Meet the Stones, all in a row

At Charles regatta,

a family goes with sport's flow

Newton's Stone family, including (from left) siblings Robbie and Gevvie and parents Gregg and Lisa, has old ties to this weekend's Head of the Charles. (Justine Hunt/Globe Staff)

By Justin A. Rice Globe Correspondent / October 19, 2008

As a child growing up in Newton, Gevvie Stone often confused the annual Head of the Charles Regatta with Christmas.

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The rowing fest on the Charles River was more than a seasonal benchmark for Stone. The regatta meant her father's old college crew buddies honored the pact they made at their graduation from Harvard in 1975, to reunite each October until they could no longer physically travel to the internationally famed weekend of races.

"All the kids got hot dogs and hamburgers and we watched movies and got presents, almost like Christmas," said the 23-year-old, recalling the Head of the Charles gatherings of her youth.

This weekend, the first-year medical student at Tufts University was scheduled to race in her seventh Head of the Charles. But it is just the second time competing in the regatta's Championship Singles race for the former Princeton undergrad, who was a vital cog in the Tigers' varsity eight that cruised to the NCAA championship in 2006.

The singles race, though, is hardly foreign waters. Both of her parents, Gregg and Lisa, won the marquee event in 1977.

During last year's women's Championship Singles race, her sister Phoebe and their father rode bikes along the banks of the Charles, cheering Gevvie to a sixth-place finish. It was the first time Gregg Stone was able to actually watch his daughter race in the discipline he identifies with most.

"I was so nervous, I didn't want to watch the race," he said of Gevvie's first singles event. "I didn't want her to see how intense an experience it would be for her to do my sport, because I am a single-sculler by nature."

In addition to her taxing schedule this year as a medical student, Stone meets her father on the Charles at 6 a.m. several mornings a week before she runs off to class.

In preparing for last year's Head of the Charles, Gevvie trained with the US National team, a squad she won a gold medal with two years ago at the under-23 championships in Hazewinkel, Belgium.

"I'm definitely more tempted to say 'Maybe I won't do it, maybe I'll do this instead,' " Gevvie said of her training regimen without a team, which she does once a day, compared with three times during her college days. "Then I remind myself what I'm aiming for, what I would be doing if I was with my teammates and what my former teammates are doing."

Setting a time to train with her father, she said, is "good motivation."

Last weekend, Stone and her 55-year-old father traveled to the Head of the Housatonic Regatta in New Haven, where Gregg finished second in the men's Singles Masters race and Gevvie won the women's Open Singles event.

The Head of the Charles marks the fourth time this fall they've raced in the same regatta.

"It's the same thing as talking with my friends, the only thing is my parents are more knowledgeable," Gevvie said, comparing her strategy discussions these days with her experiences on her old teams. However, she noted, "The other talk is different during the other half of our conversations."

Her parents met at the 1977 world championships in Amsterdam, a year after Lisa rowed in the Summer Olympics in Montreal. Three years later, Gregg qualified for the 1980 Games in Moscow, but did not participate because of the US boycott.

Despite her lineage, Stone didn't always row with her parents. At the Winsor School, where her mother coaches crew, Stone played lacrosse for two seasons before shifting to the family pastime. She said she was never pushed to row.

"My parents were great about it, they probably knew all along I wouldn't play lacrosse in college, but I didn't get it in my head until my sophomore year in high school," said Stone, whose brother Robbie is a freshman rower at Harvard. He is following in the wake of both his father and grandfather, Robert G. Stone, who captained the 1947 world-record boat for the Crimson. In 2001, the elder Stone endowed the coaching position for the Harvard men's heavyweight crew.

"We definitely have a bond discussing rowing," said Gevvie, "but my sister is not involved in rowing, so when the whole family gets together, we try not to focus the conversation on rowing too much."

Father and daughter will continue their early morning workouts as Gevvie sets her sights on next summer's US national championships, and qualifying for the 2012 Olympics in London.

Stone, who fell short in her bid to make the women's quadruple-scull event for this summer's Beijing Games, plans to complete two years of medical school before deciding whether to take a leave to focus on training for London.

In the meantime, Gregg Stone's local rowing friends will have to wait to get on the water with their old pal.

"When my friends ask if I want to row with them," he said, "I'm very proud to say I'm working out with my daughter."

© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.

rowing, head of the chalres, ian finn, lowell

MS hasn't kept him out

of his seat in the boat

Ian Finn (left) and teammate Mike McKeon prepare for launch prior to a practice race at the Bellegarde Boathouse in Lowell. (PHOTO BY ZARA TZANEV FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE)

By Justin A. Rice Globe Correspondent / October 19, 2008

Every competitive rower is more than familiar with the burning sensation that rips through their muscles with every stroke. Not every rower, however, can cope with that anguish by recalling excruciating pain of a different kind.

