Daily Archives: October 26, 2021

Sports, Uncategorized

Knights Soccer team

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On Oct. 23 the NECC Knights Soccer team were 2-9-1 and were facing Massasoit Community College at noon.  

Their head coach is Eusebio Marote this season. 

They are having a bad season. They have a losing record, but the coach said the second half of the season has shown improvement.  

“I believe you know a lot of new guys young guys in the beginning of the season were trying to figure it out, our groove way and you know the second half of the season it’s been a little better that helps a lot, finishing off the season strong and I think that what it is a couple of young guys still getting used to each other and I think the second half of the season is been an improvement so that’s a good way to look at it,” said Marote.  

They are still communicating to each other and getting a long together which is probably why they are having a little bit of improvement in the second half of the season.  

 Since they are having a poor season, I had to ask Marote if any players won’t be back or if there will be any cuts and we will see any new faces for the 2022 campaign.   

NECC Knights in action on Oct. 23 vs Massasoit Community College
NECC Knights in action on Oct. 23 vs Massasoit Community College Photo by Jose Rodriguez, Sports Editor

“With the number at the moment we would love to have some more guys so I don’t think at the moment won’t be many cuts for next year,” he said. “ I do want to have a roster of probably 24, 25 or even 26. At the moment we have 18, 17 and couple guys will be graduating so I don’t think there will be any cuts next year at the moment.”     

Jesus Guzman of Lawrence is a freshman on the team. I asked him how he prepared for a game. 

“Before the game we usually do a passing drill of what we’ve been practicing a lot so that get us warmed up before the game. I think it is just our own concentration for the game we do it as a team and we figure it out from there,” he said.  

 Warming up is a big key before the game so the body and the muscles are activated when you are in the field and everything that you did during practice you put it in the game to play hard the right way and aggressive.  

Jonathan Chasse of Haverhill  is a sophomore goalkeeper.  Being a student athlete it’s not easy, it’s a little bit of hard work that is required. 

 “I got a tutor that helps me a lot and we work two, three times a week so that really help to keep me up with my grades,” he said. Having a tutor, it’s beneficial because it helps setting up a schedule and the things that need to get done in a certain day.  

Ethan Rousseau of Haverhill is a sophomore team member. We know all athletes have different things to get better when they are in the field. Before Saturday’s game he mentioned “definitely communication with my teammates, in the right type of communication, often times myself and some of my teammates we tend to yell at each other to get our message across where kind of stepping back and looking back it from different point of view might get the point across better.”  

Communication is a big a key if Rousseau and his teammates start communicating and stop yelling I am pretty sure that they can improve their records and possible have a winning record and head to the postseason. 

 

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Women’s Volleyball semifinals and finals

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The NECC Women’s Volleyball team were looking to become Region 21 champion for the first time since 2018.  

In the semifinals they hosted number 4 seed Holyoke Community College on Oct. 23.  

The Knights won the semifinals by shutting out the number 4 seed in three sets. Set one 25-18, set two 25-23 and set three 25-11 as they were waiting for the winner of number 2 seed Community College of Rhode Island Knights vs number 3 seed Massasoit Warriors.  

I had a chance to talk with Coach Mike Pelosi when the game ended. 

“I feel really happy that we came this far this season it’s been a challenging season in a number of ways had a lot of injury and stuff so I’m proud that we made it this far,” he said. “I was surprised how hard the other team fought in the first match I was very impressed with how Holyoke came up fighting they were serving tough at us they were hitting hard at us the passing was very good as well so I really feel like we got to work for it in first match it was proud that we overcame that.”  

Although the Knights shutout Holyoke it was a tough match that they had to win to advance to the finals.  

The Knights overcame a lot of obstacles and challenges during the season but still managed to fight and not give up and still win, gaining the number 1 seed in the tournament.   

CCRI Knights defeated Massasoit Warriors to face the NECC Knights in the finals.  

On set 4 in the game versus Rhode Island, everyone thought it was over and the NECC Knights were Region 21 champions. However, there was an issue with the scoreboard and Rhode Island really won. The NECC Knights lost in decisive set 5 after both teams were tied 2-2. 

