Thursday, May 28, 2009



Globe South Sports

Stadium draw

helps SCORES

Organizers of the SCORES Cup have Gillette Stadium for the tournament's backdrop.

Organizers of the SCORES Cup have Gillette Stadium for the tournament's backdrop. (Justin Rice for The Boston Globe)

By Justin A. Rice
Globe Correspondent / May 28, 2009

FOXBOROUGH - Limping through the concourse at Gillette Stadium before a recent New England Revolution game, hobbling on opposite legs and looking like they were tied together for a three-legged race, David and Nicole Chang slowly headed for their seats.

Hobbled by ankle injuries - David was hurt in a recreation league game, Nicole on the family trampoline - the Norwood couple was uncertain if they would be able to play in Saturday's fifth annual SCORES Cup on the very pitch where the Revs were about to take on the Colorado Rapids.

Saturday's all-day corporate challenge at Gillette is the number one fund-raiser for America SCORES New England, an after-school soccer/creative writing program serving third- through eighth-graders in 24 Boston public schools.

"It's special for everyone who loves to compete," said David Chang, a participant in the first SCORES Cup before becoming a board member and organizer. "To think we get to play in this stadium where we watch the pro teams."

This year's tournament will feature 16 teams playing 7-on-7 round-robin games from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Three fields will be set up across the width of the field, and the practice facility behind the stadium will also be used. Winners will be honored at halftime of Saturday's Revolution-D.C. United game.

The draw to play at Gillette Stadium, at $5,000 per team, was so popular last year that the tournament netted $95,000, a large jump from the $63,000 raised the previous year at Tufts University.

Craig Tornberg, vice president of business development for the Revolution, said the $5,000 fee is a good deal, considering the stadium charges $10,000 to hold a clinic on the Gillette turf.

"So to have the opportunity to play here for $5,000, knowing it is going to a good cause, and doing it in a $350 million stadium; when do you have the chance to do that in a lifetime?" said Tornberg, also a board member at SCORES the last two years.

In the struggling economy, eight corporations that fielded teams a year ago did not reenter, including defending champion Reebok. But the downtown Boston financial firm Chang works for added a second team.

"People just want to come to Gillette," said Chang, joking that his company was even forced to make cuts.

And once their cleats meet the field turf, competition is fierce, even if 90 percent of the 68,756-seat stadium is empty.

Tornberg said he was expecting the level of play to equal that of a Sunday beer league.

"Then I came out and watched the competition, it was amazing," he said. "I'm not sure if it improved because they were in Gillette, but competition was intense. It was amazing to watch."

The pool of players included a few former members of the Brazilian league and two Revolution alums (Greg Lalas and Kevin Wiley).

"We're safe; nobody we saw was necessarily ready for prime time," Tornberg said.

But they do take the competition seriously.

"This is for fun, but at the same time I don't think any of us step on the soccer field to play for fun," said David Chang, who played at Brookline High. "Last year was the best competition in [the tournament's] four years."

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Globe South Sports

She's got her

groove back

After Celiac diagnosis,

teen regaining strength





By Justin A. Rice
Globe Correspondent / May 14, 2009

SOMERVILLE - Her pre-meet meal was not "the breakfast of champions." Instead, unhappily, Melanie Frazier chewed on a little gluten-free cereal prior to Saturday's Massachusetts State Track Coaches Association Invitational at Dilboy Stadium.

"It was very bad, it tastes like cardboard," said the Bridgewater-Raynham Regional senior, who was recently diagnosed with Celiac disease, a digestive disorder that damages the small intestine and interferes with the absorption of nutrients from food. Those with the disease can not tolerate wheat, rye, and barley.

"I don't think that I'll ever eat that again."

Well, maybe just a few bites.

Frazier went out and set a school record in the long jump, her 18-foot, 7-inch leap outdistancing the field at Dilboy Stadium. She also placed third in the 100 meters in a time of 12.56 seconds, qualifying for the Division 1 state meet in both events.

It marked a return to form for one of the state's top athletes, who had struggled with her endurance for months until her condition was finally properly diagnosed two weeks ago. "I didn't want to feel terrible through this whole season - this is my last season," said Frazier, who won the long jump at the Division 1 state meet last spring and finished second in the 100. "I wanted to do well. It's just good to know what it is before I go to the state meet."

Frazier started to feel lousy three months ago: She couldn't hold down food, she felt lethargic, and her weight was down about seven or eight pounds.

Cynthia Frazier originally thought her daughter was suffering from the stress of senior year and picking a college. But she didn't feel better after accepting a partial track scholarship to the University of New Hampshire. "Once all that was set and it continued, we finally went to a doctor and said this needs to be looked at," said her mother.