"During a race it's like your muscles are on fire, but when I have to go to the hospital it's like having someone pick at the back of my eyes, just tearing it up," said Finn, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis about a year after joining the high school team.

"I just think that's so much worse than having your muscles burn because you know when the pain will subside from your muscles. When I'm in the hospital I don't know how long it's gonna last.

"Before every race, I know it's gonna hurt, I think about the hospital and that gets me through the race, the thought of just laying there in bed knowing it's gonna hurt no matter what."

Even though he has not been hospitalized in the past year, the 17-year-old Finn knows his immune system is attacking his central nervous system and could eventually prevent him from rowing at the level he does today making moments such as racing in this morning's 44th Head of the Charles Regatta for the first time indescribable.

"It will be pretty sweet," said Finn, who, the last two Octobers, has watched his team from the banks of the Charles. "It's definitely a jaw-dropping sort of thing to hear you're going to the biggest race in the world and actually racing. It's amazing."

But competing in the high school division of the Head will not be the lone memory of this weekend. Finn was scheduled to meet another rower with MS, Laura Schwanger , who won bronze in the arms-only singles discipline at the recent Paralympic Games in Beijing.

"As he gets older, if his disability gets worse, this is an option to continue to compete against his peers," said the 49-year-old Schwanger in a phone interview from her home in Elkins Park, Pa., last week. She became paralyzed from the waist down shortly after being diagnosed in 1982.

"He does have a future," added Schwanger, who was slated to row on the Charles this morning.

Schwanger, who received experimental MS treatment at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital in 1982, picked up the sport shortly before rowing in the first-ever Paralympic crew events in China last month. She said she would encourage Finn to try out for the United States' four-man boat competing at the 2012 Games in London.

Finn, who plans on rowing in college, possibly at San Diego State, expressed interest in the Paralympics but, at the same time, shows no physical signs of MS on a daily basis and said it would be a difficult transition.

"I don't like to think of myself as disabled," the 6-foot-5-inch lanky rower said. "I would definitely compete but I would rather be competing in the regular Games."

As long as the disease doesn't destroy his nervous system, there's no reason Finn can't compete at a high level for many more years. Last year, he was part of Lowell's four-man boat that won a bronze medal at states and silver in the heavyweight eights. The squad recently placed third out of 38 teams at the Textile River Regatta junior's men's fours in Lowell, where Finn also finished sixth in a two-man boat.

"I actually only started rowing because I didn't make the golf team," said Finn, who has since gained 20 pounds of muscle. "And because the boathouse is right down the street from my house."

Nevertheless, he helped Lowell finish 16th overall in the USRowing Youth Nationals Championships in Cincinnati as a sophomore, the same year he was officially diagnosed with MS after doctors discovered quarter-sized lesions in his brain. In fact, Finn's doctors believe the muscle mass he's gained from rowing is staving off the disease.

Finn, who is participating in the MS Cure Fund Regatta Ball today, also raised $4,000 with his teammates during an MS hike in the Berkshires recently. The team, plus 10 alumni, will sport MS armbands this weekend as well.

"It's hard to be a poster child but he's holding up pretty well with it," Lowell coach Jen Bauer said. "The kids admire him and support him."

Bauer, who is racing her fifth Head of the Charles this weekend with her club team, has stood by Finn's side during some of his worst attacks, including one that floored him during school. She was immediately paged and helped get him to the hospital, where he was given steroids and put on an IV.

"It's hard for him to go the hospital and three days later be back on a boat winning medals," Bauer said. "That's just Ian, he's phenomenal. . . . It has helped him become a mentally tough athlete. He always said that the pain he experiences in an MS episode is worse than anything he could experience on a boat. I think that makes him a stronger rower."

© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.

Here's a couple non sports stories from Sunday's City Weekly section:

SOUTH END

At biolab forum, divides remain deep

By Justin A. Rice Globe Correspondent / October 19, 2008

They announced the project in 2003, and BU scientists and officials had initially hoped to be studying the world's deadliest germs at the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories at Boston University Medical Center by now. Instead, they were cramming into Roxbury Center for Arts at Hibernian Hall Tuesday night for the first locally hosted meeting of the scientific panel charged with overseeing an environmental review of the lab.

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After local activists and public interest groups filed a lawsuit in 2006, a federal judge found the original environmental study for the lab to be inadequate, and the state required BU to address the study's shortcomings. Last November, a 16-member scientific advisory board, called the Blue Ribbon Panel, was charged with independently assessing the lab. The panel's members - doctors and scientists from across the country - were also tasked with bridging the communication gap between the institutions and the lab's detractors.

The advisory board, which hopes to make its recommendations to the National Institutes of Health by late 2009, started the meeting by posing questions to the crowd about how best to inform and educate the public on the lab and how the NIH and BU can seek the public's views about the lab's operation and oversight.

BU environmental health professor Patricia Hynes took exception to the first question: "How can institutions most effectively reach out to local communities and educate about these laboratories?"

