Fall ‘17 Season Starts Off With Mixed Results

By The Beacon Sports Staff

Welcome back, SeaWolves sports fans. While much has transpired over the summer, one aspect that has remained consistent with the SeaWolves athletic teams stands: They will be competitive.

For those of you who are new to SMCC, the SeaWolves will be fielding teams in baseball, softball, men’s and women’s soccer, and golf for the fall’s sports season. While the softball team has yet to take to the diamonds, a result of the Yankee Small College Conference (YSCC) restructuring the season schedule, the soccer and the baseball teams have started their seasons.

Last Friday, the SeaWolves baseball team opened the season on the road at Great Bay Community College. Great Bay, which is located a stone’s throw west of Portsmouth, N.H., took to the field with a true freshman team, as the home opener for the Herons was their inaugural game in the YSCC.

Opening day looked wonderfully positive for the Herons over the course of the first six innings, and they held a four-two lead going into the seventh inning. The SeaWolves would plate four runs in the top of the seventh, spoiling the Herons’ opening day desires to start off YSCC play with a win.   

The second game of the day saw the SeaWolves bats come alive, as the Wolves would plate 15 runs in five innings. Four times the Wolves would go yard: twice by junior Sean Adams and once apiece by junior Nathaniel Cyr and freshman Dylan Francoeur.

The two-win road trip for Coach Yanni and his squad started the Wolves off in a great way, as they are defending their 2016-2017 YSCC championship. As stated on the SeaWolves web site, Coach Yanni shared his thoughts after the first two games: “The offensive production today was encouraging against a talented Herons club. In the first game, we didn’t lay down and fought to come from behind — we didn’t have that lull in the second game and continued to swing the bats. Great Bay is certainly a worthy opponent and we’re excited to see where this program goes in the future.”

In Coach Yanni’s first season at the helm of the SeaWolves baseball team, the team finished with an 11-14-1 record and won the YSCC championship game in a thriller against New Hampshire Technical Institute (NHTI). All of which adds up to an opportune time to paraphrase “Moneyball.” As Billy Beane emphatically states, the only game that anyone remembers is the last one, and “if you lose the last game of the season no one gives a s**t.”

The Wolves started their defense of the YSCC championship on two positive notes with Friday’s wins. On Wednesday, Sept. 13, the Wolves begin a four-game home stand against the Mustangs of Central Maine Community College (CMCC). The SeaWolves, who hold a 14-4-1 record over the previous five seasons against the Musangs, will look to expand upon that.

Finishing off the four-game home stand on Sept. 16, the Wolves will host NHTI in an afternoon doubleheader. They are riding a seven-game winning streak against the Lynx here in South Portland. They will not return home until Sept. 30, when they end the regular season against Great Bay Community College with a double header.

The Wolves will be on the road Sept. 20, when they travel to Auburn to play CMCC. On Sept. 23, SMCC will travel to Concord, N.H., to take on NHTI. The fall baseball season will end here in South Portland on Oct. 7 when SMCC hosts the YSCC Fall Invitational.

On the soccer pitch, the results haven’t panned out in the manner that the SeaWolves would have wished for, as the men’s squad has dropped their first three matches. On the 2nd, the Wolves traveled to Albany, N.Y. to take on Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Panthers, suffering their first loss of the young season, six to nil.

After 45 minutes of play, the Wolves found themselves trailing by four as the Panthers found the back of the net at the 3:37 mark. Panthers forward Mina Girgis was able to ruffle the netting three times before 11 minutes had expired, collecting his first hat trick of the young season. Girgis would collect his fourth goal of the game and the Panthers’ sixth at 72:11 of the game.    

Patrick Duddy, SMCC’s goalkeeper, faced 13 shots on goal, turning away seven.

This past Saturday the men’s squad took to the pitch for their YSCC conference opener against the Fighting Saints of the College of St. Joseph (CSJ). While the Wolves would eventually fall to the Saints, six-one, the first 45 minutes of play saw them stay close to the Saints.

Less than a minute into the game, CSJ was awarded a penalty kick that was denied from flipping St. Joseph’s big-board zero to one by SMCC’s goalkeeper Patrick Duddy. The Saints would find the back of the net inside of six minutes.

SMCC’s Yaroslav Philbrook would pull the Wolves even at the 12:26 mark, when he buried a free kick from just outside of the box — recording his first collegiate goal. The Fighting Saints netted a volley-goal courtesy of Amani Francois before the first half time expired to regain a two-one lead.

The second half of the match saw St. Joe’s flip the big board in their favor with a penalty kick and a hat trick by the Saints’ Rosyvelt Baessa. SMCC’s goal keeper Patrick Duddy, a 2016 United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) All-American, tallied 11 saves in 90 minutes of work.

In Sunday’s action the SeaWolves and the Knights of Vermont Tech played the full 90 minutes only to have to play two extra 10-minute periods, as they were knotted at one goal apiece at the end of regulation.

The Knights were first on the big board when Matthew Brien scored at the 53:36 mark. A little more than 27 minutes later, the Wolves pulled even on a Hanssen Casey goal. After a scoreless first overtime period,  the Knights celebrated a hard-fought victory when Phillip Hepburn scored the winning goal at the 103:02 mark.

On the women’s side of the pitch, the Lady SeaWolves secured their first win of the season, a ten-to-nil trouncing of the College of Saint Joseph’s after dropping their first two games of the season.

In the season opener against the Cougars of Holyoke Community College (two-nil), the true frustrations of soccer reared their ugly attitude: The SeaWolves never found the back of the net, hitting the post four times.    

As reported on the SMCC Athletics web site, Head Coach Julia Cyr commented, “Lots of positives to take away from the first game of the season. With many new faces and a new system, you never know what to expect — I was pleased with how well it came together. Offensively it looked promising and we plan to build on the

positives moving forward.”

On Sept. 2 the Lady SeaWolves dropped their second game of the season, a four-nil loss to the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. The Panthers were led by Erin Tersegno and Katie Benson, who scored two goals each.

First-year SeaWolves Callie O’Brien and Jessica Haskell were able to get two shots on goal apiece, but were unable to beat the Panther goalkeeper Sally Slowinski, who notched seven saves. SMCC goalkeeper Shae Couture faced 19 shots on goal and turned away 15.

On the golf links, the SeaWolves traveled to Beaver Meadow Golf Club last Saturday, placing second out of a four-team field. NHTI took first place; University of Maine-Augusta and Great Bay

Community College failed to qualify.