was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic. The transition was bumpy, though Robert Morris athletic director Chris King sees one small sliver of a silver lining. Had the pandemic not brought the world to a halt, maybe Toole would have been lured away. 'It might be the only good thing that came out of COVID,' King said. Advertisement Vision and vigilance The Colonials won 12 games combined in their first two years after making the switch. Travel restrictions forced Toole and his staff to recruit over Zoom, not exactly the best way to convince players to take a flier on a school whose name offers zero hints on where it is. (Robert Morris was an English-born 18th-century businessman who went on to become one of the U.S. founding fathers and later a senator from Pennsylvania). It was frustrating, sure. Yet it hardly deterred Toole. Then again, not much does. Forced to hit the reset button last spring following a fourth straight losing season, he cast a wide net and connected with guard Kam Woods, who was looking for a fresh start after appearing in just 13 games last season at N.C. State. Advertisement Woods had no idea Robert Morris was in Pittsburgh the first time Toole reached out. It hardly mattered. 'He just saw a vision for me,' Woods said. 'For a coach to see a vision in you after you haven't played a whole year, that means something special.' Toole told Woods he'd have the ball in his hands all the time. That he'd have a chance to lead. To win, too. All of it came to pass. Woods leads the Colonials in minutes, points, assists and steals, providing him with a happy ending to a nomadic career in which he bounced from school to school to school before landing at 'Bobby Mo.' Woods, however, is quick to point out that he is merely part of a collective that has found common ground under Toole's steadfast guidance. Advertisement 'A lot of people wanted to rewrite their stories,' he said. "A lot of people came here this year (from other places) for whatever reason. Once you see somebody else try to rewrite their story, that encourages you to go hard. We're kind of an inspiration to each other.' Robert Morris heads into the tournament having won 16 of 17. The bump up from the NEC to the Horizon League means the Colonials aren't a 16-seed for the first time. A year ago, league champion Oakland and March Madness hero Jack Gohlke dethroned Kentucky in the first round. The Golden Grizzlies are coached by Greg Kampe, a somewhat rumpled everyman who is the longest-tenured head coach in Division I. You don't have to scan that far down the list to get to Toole, whose 15 seasons at Robert Morris ranks in the top 30ish out of 362 Division I schools. Here to stay? Advertisement For how much longer, no one knows. Not even Toole, who insists he's happy. He's become part of the firmament at Robert Morris. His and his wife's two sons are fixtures in his office and at home games when they're not in school or playing on their AAU team. 'If he ain't left yet after those winning years, it's definitely something that's keeping him here,' Woods said. 'I feel like it's just the city ... People love him.' Woods, who was born in Cleveland, likened Toole's popularity in the community to that of NBA great LeBron James. Yet even James left northeast Ohio. Twice. If the Colonials — 23 1/2-point underdogs to the Crimson Tide, according to BetMGM Sportsbook — can pull off a stunner or two this weekend, maybe Toole and his 252-240 record finally move on. Or maybe they don't. The grass, or at least the money, might be greener elsewhere. Success, however, is another matter. Advertisement Not every coach who left Robert Morris found stability elsewhere. Given the chaotic nature of college sports, there's something to be said for knowing what you have. And what you've built. Toole has a deep appreciation of both. 'A lot of coaches don't get to coach for 15 years period, let alone in one place,' he said. "I think I have a lot of pride in what we've been able to accomplish as a program and how we've been able to grow over my time here. A lot of people have contributed to that. It's been fun.' So maybe he's not an anomaly. Maybe he's just smart. ___ AP March Madness bracket: and coverage: Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.