"The way it's phrased presumes the community is ignorant and the university is the savant, or the more knowledgeable of the two," Hynes told the assembly. "Education is a two-way street. I'd like to rephrase the question: 'How can communities most effectively reach out to local universities to educate them?' "

While the crowd of more than 300 shouted down panel members at several points, panel members grew frustrated that some in the community don't believe biological weapons won't be created at the lab. Panel chairman Adel Mahmoud of Princeton University reiterated that BU will not work on government classified projects there and that the development of biological weapons is unlawful.

The lab's purpose "is to reduce damage of biological threats, or better yet, prevent them," he said. "I really, really plead with you to try to appreciate the definition of the two, because if we continue the same six years of debate we are not going to get anywhere."

Still, some audience members questioned the panel's independence.

"We're not here to rubber-stamp anybody or any organization in this country," Mahmoud said. "We are here to be honest brokers to understand risk and help bridge gaps within the community involved in this process."

City Councilors Charles Yancey, Chuck Turner, Sam Yoon, and Michael Flaherty, who had met a few days earlier with a group of biolab opponents, also spoke out against the lab at the meeting. Flaherty called Boston's evacuation plans "a joke" and said a mere snowstorm can paralyze the city, let alone a biolab emergency. He questioned plans to deliver toxins to the lab via commercial services such as FedEx, and whether future federal funding for the lab would dry up given the economic climate.

In an interview after the meeting, Flaherty, who is rumored to be considering a mayoral run, said he had reversed positions on the lab in 2005 after watching New Orleans fail to evacuate after Hurricane Katrina.

Roughly 300 public and private meetings about the lab have taken place since 2003.

Some believe the opportunity to mend divisions has passed. "They didn't care what we thought, what our interests were in deciding," longtime activist Mel King said. "Now you're saying [the NIH] asked us to come before you with the same institutions that would not listen before. And you're saying [BU] is going to do the right thing now, and we're supposed to believe that?"

While some thought Tuesday's forum was more productive than previous ones, others feel neither side will convince the other.

"There's nobody neutral to make sure we get the proper information, correct information, not misguided information," Roxbury resident Donovan Walker said.

Others wonder what the community would do with information on the scientifically complex project, even if it was more consumable.

"We need more than information," Prasannan Parthasarathi of Newton said. "What are we going to do with this information? What if we object to it, what are we going to do about it? We have no power."

© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.

ROSLINDALE

Competing visions for idle T substation

Three developers submit proposals

By Justin A. Rice Globe Correspondent / October 19, 2008

Three Boston developers with different philosophies for redeveloping the former MBTA substation are competing to transform the fortress-like building that has loomed over Roslindale Square for four decades.

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On Oct. 7, the Boston Redevelopment Authority received proposals from Urbanica Design + Development, WaterMark Construction & Development Inc. and Diamond Sinacori, LLC. All three call for restaurants in the building at 4228 Washington St.

The dining room, however, is where the developers depart:

Urbanica's development manager, Kamran Zahedi, said his design would refurbish the building without breaking up the inside - a move that he said would save money on construction and increase the chance of earning credit from the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program. Zahedi would also leave the 30-foot crane inside the substation to retain authenticity.

WaterMark president Jeffrey Goodman would work with one of the owners of the South End's successful Beehive Restaurant & Lounge, Darryl Settles, to create a restaurant-lounge on the first and second floors with a seasonal roof deck offering views of Boston's skyline and the Blue Hills.

Merrill Diamond of Diamond Sinacori said he's taken the pulse of the neighborhood and determined there's a need for office space. Retail space and restaurant space with a sunken outdoor seating area would occupy the building's basement.

Built in 1911, the substation hasn't powered trolleys since the T stopped running streetcars in the city's southern sections in the late 1960s.

The building was entangled in a legal dispute between the T and a previous developer for the last few years that was ultimately decided by the Supreme Judicial Court. The BRA acquired the 6,291-square-foot building last June and issued a request for proposals in August seeking retail, office, community and cultural use for a site.

In addition to the uncertain real estate market, redevelopment of the substation presents challenges such as lack of parking. And while the pending preservation tax credits could offset the cost of restoring the building, they come with a stringent set of aesthetic restrictions.

"Not breaking the space into smaller spaces, that gives you a good chance to get the [historical] designation," said Zahedi, whose company recently converted historic police stations in the South End and Somerville, as well as a Belmont firehouse, into condo. "Dividing it into smaller units takes away the integrity of the landmark status.

Zahedi concluded that offices on the site aren't fiscally feasible in the current real estate market.

Diamond, however, spoke with Roslindale residents working from home who would like offices nearby. "There's a clear demand for office space," said Diamond, who gained a preservation tax credit for condos called The Waterworks at Chestnut Hill near Boston College. .

Diamond also said the community is looking for more foot traffic during the day rather than at night.

