Rivers Girls' Hockey Proven Unstoppable
Rivers girls' hockey is on a roll with four key victories. On January 25, the Red Wings beat Middlesex 2-0. Despite Middlesex's aggressive play, Rivers dominated the game with sophomore Jacqueline Ham responsible for the team's first goal off an assist from senior Brittany Mills and freshman Nicole Ferrara. Senior defenseman Jen Keefe caught the goalie out of position in the third and fired a shot from the point to put Rivers up 2-0 one minute into the third period. Middlesex had opportunities in the second and third periods but Rivers was able to hold them off by playing disciplined defense to keep them off the scoreboard. Rivers' goalie, sophomore Andrea Schweitzer had the shutout.
On January 26, the Red Wings had another key 2-0 shutout against St. Paul's. Rivers broke it open in the first period when Mills hit Ferrara with a pass on Rivers' own blue line. Ferrara capitalized on a breakaway to put Rivers up 1-0. In the third period, the Red Wings were able secure the win with an empty net goal by junior Rebecca Nichols off an assist from sophomore Julia Williams. Schweitzer made 20 saves in the shutout.
Rivers junior Jillian Dempsey came out in full force against Tabor on January 30 and helped lead the team to a 5-2 win. Rivers scored twice in the opening shift. Junior Caitlin Walsh had the team's first goal just six seconds into the game (Dempsey had the assist). Rivers scored again 32 seconds later with a goal by Dempsey (Williams had the assist). Tabor fought back with two goals of their own, however, Rivers came back to score again with another goal by Dempsey who took advantage of a penalty shot to put Rivers up 3-2. Dempsey added another short-handed goal a few minutes later (assist from senior Katelyn Landry). Nichols added an empty-netter with 38 seconds left (assist from Dempsey) to clinch the win. Schweitzer made 25 saves in the effort.
On February 2, the Red Wings played Milton Academy and won 5-1. Rivers struck early when Walsh scored 25 seconds into the game (assist from Dempsey). Dempsey scored the second goal (assists from Landry and senior Kat Egizi), and the team's third goal was scored on a shot from the point by junior Meghan Tedoldi (assists from Keefe and Nichols). Walsh scored the fourth goal off an assist from Dempsey, while Ham had the fifth goal off of an assist from Mills.
Boys' Basketball
On January 30, the Red Wings took on the strongly competitive Governor's Academy and won 57-41. Senior Sean McGahan led the team with 16 points while senior Henry Eisenhart was right behind him with 15 points. Sophomore Ben Patrick had nine points while junior Lenny Batista had eight points.
Despite intense effort, Rivers came up short against St. Sebastian's on February 2 and lost 52-44. After a difficult first half, Rivers battled back but didn't quite make up enough points to capture the win. Junior Eric Anderson had 12 points while Eisenhart and junior Brian Ginsberg each had nine points.
Girls' Basketball
On February 1, Rivers played Thayer Academy and came away with a solid 56-46 win. Senior Jordan Balcom led the team with a career-high 20 points, 14 rebounds and was seven for eight from the free throw line in the second half. Team captain, senior Anna Littman-Quinn had 18 points and was nine for nine at the line. Senior Rachel Hunter also had a career-high day with 10 rebounds.
Ski Team
At their January 30 race, the Rivers girls' ski team's finished fourth out of six teams with top finishers seniors Caite Cutler and Jacquelyn Durand finishing 12th and 13th place respectively out of 45 female skiers. Top finisher in the boys' race was junior James Lapides who finished 10th out of 55 male skiers.
