SPORTS ROUND-UP
BY LINDA WILLIAMS INDEPENDENT WRITER

The Nantucket varsity boys' soccer team ended their regular season at Norwood on Friday, losing 2 to 1. Nantucket had bested Norwood a week before 3-1 and then shut out two opponents in a row last week on the road, Provincetown 4-0 and Abington 4-0 before traveling up to Norwood, the scene of several season ending injuries for Nantucket last year.

Coach Rich Brannigan could tell the team was unsettled going into the game.

"I think there was some nervousness about the game. We definitely played in a more tentative fashion given what happened last year," said Brannigan.

Norwood spent the first 10 minutes in Nantucket's end of the field before Nantucket had its first foray into Norwood's end.

Philipe Bazilio, who had his ankle shattered in the game last year, scored off a Roneik Gordon assist and putting Norwood down 1-0 going into the break. Their coach called a time out immediately after Nantucket's score, surprising Brannigan.

"They were planning out their game all week against us and against specific players. When we got off the bus their coach asked me where was our Number 20, Emerson Guzman," he said. "When I told him I had to leave him at home due to injury against Abington, he told me that he had been preparing for us and particularly him all week! They regrouped and we could not get another score."

Not having Guzman made the difference, according to Brannigan.

"Emerson plays down the left side and without him we were vulnerable," said Brannigan.

Norwood played their best player, a very physically aggressive player who had not made the trip to Nantucket. He was responsible for making most of the runs and then setting up the plays.

"We had no way to stop him. If we had seen him on Nantucket we would have planned for him. They were marking Philipe and Roneik and then Bryan. They prepared very well for us," said Brannigan.

Norwood scored early in the second half and then again midway into the second to take the 2-1 lead and never relinquished it.

Nantucket was on a 10 game winning streak not losing since early October. Keeper Alex Perkins saw his first pressure in 10 games, making at least 12 quality saves. Nantucket finished with a 12-4-2 record. Home field advantage for the first round of playoffs is not assured, and seeding will be out this afternoon.

"This record is our third best regular season, after one with 14 wins, and one other with 12. It was a great regular season for us given how young the team is," said Brannigan. "We are keeping our fingers crossed that we do not have to play a preliminary game and we are good enough for a home game. Hopefully there are not a lot of teams with 14-16 wins."

The JV boys' soccer team also wrapped up their season last week. Under second-year coach Rob Sulzer, the team earned a 5-3-2 record and finished up on a high note, shutting out Abington 3-0 last Wednesday.

The varsity girls' soccer team also closed out their season at Norwood, losing for a second time in one week, 7-0.

The squad finishes up with a record of 4-10-3. The record is deceiving as the team had several close games and played even with teams for at least one half of each game. The team has six seniors and will be getting several girls from the middle school team next year as the young team matures together.

Both CPS Middle School soccer teams ended their seasons this week at Harwich on Tuesday. The results were not available at press time.

The girls had to play back to back away games, having faced Wixon this Monday, who narrowly beat Nantucket 2- 1 a little over a week ago. Nantucket also lost last Monday for the second time to Chatham by the identical score of 3-2 for a 4-4-1 record.

The boys fared much better against Chatham, shutting them out 6-0. Caleb Gomes, Nick Larrabee each scored two, while Chris Sylvia and Conrad Troast each added one. The team followed up by shellacking Wixon 10-2. The win ran the team's record up to 9-0, the best in CPS history. Goals were scored by Caleb Gomes (3), Nick Larrabee (2) and Chris Sylvia, Jo Jo Zieff, Ben Daniels, Dana Sundell and Conrad Troast all with one. Keeper Christian Lombardi continued his solid play preserving the 8th shutout of the season.

The CPS Middle School field hockey team continued on its winning ways, beating Chatham 4-2 for an outstanding season ending record of 9-2-2. The team had several shutouts to their credit and should insure that the high school JV and varsity programs remain strong for some years to come.

The varsity football team had its first of three consecutive road trips this past Saturday traveling to Tri-County Regional Voke in Franklin. Due to injuries suffered to several starters during the past two weeks, the small squad of 21 was reduced to 14, who dressed for the game, making substitutions almost impossible.

Nantucket was in the game for the first half, going into halftime tied 6-6 due to a 22-yard pass from Chris Welch to Troy Sullivan for the TD.

"They expended all their energy in the first half and ran out of gas at the end of the third," said coach Vito Capizzo.

Tri-county was able to rattle off 19 unanswered points in the third and then add the last score in the fourth handing Nantucket its 7th loss in a row, 31-6.

Nantucket did not help itself when three possessions resulted in two fumbles and an interception on drives that had been productive to that point. Tri-county was able to rack up 322 rushing yards to Nantucket's 84, with most of the damage coming from quarterback Lucas Mistler, who accounted for 207 yards. I