Frazier said her pediatrician referred her to a gastrointestinal specialist, who suspected anything from lactose intolerance to Crohn's disease.

The 5-foot-4-inch Frazier still managed to leap 17-4 and win the Division 1 indoor title this past winter while finishing second in the 55-meter dash in 7.37. Her coach, Paul Urban, remained in the dark throughout most of the winter and the beginning of the spring. "As a coach I could tell something definitely was not right," Urban said.

"I could just see she was lethargic in her workouts. She was not looking like the same old Mel. Being the competitor she is, she continued to fight through it. I think we got it together. Just eating gluten-free, she's been able to hold it down. . . . It's a few weeks from [the state meet], when it really matters, and she's only going to get stronger."

A few weeks ago, a blood test revealed Frazier was missing an enzyme that helps break down whey and wheat, one people with Celiac disease usually don't have. She eliminated gluten from her diet and noticed an immediate difference. But being an athlete previously fueled by carbohydrates, adjusting to a new diet has not been easy, especially when she can't just unwrap a granola bar for a quick snack. "It's only been two weeks," she said of eating mostly organic foods, including lots of salad, chicken, steak, fish, and vegetables. "I do wish I could have peanut butter and jelly."

But more than anything, she's relieved.

"I knew I would figure something out eventually," she said. "There was nothing I could really do. I can't get mad at myself because it was not my fault. I was upset I was jumping so terribly and I didn't run my best. I knew things would come around eventually. I knew I wasn't going to be sick the rest of the season. If I was, that would stink, but I just kind of thought positive about it.

But her faith was being tested as late as last week. During a dual meet, she ran the 100-meter dash in 12.8 and long jumped 15-10.

"My goal was always to jump 18 [feet], I always wanted to do that," Frazier said. "My sister graduated from Syracuse yesterday [Friday] and I didn't go so I could do well [at the meet]. My mom told me, 'If you don't do well, your sister is going to be really mad at you for not being there.' "I had that in the back of my head. I wanted to get a good seed time [at states] and . . . be stress-free about that."

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Furtado lifts Taunton

to softball victory

over Durfee


ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT
Posted May 08, 2009 @ 10:08 PM

TAUNTON — Warming up in the circle before the top of the seventh inning on Friday night at Taunton High, junior Colleen Kirby’s pitch bounced off home plate and stung her catcher, Jess Furtado, in the right thumb.

Tied 1-1 with Durfee High, the Tigers (11-2) managed to retire the side in the seventh even though Kirby walked the first batter and the next batter’s sacrifice bunt moved the runner to second. But Furtado’s parents fretted behind the backstop the entire half inning as their daughter licked her wound between every pitch.

“I guess her thumb didn’t hurt after all,” one observer quipped after Furtado drove in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh to pocket the 2-1 victory.

“She jammed it on a pitch but I block out pain in big situations, I guess,” Furtado said after her shot to the left-center gap scored senior Jess Moitoza from first base. “I’m a patient hitter. I wait for my pitch and when I see it I try to not to miss it and that’s what I did on that one.

“Jess is the fastest girl on our team. I had no worries.”

Kirby couldn’t say she had no worries when Furtado came to the plate; the pitcher never thought her catcher would be the one bailing the team out of a jam after she jammed Furtado’s thumb.

“I felt like the biggest jerk,” said Kirby (11-1), who struck out four, walked three and allowed two hits. “I was standing next to one of our coaches saying she’s not going to be able to grip the bat. I felt so bad. But she pulled through.”

The winning RBI also prevented Taunton, which plays Franklin at 5 p.m. today, from taking the field in extra innings.

“Not having to go out and pitch another inning, it’s ideal to say the least,” Kirby said.

Taunton’s play was scratchy, to say the least, in the opening inning as Durfee’s second runner (Caitlin Carey) reached base on an error before Kirby walked the third batter (Guilia Khoury) and gave up an RBI single to the fourth (Hilary Cabral).

“I just buckled down and focused,” Kirby said of getting back on track after the first inning. “My defense helped out a lot, too. We pulled through hitting. We were knocking on the door and once we started putting it in the holes it started to generate runs. We started getting runners on base.”

Once they rapped the door with their knuckles by getting two hit in the fourth inning after only putting the ball in play one time to that point, the Tigers couldn’t score. With runners on second and third with no outs, senior Jasmyn McCone was called out after her squeeze bunt hit her after it hit the ground. The next two batters were struck out by Khoury, who fanned four batters on the night for Durfee.

