Ledbury lifts Rockets over Raiders
Rocket field hockey starts playoffs strongly
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By Maddie Gerber
Hometown Weekly Intern
A massive crowd gathered on the sidelines at DeFazio Field last Saturday for the Needham girls’ first field hockey playoff game of the season. The 8th-seeded Rockets took on the 9th-seeded Canton Bulldogs, and managed to take the win by a close score of 1-0. Needham...
Late field goal lifts Rockets over Rebels
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By Mike Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
The Needham High football team hosted rival Walpole on Friday night with both teams needing a big-time win. The Rockets, who entered at 1-5 (1-3), needed a victory just to have a chance of getting into playoffs. Walpole, meanwhile, looked to secure their fourth win of the season...
Rockets nearly stun Wildcats in thriller
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By Mike Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports
Starting the season 1-4 and losing stud slot back Odahri Hibberts to injury was not what Needham High football had envisioned when entering the 2019 season. Despite facing significant adversity, Needham showed a lot of grit and heart on Friday night when the Rockets hosted unbeaten Milton.
After falling behind,...
Needham’s lights-out shooting dooms Walpole
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By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
On Monday night, The Needham Rockets girls soccer team moved to 6-2-2, downing the Walpole Rebels, 4-1.
The first half was tight until - depending on which team you were rooting for - either a terrible foul by Walpole’s Shannon English or a terrible call by the referees. Two...
Strong second half lifts Rockets over Rebels
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By Mike Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
Herget Division rivals Needham and Walpole met on the pitch at Bird Middle School on Monday afternoon for the second and final time this season. The Rockets (7-2-1, 6-1-1) came to Walpole looking to complete the season sweep of the Rebels (2-6-1, 2-4-0) after earning a 3-0 win...
Team effort from Needham smothers Wamps
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By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
On Friday night, the winless Needham Rockets football team travelled to Braintree, scored fourteen points in the first quarter and shut down the Wamps’ offense to hold on for a 14-6 win. The victory was the first for the Rockets and moved them to 1-4 on the year.
On...
Rocket volleyball blasts off in Natick
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By Maddie Gerber
Hometown Weekly Intern
The Needham girls varsity volleyball team continues to assert its dominance over the Herget Division, adding another win against Natick to its already impressive undefeated record of 8-0 and officially securing a spot in the post-season. Although the Rockets had already played the Redhawks in their...
Needham downs Wellesley on new field
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By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
On Thursday afternoon, just before the rain came, the Needham Rockets field hockey team shut out Wellesley, 3-0. The victory moved the Rockets, who were playing on their new turf field, to 6-1-1. The Raiders, meanwhile, dropped to 5-4.
Needham’s Grace Kelley lifted the ball past the goalie ten...
Lady-Rockets draw with Wildcats
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By Mike Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
Two of the Bay State Conference’s elite met on the pitch at Cricket Field on Thursday afternoon as the Needham High School girls varsity soccer team hosted Weymouth. Two of the favorites to win the Herget Division, the Rockets (4-0-1) and Wildcats (4-1-2) did not disappoint on...
Needham demolishes Weymouth on the road
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By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
After her team moved to 4-1 with a 5-0 victory over Weymouth at Weymouth’s Legion Field, Needham field hockey coach Stephanie Magni described the game by noting: “This was a good game for us. We had a rough first half because we had very little to warm up...
Needham handles young Walpole team
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By James Kinneen
Hometown Weekly Reporter
At the end of the day, the Needham girls’ volleyball team was simply too good for a young Walpole squad that’s still learning and experimenting. While Walpole put up a good fight, the Rebels would ultimately lose, three sets to none, against the rockets.
In the first set,...
Kelley lifts Rockets over Ahola, Raiders
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By Mike Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
Two field hockey teams with high expectations this season met at Nora Searle Field on Monday for an early-season Division II vs. Division I non-conference showdown as Dover-Sherborn hosted Needham.
Thanks to a goal by junior Grace Kelley and a 13-save performance in net by Cammie Foster, the...
Football stuffed by Natick in opener
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By Mike Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
After losing a large core of talent with the departure of last year’s senior class, which included the likes of Duke tight end Matt Smith and Assumption quarterback Charlie Ogletree, Needham High football entered the 2019 season with a lot of figuring out to do on both sides...
Needham’s Michals excelling for Providence
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By Mike Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
With field hockey back in full swing, Needham native and The Gunnery School product Mikayla Michals and the Providence College Friars are 1-1 through two games of the 2019 season. After falling to BC, 2-1, in the season-opener on August 30, the Friars took out No. 24...
Donovan, Needham soccer eye redemption
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By Mike Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
By Needham’s lofty standards, the 2018 season concluded in about the toughest way imaginable: losing to arch rival Wellesley in penalty kicks on their home field in the South quarterfinals in the midst of a monsoon. In 2019, Needham will hope to rebound, and it starts at the...
Hibberts, Needham football ready up
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By Mike Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
Replacing an All-American Division I tight end like Matt Smith is not easy, but that is exactly what Needham High football will have to do in 2019. With Smith departing for Duke, along with several other key pieces of last season’s offense such as tight end Jack Murmes...
Historic summer for Needham Sharks
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After growing in size from just 82 swimmers last summer to 105 this summer, more than half of which (59) qualified for the A Regional Championships, along with an 8-3 dual meet record in the Suburban Summer Swim League, it’s safe to call the summer of 2019 a successful one for the...
Keegan takes home first in Ehrlich Mile
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By Mike Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
Local youth swimmers from all across MetroWest competed in the Jim Ehrlich Mile Swim at Dug Pond in Natick on Friday. Among the towns and Suburban Summer Swim League teams competing were members of the Sherborn Snappers, Walpole Barracudas, and Needham Sharks, as well individuals from Medfield and...
Post 14 outlasted by Hyde Park