NECC Knights vs CCRI Knights finals for Region 21 championship on Oct. 23
NECC Knights vs CCRI Knights finals for Region 21 championship on Oct. 23 Photo by Jose Rodriguez, Sports Editor

“I thought it was over like most of the crowd but I mean I didn’t feel that bad about it I thought CCRI did an amazing job fighting back,” said Coach Pelosi. “I thought we did a pretty good job in our side of the court but they dug in just in the right moment they refused to give up so you know I have a lot of respect I earn a lot of respect for them in that process so I don’t feel bad losing to an opponent like that.”  

Then I asked Coach Pelosi about the slow start the team had in the first set they were out-scored 0-5 and 1-7 to begin the first set and still managed to win that first set 27-25. 

“ In the beginning of the set we had some lineup issues and I think that was a distraction for the girls we were forced to make a last minute line up change,” he said. “I think that was a bit of distraction. I was very happy once they recognized that they can get their heads back in the game and started playing more of our level of playing.”  

After the game I spoke with Lismari Valdez of Haverhill about the disappointing lost in the finals. 

“It was definitely a good game.  It was a lot of pressure, a lot of injury this season so the fact … we were able to keep our head in the game and to fight this hard all the way until the end it was critical,” said Valdez.   

This season it was up and down for the NECC Knights women’s volleyball team. It takes a lot of hard work and chemistry to work together to be in the position that they were coming close to winning the Region 21 tournament for the first time in three years.  

  Ashly Dominguez, a Lawrence High School graduate, talked about the drama at the end of the first set that they came from behind to win. 

“I think that set was very stressful as it was point by point … I think the stress got to us a little bit but we worked really hard to keep getting our points, point by point knowing we could climb up there,” she said.  

The first set is always huge and key because if you win the first set most of the time you win the whole match. It was key for them to win that set in the beginning.  

For more information about the women’s volleyball schedule go to neccknights.com    

 

Sports

Basketball Knights getting ready for 2021-2022 season

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NECC Knights Basketball head coach is Darren Stratton with 12 games left before the season starts.   Stratton graduated from NECC in 1996. He played from 1994-1996 and was head coach from 1999-2015. During his first chapter as coach he won more than 200 games, including advancing to Region 21 championship games in 2003 and 2009, according to neeccknights.com  

He returned back in 2020-2021 for his second turn around as coach.  

The basketball team was practicing Oct. 22 in the Sport and Fitness Center in Haverhill campus.  

Coach Stratton told me that they only have three  returners from last year. 

Coach Stratton talked to the players after practice on Oct. 22
Coach Stratton talked to the players after practice on Oct. 22 Photo by Jose Rodriguez, Sports Editor

“We have five international kids in our team this year and a kid from Florida so we have two kids from Turkey, three from Canada and one from Florida so we recruit all over anyone that’s willing to come to Northern Essex that can compete and basically we are trying to involve Northern Essex not only as community college but hopefully to grow as a regional and national power … so we expect a lot from this basketball team basically.”  

Christian Kinsley of Lawrence is one of the three captains of the NECC Knights. In high school he played two years of football and a year in track and played 4 years of basketball in high school. Last season he played five games averaging nine points per game 34% in the field goal , 22.2 % on the three point line, 100.0 % on the free throw line averaging 3.8 rebound per game and 1.6 assist per game, according neccknights.com. He mentions to me how is he preparing. “This year I tried to get my shot up before practice and after practice I tried to stretch and rest and get ready for tomorrow,” he said.  

He said he goes in to the court early before practice starts. 

Cameron Stratton of Lawrence is one of the three captains of the NECC Knights. Last season he played five games averaging 2.4 points per game 30.8 field goal, 37.5 % three-point,  in the field throw line 33.3 %, averaging 2.4 rebound per game and 2.4 assist per game according neccknights.com We all know that being an athlete and keeping track on your school work is not not easy.  

“Thankfully for academic coaching I go to academic coaching they keep me on track and basically I just get all of my work done through there,” said Cameron Stratton.  

Daniel Almarante of Lawrence is one of the three captains of the NECC Knights. Last season he played five games averaging 7.4 points per game, 57.1 % field goal, 50.0 % in the three-point line, 25.0 % in the free throw line, averaging 4.4 rebound per game and 1.6 assist per game according to neccknights.com He has been playing basketball since he was five. He mentioned to me “In high school I didn’t played basketball I did football and wrestling then I came to NECC to play basketball.” Taking a break from a sport that someone likes can be good to explore new sports to see if the person is interested and they like it. Almarante mentioned that in high school he used to do wrestling and probably he did it because he wants to learn how to defend himself from a situation and self-defense.