Goodman, however, pointed to Roslindale's new zoning code, which was cemented in June and allows for more live entertainment operating after 10:30 p.m.

"I reached out to Darryl because the Beehive is such an incredible, wonderful space and [the substation] has a lot of elements that could generate excitement, generate traffic and put a spring in people's step," Goodman said. "It would certainly extend traffic into the evening and night rather than everything rolling up at 9 o'clock."

But the traditionally sleepy community recently shot down the Birch Street Bistro's plans to offer live music on its patio on a regular basis. Goodman doesn't have plans for music on his roof deck, but he acknowledged he will likely face concerns about putting a night hotspot next to F.J. Higgins Funeral Home.

"The truth is it's a long road, we're one of three proposals," Goodman said. "The BRA doesn't have to accept any of them. If it becomes a couple steps more real, we'll sit down and try to talk about hopes for the space and restrictions for the space to make sure we're good neighbors."

All three proposals will be presented to the public during a Nov. 5 meeting at the Roslindale Community Center.

To Carter Wilkie, Roslindale Village Main Streets president, the project marks the neighborhood's coming of age. He noted that takeout joints were the only restaurants in Roslindale 10 years ago.

"It's sort of like a keystone getting dropped in by a mason; he gets the sides done and then drops in the largest piece at the end," Wilkie said of the substation's redevelopment. "And that's where we are with the business district. A lot of work has taken place over the last 23 years to build up the sides."

© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.

Whitman-Hanson dons pair of cross country crowns

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Tim Correira

Whitman-Hanson's Tyler Sullivan, Pat Egan and Pat Taft finish as Hingham's Drew Morrissey gives chase during the Panthers' victory on Tuesday.

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By Justin A. Rice

Enterprise correspondent

Posted Oct 21, 2008 @ 09:18 PM

Last update Oct 22, 2008 @ 07:10 AM

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When Livvy Kates first heard Whitman-Hanson would be rejoining the Patriot League after spending the past several decades in the Atlantic Coast League, she welcomed the South Shore juggernaut that won both boys and girls Eastern Mass. cross country titles last year.

“I was actually excited because I knew it would bring more competition,” the Hingham girls coach said on Tuesday before suffering her first loss of the season, 21-40, to Whitman-Hanson, conceding the league title for the first time in three seasons. “I knew it would be tough, but that’s OK.”

W-H’s boys cross country team (10-0) also won the Patriot League title against Hingham (9-2), avoiding a tie with Duxbury at the top of the charts and giving coach Kevin Black his 47th league championship during his 31-year tenure.

“We’re happy to be back in the league competing against our neighbors,” Black said after his boys' 19-41 victory over Hingham. “We renewed the rivalry. It was hard to have rivalries in the Atlantic Coast League. This is a natural rivalry.”

W-H seniors Pat Taft and Pat Egan and sophomore Tyler Sullivan crossed the finish line together with Taft (16 minutes 18 seconds) finishing one second faster than his teammates.

“We crossed as straight as we could,” Egan said. “[Sullivan’s] a sophomore and we’re seniors so that was pretty impressive

The league title wasn’t guaranteed, however, for the Panthers boys. Black gambled on Saturday by running and winning the 49th annual Catholic Memorial Invitational at Franklin Park in Boston. The short layoff, however, didn’t have an adverse effect.

“We’re all pretty confident doing what coach says,” Egan said. “We were warming up and said ‘Wow we feel fine even though we raced the other day.’”

Racing against the Panthers for the first time, Hingham’s No. 1 runner — senior Drew Morrissey — finished fourth overall in 16:22. He conceded he was worried when he heard W-H was rejoining the league and said they are as good as advertised.

“We ran the mile five (minutes) flat and then their top three just stayed together the whole way,” Morrissey said. “I was right there with them until the 21/2-mile mark. They got away from me and seemed to coast in. If I didn’t have them, I probably wouldn’t have pushed so hard in the second mile.”

Black thought it was Morrissey who did the pushing in the first mile.

“That was a blistering first mile,” Black said. “That was courtesy of Hingham. They really pushed the pace.”

Even though a short rain storm set in just as the boys were coming in and the girls were heading out, Hingham senior Shauna McNiff still managed to tie the course record of 18:54, which had been set the previous week by Heather Connick of Pembroke.

“They are really talented, their top girls came in under 20 (minutes) and that says a lot about their program,” McNiff said before also admitting she was nervous about W-H. “I always heard of them and they are always in the paper. It’s always good to have competition because if you don’t have competition, you come to a standstill as a runner.”

The Panthers’ top girl on Tuesday, Emily Regan (19:42), likes the idea of being respected.

“It’s good to be part of a team everybody knows about,” said Regan, who had a hard time navigating the rain-soaked course. “At the beginning it was hard to see, but it slowly stopped and I got used to it.”