“It was a perfect bunt, it was just bad luck,” Taunton assistant coach Heather Sargent said. “We just kept chipping away at it.”

Taunton’s luck more than changed the rest of the way as Caitlyn Walsh’s RBI single in the fifth inning tied the game by bringing Moitoza home.

“It was exciting right to the end,” Sargent said. “Those are the people we want up in that situation. We got kind of lucky getting them up in that situation. They did what they can do. Those are our big hitters and they did their job.”

Nobody came up bigger than Furtado.

“She’s a strong kid, nothing bothers her,” Sargent said. “If she had a broken ankle she’d be playing, too.”

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Hingham star

snags record

Gorman leads on lacrosse team

(Above), Hingham's Shannon Delaney (21) watches her shot get by Quincy's Vanessa Hodgdon (14) at Monday's game. (Left), Hingham's Mary Kate Gorman (6) gets by Quincy's Sarah Ahola (13).
(Above), Hingham's Shannon Delaney (21) watches her shot get by Quincy's Vanessa Hodgdon (14) at Monday's game. (Left), Hingham's Mary Kate Gorman (6) gets by Quincy's Sarah Ahola (13). (Photos By Robert E. Klein for The Boston Globe)

By Justin A. Rice
Globe Correspondent / May 7, 2009


Nobody handed Jenifer Larose a record book when she took over the Hingham High girls lacrosse program three years ago.

So when the 27-year-old coach's star player, Mary Kate Gorman, scored five goals against Hanover in a 17-2 victory April 30, everyone involved assumed the senior center must have climbed atop the Harborwomen's charts for most career points with 304.

But as news of Gorman's achievement's proliferated, the Hingham athletics department received a phone call from the family of Cristi Gigon, whose 311 points from 1992 to 1996 made her the program's career points leader.

"It was just good for us to know who the record-holder was," Larose said of finding out that Gorman still needed seven points to eclipse the record. "Nothing is handed down from one coach to another with all the records."

If Larose chooses to pass records on to her eventual successor, Gorman will most likely be the first name in the book.

On Monday, the senior tri-captain recorded exactly enough points in a 19-5 win against Quincy High School to break the record, which fell after Gorman's final goal of the game. Play was stopped for the second straight game as Gorman's teammates mobbed her with congratulations.

Gorman said the first celebration wasn't a false start.

"That was just celebrating 300 points in general, there wasn't really any certainty about what the record was," Gorman said before describing the second celebration. "It was really a special moment. The whole team got really excited and ran onto the field. Their team was really classy, they were clapping for me as my team ran out.

"It's a moment I'm always going to remember, the highlight of my career."

After Gorman took a pass from Danielle McNiff, her 230th career goal and 312th point came off a left-handed shot. Leading her team in scoring the last three seasons, Gorman also has 82 career assists, one more than Gigon had.

"That means a lot to me honestly," Gorman said. "I would much rather have an assist than a goal. That shows that we're working together as a team. Any one player can score a goal, but an assist shows you're working that much harder to help another player out."

But that is a mind-set Gorman had to consciously work toward since joining the varsity squad as a freshman. After taking over the program when Gorman was a sophomore, Larose noticed teams were beginning to faceguard Gorman because they caught on that she was looking to score rather than pass.

"Definitely, early in my career I was looking for goals, that instant gratification," Gorman admitted. "As I matured and my game matured, I can recognize it's more important to help out teammates than get the glory by myself. The glory is great, I love the attention, but I want it to be spread out because everyone else works as hard as I do."

Beyond Gorman's achievements on the field, this season for the Harborwomen (10-2) is also highlighted by Larose's long relationship with the seniors. The team's other two captains, Laura McKenzi and Lindsey McLoud, were in Larose's eighth-grade history class four years ago at Hingham Middle School.

Gorman wasn't one of Larose's students in middle school, but the history teacher did work with her on a National History Day project. Gorman dressed up as Abraham Lincoln for the assignment.

"She's always been a very dedicated student," Larose said of Gorman, who will be a pre-med major and play lacrosse at Tufts University.

The relationship between coach and players prompted Larose to plan a team spring break trip a few weeks ago to Orlando, where Hingham beat Masconomet Regional High at the Disney Wide World of Sports complex twice.

"One reason I set up the trip back in October is because I knew this group of girls so well," Larose said. "I knew they are not only a unique talent on the field but a great group of girls off it. I have lots of trust in them and expectations for what the season could hold and I wanted to do something special."

Larose, who played lacrosse for Duxbury High and Siena College before taking her first head coaching job in 2005 at Scituate High, is still looking to bring home Hingham's first state championship since 2001.

