Sippican Week talked with coaches as the season began about their predictions and what they thought their strengths and challenges will be.  

Girls Lacrosse

Last year the team lost in the Division 2 semifinals. However, their two losses last year were to the division 1 and 2 champions.

Head coach Scott Tavares’ goal this year is “to try to win our league, to take as many tournament games as possible.”

The team graduated a Standard Times Player of the Year last year, and though they are returning four defensive players “offensively we need to try to come together and gel,” Tavares said. 

Track and Field

Track had a successful season last year, with the boys and girls team ending the year as South Eastern Conference Champions. The girls had no losses, while the boys had only one.

“We’re pretty excited about the potential this year. We have some pretty key returners and a lot of new kids — we have no idea what they can do yet,” said Bill Tilden, who works with the throwers and jumpers on the team.

Cindy Tilden, who works with the runners on the team, agrees.

“If they do what it looks like they can do it should be a good season. We have a lot of good young talent,” she said.

Girls Tennis

The tennis team has had extremely strong seasons the last two years. It won championship last year and the year before were co-champs.

“At the league meeting we were singled out as the favorites to win. And we graduated no one,” Head Coach Bob Hohne said.

The team also has seven starters back, so Hohne’s goals include, “trying to upgrade and go beyond where we’ve gone,” by playing more challenging teams. 

Sailing

The sailing team last year had a 7 - 9 record. 

“We have a lot more seniors than we’ve had in a while, but we’ve also picked up a lot of younger kids,” Coach John Mann said.

The team has some stars, including Joe Riley, one of the youngest to complete the Marion to Bermuda sail. The key might be bringing some of the newer players to that level.

“It’s s a team sport so we need to communicate and have depth. If there’s too much of a gap between our best sailors and the rest it’s impossible to win,” Mann said. 

Softball

The softball team played 9-10 last year, missing the tournament by one game.

The team also graduated three seniors that Head Coach Don Dibiasio described as “important to the team” leaving a very young team, with 11 freshmen.

As for how the athletes will do this year, Dibasion said he “really can’t tell. The South Coast Conference is really tough, and there’s big and small scolls that have talent.”

The ORR softball team lost some of its pitchers last year, which “really hurts. We’re going to be working a lot on that,” Dibasio said.    

However, the team also has two seniors that will play in college, including Alex Tehan, who will play for Salem State.

Boys Lacrosse

Asked how the team did last year, Head Coach Justin Shay said his athletes “played some pretty good lacrosse, especially toward the end of the season.”

The team qualified for the tournament and lost in the first round.

The lacrosse team also was hit hard by graduations, with over 80 percent of scorers from last year gone.  It needs “the new players and existing players to gel before the South Coast Conference Games,” Shay said. 

His strategy for the year is to build a patient offense and stingy defense.

Boys Tennis

The boys tennis team went undefeated in the league last year, but lost in the south semifinals.

The team lost 4 of 7 starters, but Head Coach Michael Beson pointed out that Ray Williams, who was number one singles is a strong player who will lead the rest of the team.

“Having that leadership and ability at top will kind of trickle down,” Beson said. He hopes to work with his players to recognize what kind of opponents they are playing against, and to strategize.

“You can outsmart a lot of players,” Beson said.

Baseball

The baseball team played 11-9 last season and ended a tournament run with a narrow loss to Falmouth.

Though the team has many seniors this year, Head Coach Steve Carvalho said he graduated two good pitchers and a shortstop last year.

He is hoping to plug holes from graduations and work on “depth with pitching, solid defense, and timely hitting.”

He describes baseball as one of the strongest sports in the area, and says that as a result he can never predict how the season will go.