The next three runners to finish behind Regan wore Panther black — Caitlin Ryan (19:49), Kelci Sullivan (19:51) and Kaley Mientkiewicz (19:52). The league championship was W-H’s girls second in a row.

“We knew that McNiff would probably break the course record and we expected to go two, three, four and five, which is an automatic win, and that’s what we did,” W-H coach Keith Erwin said.

The two teams will meet again on Tuesday in the Patriot League meet at Silver Lake. They will run separately in the Eastern Mass. meet on Nov. 8 at Franklin Park, as Hingham is in Division 3 and the Panthers are Division 2.

Kates didn’t discount their chances to exact revenge in the league meet next Tuesday.

“We’ll see,” she said. “Anything is possible with a bigger meet and invitational scoring and more runners displacing (each other).”

During upheaval, soccer was his constant

By Justin A. Rice Globe Correspondent / October 5, 2008

After being separated from his younger brothers for eight years, Vladimir Greenfield knew only enough English to say, "Hi, how are you" when they were reunited two years ago.

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"I didn't say anything," 18-year-old Vladimir said recently. "I hugged them."

The three boys from Russia have been adopted by David and Nancy Greenfield of Pembroke. Their home on Silver Lake - with six rocking chairs on the porch and two minivans and an adjustable basketball hoop in the drive - is a far cry from the flat in the city of Kransnodar that Vladimir had been sharing with three other boys.

Socialized by soccer, the senior forward at Pembroke High School today blends in with his teammates, and not just because they're sporting mo hawks this season. But the Russian youth separates himself from others with finesse, speed, endurance, and goals.

Through eight games, Vladimir led the team with seven goals, even though his father says he plays "European, pass-the-ball-first soccer, not American, look-at-me soccer." He scored seven goals his first season as a sophomore and eight the following season before the team lost in the South Sectional finals to East Bridgewater.

"You don't have to talk to the kids to play the game," said Vladimir, who hopes to play Division 2 soccer while studying international business in college. "I knew some words: forward, soccer, the positions. I knew numbers. Formations, like 4-4-2."

He could handle numbers off the field, too. Except for geometry, in which he got an A, Vladimir took all his classes pass/fail two years ago. He slowly grasped English with the help of teammates and now carries a 2.8 GPA.

"It made what could've been a horrible arrival and transition easy," Nancy Greenfield said of soccer.

Pembroke coach George Stagno is amazed the teen doesn't act out. Stagno, who spent 28 years as an Air Force intelligence officer during the Cold War, knows just how rough a region Vlad comes from.

"The soccer field is where he expresses himself," Stagno said. "He's always positive and all that pent-up stuff is why he shines. . . . I don't think he has much of an outlet. There's a language barrier, number one, and he only has a couple friends."

"He could be more physical, more unsportsmanlike to get stuff out of his system. He's not. He puts it in the back of the net and that's his way of doing it."

One of nine children, Vladimir and his siblings were abandoned by their parents when the Russian economy collapsed in the late 1990s and they were dispersed among several orphanages.

Meanwhile, Nancy and David Greenfield married in 1995 and lived in Portland, Maine, before moving to Pembroke in 2001. Nancy wanted to adopt internationally, and David, whose great-grandfather was born in southern Russia, wanted to bring his family's lineage full circle. In 1998, the couple adopted Andrei and Ivan, now 13 and 14.

But they didn't learn of the other siblings until they had gained custody of the boys. "It was awful. The thought that there were other kids never crossed my mind," Nancy said.

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Over the next seven years, the Greenfields batted around the idea of looking for the brothers and sisters. "At some point, Andrei did say, 'I fear that one day I'm gonna ask why didn't they try to get my brothers and sisters' when we could," David said.

During that span, the boys' oldest brother, Pasha, stayed with the Greenfields for a summer while chaperoning a youth trip in 2000.

"We didn't want to send him back," Nancy said. "We asked if he wanted to come live here, and he said 'Yes, but not until my brother and sisters are OK.' "

By the time the Greenfields were able to make arrangements six years later, Pasha was too old to adopt and one sister was married. Vladimir had been enrolled in school to become a physical education teacher, but the decision to move to America was his to make alone.

Deliberating for a month, Vladimir decided that the freedoms and friendships he enjoyed while living on his own in Russia paled compared to the Greenfields' offer.

"I couldn't see myself being a gym teacher for my life," Vladimir said. "I thought 'What can I lose?' I wouldn't make it in Russia."

That he would be joining his younger brothers didn't make leaving Pasha any easier.

"I didn't really know them," Vladimir said. "But I knew Pasha well, so it was harder."

The adoption process required the Greenfields to make two trips to visit Vladimir, six weeks apart, before they could bring him home. During the second trip, their 28-day visas nearly expired while they waited for the adoption papers to be processed, but it gave the family a chance to bond and Andrei and Ivan a chance to see what their lives would have been like if they had stayed. The image of two teenagers playing pool and smoking cigarettes in the orphanage was branded into Andrei's mind.