Last season the Harborwomen finished the season 13-5 after being eliminated in the first round of the Division 2 South sectional. The 14-13 loss to Norwell, which went on to win the sectional before losing to Winchester in the state final, came after Gorman appeared to score a goal as time expired. But the refs ruled the goal no good.

"We definitely think about it," Gorman said. "We don't want to feel that again. That disappointment is definitely a motivating factor for this year. We just need to believe in each other and have confidence and know we can do it because this is definitely our year."

Monday, May 4, 2009

Springfield native Ron Brace

hopes to have the Patriots

as his family and Foxboro as home

by The Republican Sports Desk
Sunday May 03, 2009, 6:01 PM

By JUSTIN RICE

FOXBORO - Born and bred in Massachusetts, Ron Brace has played football in several area codes across the state; first in 508, then in 617 and now once again in 508.

If there was ever doubt, however, about which one of those three-digit combos the former Worcester Burncoat High School and Boston College defensive lineman calls home, that's because one of the newest New England Patriots never played football in the area code closest to his heart and tattooed on his back.

"That was just a hometown deal, that's all it really was," Brace said of the large tattoo on his back featuring the digits 4-1-3 inside a silhouette of Massachusetts that he got about two months before being picked 40th overall in last weekends NFL draft.

The Springfield native didn't start playing football until after moving to Worcester during junior high to live with his father. But Brace's hometown hero status was solidified after the Patriots traded second-, fourth- and sixth-round picks to Oakland before selecting the 6-foot-3, 330-pounder.

Nevertheless, playing for the team he grew up cheering for has its perks and its pitfalls.

"I gotta get off Facebook and change my number," Brace said after his first practice during New England's rookie minicamp Friday morning on the Gillette Stadium practice field. "I got people calling me who I didn't even know had my number."

A tribute page on Facebook, the social networking Web site, was created after Brace was drafted, and already has 291 members and two pages worth of well-wishers, including one former classmate who at 11:33 p.m. on April 28 wrote, "I'll be watching for u on TV . . . I can't wait to watch u sack Peyton (Manning) . . . oh btw, can I borrow 5 bucks?"

Patriots coach Bill Belichick said the added pressure that comes along with playing so close to home, doesn't compare to the pressure players place on themselves.

"I don't know if it really matters where they come from, if they come from Alaska, Boston or Texas," Belichick said. "They have their own expectations, but I think it is a positive that he's been around here. He has some familiarity with the area. It makes the relocation a lot easier. All the normal things that any of us would have to do in relocation, hopefully that is an easier adjustment for him.

"Defensively, he's been in a good system. (BC) had a lot of success there. They had good competition last year with (B.J.) Raji, the other tackle. I saw good competition in the ACC. It's going to be a big transition to the NFL, that goes without saying. But in relative terms, he's had about as good preparation for it as anybody else has had at Division I football. I think being closer, being around here, that it helps with the relocation process," Belichick said.

But while the Eagles ran several pro style defenses under former BC coach Jeff Jagodzinski, who has spent the majority of his career coaching in the pro ranks, none of those schemes are nearly as complex as the single 3-4 system New England uses.

The BC defensive tackle, who will most likely backup Vince Wilfork at nose tackle, will also have to learn how to line up over the center and attack two gaps in the offensive line at once rather than just focusing on one like he did at BC.

On Friday, Brace answered nearly all of the media's questions by talking about how important it was to keep his nose in the playbook and butt in the video room, pushing as much football knowledge between his ears as he can in the shortest amount of time possible.

"College football and the NFL are two different things," Brace said. "In college, you can stick out by being the most talented, but when it comes to here everybody is the most talented, and the difference-maker in the person who puts in the most work."

Raji, a first-round draft pick, is also making the transition to the 3-4 defense with the Green Bay Packers. Raji was taken ninth overall despite a report on Sports Illustrated.com that he tested positive for an illegal substance, a story that was later retracted.

Brace distanced himself from his former roommate, saying he hasn't talked to him on the phone at all recently. But Brace did say he does feel bad that Raji has had to endure so much before he ever even put on an NFL uniform.

"He's been my friend for the last five, six years, so there's no way I couldn't have feelings for him," Brace said. "I mean that's my friend. But at the same time right now we're all at our jobs, and you can't call each other during work."

Brace hasn't just limited contact with his former teammates, he's also given up the homemade donuts he used to make for his BC friends last summer before training camp started. Brace learned the recipe from Jackie Hernandez, who rents a room at Brace's childhood home on Clifton Street in Springfield, where Brace lived with his grandparents before moving to Worcester.

