You couldn’t think of two better courses to shoot your record-setting round at.
A year ago, as a sophomore, Newburyport’s Jack Oreal traveled up to the renowned Essex Country Club — voted the No. 78 overall course in the entire country by Golf Digest — and fired one of the best rounds in CAL history with 40 quota points. The 2-under gross score etched his name into league lore, and was the first 40-bomb the CAL had seen since former Triton great Cael Kohan put up 40, ironically against the Clippers, during the 2020 season.
Flash forward to now, and he did it again.
Tuesday afternoon at Haverhill Country Club — arguably the hardest course on Newburyport’s schedule this year — Oreal once again carded 40 quota points. The junior was 3-under through eight holes, and absolutely came up clutch on hole No. 9 by draining a 15-foot putt to save bogey.
And even better, unlike last year, Oreal’s round on Tuesday actually led Newburyport to a victory over host Pentucket, 196-176. Davis Pons came home with 36 quota points for the still-undefeated Clippers (9-0), and both Gavin Goich and Thijs Tague provided 32 points. For the season, Oreal — our reigning Daily News Golf MVP — is averaging 34.5 points and has an under-par gross stroke average of 35.6. Then in speaking to the dominance, and depth, of the Clippers, Sam Luekens and Goich are averaging around 30 points per match, while Pons and Tommy Gagnon are right behind at 29.
Meanwhile, despite the final score, it was still a great day for Pentucket.
The 176 points are believed to be the program’s most ever in a single match. The Panthers (2-9) had four golfers finish with 30 or more points, with Reece King and Eoghan O’Neil providing 33, Noah Meyer coming home with 32 and Andrew Pfifferling carding 31.
Pentucket volley earns first ever win over Ipswich
Even after a loss to Newburyport earlier in the year, Pentucket volleyball coach Kelly Lyons remarked, “The CAL is wide open this year.”
Words that are proving more true by the day.
That’s because the Cape Ann League’s traditional conquerer, Ipswich, has taken a step back from being the program that won the last four Division 4 State Championships. Tuesday night, Pentucket got to celebrate a program first by not only beating the Tigers for the first time, but sweeping them, 3-0.
And after dropping their first four matches of the year, Tey Turner, Amelia Crowe, Alana Cepeda, Michaela Gabardi, Devyn Walsh, Naya Carvalho and the Panthers (4-4) have now ripped off four straight. The Panthers are very much still in the CAL title race, and will look to make it five in a row when they travel to Triton on Thursday.
Greenblatt scores four for Georgetown girls soccer
The Georgetown girls soccer team got everyone into the game on Tuesday, as it rolled to a big victory over visiting Rockport, 8-1.
And leading the way offensively was junior striker Kat Greenblatt, who found the back of the net four times to bring her total up to 10 goals for the season. Jenna Johnson also scored twice in the win for the Royals (4-3-1), while both Katie Davies and Emma Sadler netted their first goals of the year. Then picking up assists were Davies (2), Johnson, Greenblatt, Abby Jarosch, Summer Young and Brylee Hodges.
Georgetown has gone 3-1-1 over its last five games, and will look to keep it rolling on Thursday — weather permitting — when it travels over to Triton.
Amesbury soccer with two positive results
Tuesday was just a good overall day for the Amesbury soccer program.
On the boys’ side, the Redhawks traveled over to Ipswich and were able to drive home following a 2-1 victory. Noah Synder, Maxx Rodriguez, Chase Linsey, Brodie Hall, Dane Hall, Noah Blouin, Lucas Ferreira, Brooks Linsey, Matt Way, Julian Sherwood and goalie Nico Kmiec all had strong games to help the Redhawks (2-4-1) earn their second victory of the season.
Meanwhile, the Amesbury girls hosted the Tigers and earned a 0-0 draw. Sophomore goalie Delaney Sargent posted the clean sheet for the Redhawks (0-6-1), while captains Maria Barbosa, Maddie Clark and Della Hildt all played well.
Newburyport boys soccer cruises past Triton
After a slower start to the season, it’s now a three-game winning streak for the Newburyport boys soccer team.
The Clippers kept the good times rolling on Tuesday, cruising their way to a 9-0 victory over Triton. Scoring goals in the win for the home team were Federico Peruzzi, Devante Bucchiere, Timmy DeGraves, Shea Cook, Parker Johnson, Danny Lopez, Josh Benicio and Wesley Young.
The quest for a fourth straight win will happen on Thursday — weather permitting — when the Clippers (3-3-1) travel to Manchester Essex.
Amesbury golf falls to first-place Ipswich
It’s getting really interesting down the stretch here for the Amesbury golf team.
The Redhawks had a chance to come away with a statement win on Tuesday afternoon, traveling over to play an Ipswich team currently in first place in the CAL Baker. But it wasn’t meant to be at Ipswich Country Club, as the host Tigers were able to come away with a 156-136 victory led by 34 quota points from match medalist Sam Harrington.
For Amesbury, Nick Creps was out in front with 27 points, while Jack Kusler provided 26 and both Gus Headrick and Will Ouellet came home with 23. The Redhawks (5-5) now need to win two of their final three regular season matches against either Manchester Essex, Rockport or Hamilton-Wenham to qualify for postseason play.
Streak snapped for Georgetown boys soccer
It’ll hopefully just be a small bump in the road for the Georgetown boys soccer team.
The Royals did come into their latest game on a little bit of a winning streak, having taken down Pioneer Charter and Essex Tech before earning a hard-fought draw against archrival Manchester Essex. But it wasn’t able to continue on Tuesday, as the Royals traveled up to Rockport and finished on the wrong end of a 4-2 decision.
Scoring the goals were Bryce Hodges and Mateo Crosby, while Zach Pinkham and Wade Turner had the assists. Also of note was goalie Peter Trougakos making 11 saves for the Royals (3-4-1), who will next host Triton under their home lights on Thursday night.