"I wondered if I grew up there, if I'd be like that," the 13-year-old said. "I like to think of myself as Russian. I don't think we would have any connection if Vlad didn't come."

Vladimir spent his first month in the United States watching World Cup soccer while his new family clung to their Russian dictionaries. David subscribed to the Fox Soccer Channel and signed Vladimir up with a club team.

While nobody on the Pembroke team matches his passion for the sport, Vladimir said playing for the school has improved his game. The team plays every day, compared with two training sessions per week with his Russian team.

Away from the field, the transplanted teenager continues the process of assimilation.

He has decorated his bedroom with posters of soccer stars such as David Beckham, Ronaldinho, and Zeidan, along with his own awards, team photos, and a Russian flag over his bed.

He worked at Stop & Shop, once spent half his monthly allowance ($100) on samurai swords purchased on eBay, and says mowing the lawn is his least favorite chore.

"That's a big lawn," he said.

Taking stock of his life while relaxing in front of the TV or surfing the Web, Vladimir realizes life would be much different without soccer.

"Oh, my god," he says, displaying a mastery of the teen lexicon. "I don't know what I would do; I don't see myself without soccer. Everything would be harder."

© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.

Globe North Sports

Tanners, minus cocaptain, still hot

Manoogian sisters miss final season together

Peabody coach Dennis Desroches speaks to his soccer team, which has been beset with injuries, at practice last week. (Photos by Lisa Poole for the Boston Globe)

By Justin A. Rice Globe Correspondent / October 5, 2008

Choking back tears, Alyssa Manoogian only had to make eye contact with her little sister, Emily for her to know they wouldn't have one more soccer season together at Peabody High School. The elder Manoogian, who tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee during a basketball game this past summer, had just received the doctor's verdict when she drove herself to the practice field to break the news to her sister and the rest of her teammates.

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"She immediately came over to my car," said Alyssa Manoogian, the MVP of the Northeastern Conference last season, who will play at Colgate next fall. "[Emily] just knew. I tried to hide it but she knows. She knows by the look in my eye when something's not right. Being my sister, that's the way it is. She was strong at first; she hugged me and said 'It's OK, it's not the end of the world.' . . . She wanted to be strong because I was a mess."

Two years apart, the sisters only had last season together on the field and they were looking forward to one more before big sis went off to college.

"I thought we were going to play two seasons together," Emily said. "I was wicked excited. Our last game, we didn't even think it would be the last so it stinks. I would give anything to be out there with her."

Luckily, Peabody was far from a one-player show. Featuring the top three scorers in the league last year, the Tanners went 18-2 before losing to Winchester in the second round of the state tournament. Erika Digiacomo, a junior last year, had 28 goals and 20 assists while Alyssa Manoogian had 22 goals and 24 assists. As a freshman, Emily Manoogian added 17 goals and 12 assists.

This season they are doing well without their midfield leader and cocaptain. Through nine games, Digiacomo has netted 9 goals and 11 assists for Peabody (7-2) while Emily Manoogian has 12 goals and 5 assists, playing her sister's old position.

"She plays midfield on her club team so she wasn't out of position," Alyssa Manoogian said of her sister, who played forward last season. "It's definitely an adjustment but she's not struggling."

The Tanners have endured other injuries as well this season. Sophomore sweeper Angie Ellison went down after the second game with a stress fracture in her foot and another captain, senior Caitlyn Tinkham, just returned this past week from an injury.

"Just like any other team, we have injuries," Peabody coach Dennis Desroches said. "I guess it's our turn now. It just seems like injuries hit our impact players."

Desroches does look at the sunny side, saying that losing his star athlete has allowed him to put a down payment on the future rather than relying on one player.

"These other players are getting time on the field, that experience of knowing they have to perform and produce," he said, adding that Manoogian left a void that can't be filled.

"She could score, but what made her extremely successful on the field was that she had awesome field vision and was able to distribute that ball. Above that, her tenacity on the field, her almost refusal to lose, and her unwillingness to fail can't be replaced."

Alyssa said she is enjoying her role as coach and cheerleader but said it's easier done than said when it comes to telling her teammates what to do on the field.

"It's harder from the sidelines not to physically be able to do it, but I know they respect what I have to say so it makes it easier," she said.

Her sister added: "I know she might be telling me to shoot the ball early, and I might be mad at the time, but I know she's right."

Recently Alyssa hasn't spent as much time with the team - she underwent surgery less than two weeks ago. Once she starts rehabilitation, she will not be able to be around the team as much either.

When Alyssa is there to watch games, Emily sometimes feels guilty playing the game her big sister can't.

"I try to make the most of it and play as hard as I can," Emily said, "because I know she would give anything to be out there."