"I'm not even looking at oil," Brace said. "I'm just looking at my playbook."

Friday, May 1, 2009



Three-way star

earns notice


BC High's Kiley is a Face in the Crowd



Bill Kiley started on three state Division 1 championship squads for Boston College High School. This year, he's batting .333 as the team's first baseman; in 2007, he along with goalie Joe Cannata (30) and Mike Vasilchuk (22) celebrated the team's victory in the Super 8 championship; last fall, he fired a pass against Taunton. Bill Kiley started on three state Division 1 championship squads for Boston College High School. This year, he's batting .333 as the team's first baseman; in 2007, he along with goalie Joe Cannata (30) and Mike Vasilchuk (22) celebrated the team's victory in the Super 8 championship; last fall, he fired a pass against Taunton. (Robert E. Klein for The Boston Globe)

By Justin A. Rice
Globe Correspondent / April 30, 2009

His Facebook profile recently featured a photo of Bill Kiley displaying his prized catch, a large striped bass he hauled in late last summer in Boston Harbor.

When did the Boston College High School senior from Quincy ever find the time to cast a line? The last three summers, he has shuttled between practices and games with the Quincy American Legion Post 95 baseball team and football practice for the Eagles. And there's also the occasional skate at the Quincy Youth Arena.

In this age of so many young athletes focusing strictly on one sport, and say, becoming the next Tiger Woods, Kiley's versatile talent, and the ability to multi-task, and star, is noteworthy.

And Sports Illustrated has taken notice.

In the April 27 edition, on Page 26, Kiley was featured in the magazine's weekly "Faces in the Crowd" section.

"Bill, a senior at Boston College High," SI wrote, "is the first athlete in school history to start on three state Division I championship teams: hockey (2007), baseball ('08), and football ('08). He was named all-Catholic Conference in baseball (first base) and football (quarterback) for the championship seasons, and this school year he was a captain on all three teams."

Those feats were news to Kiley until BC High AD and football coach John Bartlett approached him after the Eagles beat Brockton, 13-7, in the Division 1 Super Bowl last December.

"It kind of hit me right there," Kiley said. "I was like 'wow, that's incredible.' I didn't even realize it."

"We may not see that again, it's just one of those stats you hardly ever see," Bartlett said.

It didn't take much digging for Bartlett to realize that Kiley was an original.

The school had only won eight state titles in the modern era before Bartlett took over as AD in 2000. They have since won another 17. After some back and forth with Sports Illustrated via e-mail, Bartlett was informed on April 17 that Kiley made the cut.

Swimmer Erick Vendt (class of 1999) and track and field athlete Michael Green ('84) are the only two other Eagle athletes to previously appear in Faces In The Crowd.

But they were recognized for their accomplishments at the University of Southern California and the Naval Academy, respectively.

Kiley has always been adept at juggling a busy schedule, in particular prior to his arrival at BC High, when he also played basketball and lacrosse.

"Especially in light of the level in which he's competed," BC High baseball coach Norm Walsh noted. "It is tough in a place like ours where what you do in the off-season is so important. Generally guys play two sports. He squeezes it in around everything else he does, which is not easy."

Equally as remarkable as his ability is the fact that Kiley never felt pressure to phase out any one sport.

"I've never had a coach come up to me and say 'You have to concentrate on one sport, do this,' " said Kiley, who was hitting .333 for the Eagle baseball team at the beginning of the week.

"No one has said to me 'Oh, you might want to drop this sport and practice this sport.' It's always been know I was going to play three sports at one time and that's how my family conditioned me. I never had any peer pressure."

Even so, Kiley said he felt like he was shortchanging his hockey teammates when he returned to the ice late this past season, unable to participate in the skating sessions during the fall. His hockey coach, Joe McCabe , said the 6-foot-3-inch, 180-pound defenseman made the transition just fine.

"Coming off the football field and putting on a pair of skates, that's difficult for anybody," McCabe said.

Only a handful of McCabe's players over his 21-year tenure have played both football and hockey and McCabe wishes that was not the case.

"I'm not looking for a guy to play hockey 12 months a year, I'd rather see play different sports," he said.

Headed to Bentley University this fall, Kiley will hang up his skates and is likely to put his glove on the hook as well, concentrating on football, at either quarterback or safety.

His three-sport days might be over, but his legacy is well inked in the annals of BC High, and Sports Illustrated.

"It's a world-renowned magazine, everyone reads it and the most respected writers write for the magazine; just to be in that conversation is humbling," said Kiley. "I love sports, they are such a big part of my life."