Winding down a wonderful winter

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009
Article by: Norwood Record - Mike Stoller

A look back at a winning season in Norwood sports
First, hats off to the Norwood teams and individual competitors who made the state tourneys this winter. The Norwood boys’ hockey and basketball teams and three Mustang wrestlers — Tom Julian, Matt Hennigan, and A.J. Silletti — all advanced to their respective postseasons.

The boys’ hockey team finished its season with a 2-0 loss to host Marshfield in the first round of the Division 1 South state tourney last week. It was a good run for the Mustangs, and a great one during one midseason stretch that saw Norwood earn five shutouts in six games.

"I can’t remember, I don’t think this has ever happened in our history," said head hockey mentor Bill Clifford after the terrific streak. "It’s incredible, five shutouts in the last six games."

The Mustangs advanced to the tourney after missing by just a point last season.

Boys’ hoops had a season to remember, though it did end a bit disappointingly with a 77-72 loss to host Whitman-Hanson in a Division 2 South preliminary game. Like the hockey team, the squad had its share of ups and downs, but eventually flew into the tourney on the heels of a home victory over BSC Herget Division rival Wellesley on Senior Night (nice touch). The Mustangs gave it their all in their postseason outing against Whitman-Hanson, but after leading by 13 at the half, saw the Panthers regain their composure to shoot lights out in the final 16 minutes. An injury to star Cliff Johnson, who led the ‘Stangs with 21 points, didn’t help the cause, as Johnson missed almost the entire fourth quarter, and the Panthers went on to the victory.

But Norwood has much to be proud of, for it qualified for the tourney for the second consecutive season, after going just 3-17 in 2006-2007.

"As freshmen, the seniors [on this year’s team] won only five games," said head coach Rich Cormier. "They’ve accomplished so much. It’s just hard to see it when it ends this way.

In addition to the wrestling achievements accomplished by Julian, the senior captain, Hennigan, and Silletti, the Mustangs as a team doubled their win total from last season, which was one of their goals at the outset, according to Coach Jim Asam. "I’d like to see us double our number of wins," said the head guru at the start of the campaign.

With late season quad-match wins over Norwell and Middleboro, the Mustangs earned their 12th win of the season, after going 6-14 a year ago.

And let’s not forget the dark horses, a couple of which went way, way, beyond expectations. Congratulations to head coach Bill O’Donnell and the undermanned girls’ hockey team, which not only won two Bay State Conference games after not cracking the conference win column last year, but played some of the top notch teams in the BSC such as perennial powerhouse Wellesley to highly contestable battles. Norwood lost to the Raiders by only a 6-5 count. Meanwhile, the girls’ gymnastics squad turned over team record scores and personal best tallies almost on a weekly basis. (How many times can you say Manar Zaki?).

The girls’ basketball team came alive late in the season with a huge win over Westwood at the annual Riley Classic for their second victory of the campaign. The rebuilding boys’ and girls’ track teams earned a win and a tie, respectively, with the boys defeating archrival Dedham in the opening meet of the campaign.

Best of luck to all of the Norwood winter sports teams forthcoming graduates.

Boys’ Basketball: Mina Awad, Michael Gearty, Brian Williams, Matthew Costa, Chris Johnson, Pat Hickey, Matt Clifford, and Gio Bartucca.

Girls’ Basketball: Jenn Caniff, Amanda Murray, and Meaghan Troiano.

Boys’ Hockey: Cory Sennott, Pat Cavanaugh, Joe Trahon, Mike Verrochi, and Steve Mahon.

Girls’ Hockey: Colleen Carroll and Sabrina Roy. Gymnastics: Jayme Igoe, Kathleen Maroun, and Casey McDaniel. Wrestling: Tom Julian, Michael Regan, Evan Zablocki.

Boys’ Track: Adam Aronson, Paul Colantuoni, Evaggelos Constantinou, Paul Cosgro, Brian DeMeo, Joseph Farulla, Jonathan Finnell, John Kellley, Joshua Mergl, Greg Migdal, Michael O’Brien, Thomas O’Rourke, Michael Sullivan, Robert Thornton, and Alexander Webber.

Girls’ Track: Marisa Altieri, Kathryn Bernazzani, Cara Cole, Kaitlyn Gatto, Isabelle Jones, Kelly Millin, and Meghan Shilo.