Pru advisory panel vows openness

An artist's rendering of the new plaza at street level in front of the proposed 242-foot office building at 888 Boylston St. (CBT Architects)

By Justin A. Rice Globe Correspondent / October 5, 2008

As the fight over the height of two new towers continues, the embattled advisory board charged with overseeing Prudential Center expansions since 1988 is bowing to community pressure to be more transparent.

To the chagrin of many Back Bay residents, the Prudential Project Advisory Committee, or PruPAC, is poised to allow the towers at the already mammoth complex to exceed the 155-foot limit under current zoning.

But at a Sept. 25 meeting of PruPAC's subcommittee on community benefits, the group showed signs of a new openness. Democratic state Representative Marty Walz of Back Bay, a member of PruPAC for almost two years, called the subcommittee together to clarify how PruPAC doles out community benefits payments pledged by developers.

As with past Prudential Center developments, community benefits for the proposed 242-foot office building at 888 Boylston St. and a proposed 27-story residential tower on Exeter Street would be allocated to neighborhood organizations that PruPAC approves. PruPAC also recommends Pru projects for Boston Redevelopment Authority approval.

"In the past, PruPAC did not meet in public and does now, and that is a good thing in my view," said Walz, who was unable to attend the Sept. 25 meeting. "So it is a step in the right direction."

Walz said PruPAC members affiliated with an applicant for funds should disclose those connections in the future.

Disclosure is a sticking point for longtime Back Bay resident and neighborhood activist Shirley Kressel, who is trained as a landscape architect. At the Sept. 25 meeting she argued that money is motivating PruPAC's inclination to sign off on the taller towers.

"The more square feet that's approved, the more money you get," Kressel said, referring to the fact that PruPAC would control $1.25 in community benefits per square foot. "That's an incentive to approve it."

Boston Properties pledged a combined $471,999 in community benefits when the two towers were first proposed in 1990. That money remains on the table, although PruPAC members said they will eventually ask for an inflation adjustment. Then, PruPAC would accept grant applications from community groups.

In the interest of transparency, PruPAC members agreed to hold off on funding decisions.

"The initial consensus is we shouldn't have a meeting until after PruPAC puts in recommendations so it doesn't look like we're being bought off," PruPAC president Betsy Johnson said at the meeting.

Johnson pointed out the current conflict of interest of board vice president, Elliott Laffer, who was not at the meeting. Laffer is executive director of the Boston Ground Water Trust, which was allotted $50,000 in community benefits for the first four phases of Prudential construction. However, he was not employed by the city at that time.

Johnson also said the South End Land Trust, for which she volunteers, received $100,000 last time around, but said another PruPAC member nominated the group for funding.

On Sept. 25, Johnson suggested she'd be willing to forgo future money donated to the Land Trust, but during a phone interview the next day she was disappointed by the lack of trust in PruPAC.

"It's harming a neighborhood and 600 other people for what seems to be pettiness," she said.

In 1989, PruPAC handled $1,384,000 in community benefits tied to the complex's shopping arcade, the Prudential tower, the Belvedere apartments, Shaw's Supermarket, and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, which opens this week.

Responding to Kressel's claim that money is motivating PruPAC's support of height increases, both Johnson and BRA senior project manager John O'Brien said they made developers come down from 265 feet to 242 feet on the 888 Boylston building to minimize shadows.

"Your argument that the bigger the better, it's not true, it's not true," O'Brien told Kressel on Sept. 25. "We got it down in size."

Walz is also opposed to building above 155 feet, which Johnson says is allowed because the two towers are designated Special Project Development Areas. A similar exemption was given to the Mandarin hotel in 2002, according to Kressel, allowing it to increase in height from 120 feet to 150.

Johnson said she understands that neighbors who helped hash out the original Back Bay zoning code don't like the idea of overhauling it, but she said there's a bigger picture to consider in terms of discouraging sprawl.

"It's five stories on the back side of the Pru within a corridor of Back Bay's tallest buildings," Johnson said.

About 20 residents expressed their disapproval of the project during a BRA meeting at the Boston Public Library on Sept. 23. The BRA said the public comment period would end Oct. 31. Johnson, however, said PruPAC's vote was likely to come the week of Oct. 13 or 27.

© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.

Williams captures first win in historic

first night game at home

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AMELIA KUNHARDT/The Patriot Ledger

Norwell’s Forrest Detwiler (22) celebrates after he catches a long pass for a touchdown, giving the visiting Clippers a 6-0 lead in the first quarter.

By Justin A. Rice

For The Patriot Ledger

Posted Oct 03, 2008 @ 10:35 PM

Last update Oct 03, 2008 @ 11:19 PM

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BRAINTREE — Friday night was an evening of firsts at Memorial Field.

On the first Friday night football game under the lights at home in Archbishop Williams school history, the Bishops (1-4) also collected their first win of the season in an 18-16 thriller against Norwell that came down to Nick Querzoli’s game-saving blocked field goal with 19.2 seconds left in the game.

“I came off the end, I jumped the snap and blocked that thing,” the senior captain said.

Trailing 18-6 with 5:10 left in the third, Norwell senior running back Jamie Waters brought it down to the 7 with a 25-yard run before junior running back AJ DeBenedictis scored on a two-yard run. That touchdown cut the score to 18-14 with 2:17 left in the quarter after DeBenedictis also added the two-point conversion.

Norwell got within two with 10:01 left in the game. After pinning the Bishops at the 12, a long snap sailed over the head of Dan Varasso and out of the back of the end zone for a safety. Then Norwell seemed poised to score the game winner before DeBenedictis fumbled at the 15 to the Bishops’ Tim O’Brien. Two plays later, Williams fumbled the ball back to Dan Regan at the 22 with 5:45 to play.

The Bishops put in a goal-line stand after sophomore Sean Provenzano sacked senior quarterback Mike Lodigiani on fourth down at the 15-yard line. Then Provenzano ripped a 40-yard run that still didn’t clinch the game for the Bishops.

After Norwell regained possession, Lodigiani, who finished with 123 passing yards, completed four huge passes that set up the winning 25-yard field goal attempt. Norwell senior Marshall Haskins, who was kicking the first field goal of his career in place of injured Christian McInnis, was blocked by Querzoli.

“We like to keep them close,” Williams coach Bill Kinsherf said. “You couldn’t ask for a better end to a great night. The crowd was great, the lights were awesome, and the field was awesome.

Besides two huge sacks in the final quarter, Provenzano ran for 105 yards and one touchdown.

He was joined in the backfield by another sophomore, Alex Furtado, who ripped Norwell for 155 yards on 18 carries, including a 79-yard touchdown.

BC High remains unbeaten

BC High remains unbeaten after tie with defending state champions

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LISA BUL/The Patriot Ledger

BC High's Robbie Bergquist gets a congrats from teammate Ryan Wallace for a goal in the first half against St. John's of Shrewsbury.

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By Justin A. Rice

For The Patriot Ledger

Posted Oct 03, 2008 @ 12:33 AM

Last update Oct 03, 2008 @ 12:37 AM

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BOSTON — Not long after he was told he’d be starting his first ever varsity soccer game in goal for Boston College High School against defending Div. 1 state champ St. John’s of Shrewsbury on Thursday afternoon, Zach Gregoricus was doing drills with senior keeper Joe Travers, who suffered a concussion against Medford on Monday.

“I was really nervous the whole school day because they are the state champs,” Gregoricus said after allowing the equalizer in the second half of a 1-1 tie at Viola Stadium.

“We let down for a little bit at the start of the second half and they got it in. It’s just hard coming out on your first game playing against the state champions and having them coming right down your throat.”

Both teams remain unbeaten this season, with BC High going to 5-0-3 and the Pioneers moving to 8-0-3.

Travers, a Medford native who caught an elbow to the head against his hometown high school Monday, was running the scoreboard in the press box when his understudy allowed the tying goal in the 18th minute of the second half off Tyler Uppstrom’s header.

“It’s a tough play,” Travers said. “I don’t think he was sure if he should come out on that. He kind of hesitated but it wasn’t really his fault.”

It just so happened the drills Travers was working on with Gregoricus before the game were to help him figure out when to come off his goal line and when to stay home. A few minutes after the goal, Uppstrom came charging at goal again on a breakaway. This time, Gregoricus came out of the net and grabbed the ball before Uppstrom could shoot.

“That’s one of the things I’ve been working on, not hesitating,” said Gregoricus, who finished the day with four saves. “(Their goal is) just one of those things you learn from. I got real pumped up and told myself, ‘I’m gonna save the ball’ and I came out and got it.”

St. John’s goalkeeper Mark Kotsopoulos was unable to stop junior Robbie Bergquist’s shot in the 26th minute of the first half.

“I just scrambled in front of the ball, it popped over and I one hit and put it in the left corner,” the Norwell native said of his third goal of the season.

The assist came from Adam Cherubini, a junior forward from Weymouth. A minute before stoppage time began in the second half, however, Cherubini’s own header was saved by a diving Kotsopoulos.

“That was a good save,” said Cherubini, who leads BC with six goals. “I’ll give it to the goalie. He’s a great goalie. I didn’t see him. We just should’ve finished the ones we had earlier in the game.”

Despite the Eagles missed opportunities, BC coach Billy Ryan was pleased with the performance, given that his starting keeper is at least out for Saturday’s game against Hingham.

“It’s a good result, our kids played hard,” he said. “They are the defending state champs and undefeated. We kind of had a mental lapse when they scored, but I’m still proud of the result.

“(Gregoricus) did not have any outstanding saves but he played a steady game. He only knew he was starting right before kickoff. For his first varsity game he did outstanding.”