Boys and Girls Soccer, Girls Volleyball Continue With Playoff Wins
November 5, 2024 *Updated November 6*
• Needham’s Fall sports teams are on a roll, with three teams winning this week.
After the first weekend of Fall Sports Playoffs, several Needham teams are still alive, with Girls Soccer opening up their postseason at home on Tuesday. The Rockets, seeded #5 in the MIAA Division 1 Bracket, beat #28 Lexington 4-0 in the Round of 32.
Freshman Sydney Kalaw got the scoring started with a goal 17 minutes into the game to put the Rockets on top 1-0. About seven minutes later, Needham got another one as Isabelle Marino scored to make it 2-0 at halftime.
In the second half, Needham added goals from Hannah Levine and Sam Horvat to seal the win. For the game, the Rockets led in Shots on Goal, 8-2, as well as in Corner Kicks, 6-1. Needham advances to the Round of 16, where they will host #12 Winchester on Saturday, November 9th at 5pm.
Meanwhile, Boys Soccer, ranked at #24, beat #41 Marshfield 2-0 in a Preliminary Round game to advance to the Round of 32, where they upset #9 Lincoln-Sudbury 1-0 in double overtime on Tuesday night. The Rockets advance to the Round of 16, where they will visit #8 St. John’s on Saturday, November 9th at 4pm.
After sweeping Braintree in their playoff opener, #5 Girls Volleyball welcomed in #12 Newton South to the A Gym for a Round of 16 game on Wednesday, November 6th. After dropping the first set, 30-28, the Rockets came back to win the next two 25-22 and 25-23 before the Lions came back to win the 4th set 25-22.
The Rockets would jump out to 5th set leads of 5-1 and 8-2 before rolling to a 15-9 victory. Alex Sykora led Needham with 14 kills and 5 aces, Lisa O’Leary had 12 kills, Sadie Stants had 9 kills, 2 blocks and an ace, Carolina Cusick had 6 kills, 4 blocks and an ace and Emma Nolfi had 7 kills and 5 blocks.
With #4 Attleboro being upset, Needham will now get one last home game, Saturday, November 9th, at 2pm from the A Gym against #13 Winchester. The Needham Channel is planning to have live coverage of both the Girls Volleyball and Girls Soccer home games on-air and online at needhamchannel.org.
Also, Cross Country will compete in the Division 1 State Tournament at Northfield Mountain on Saturday, November 9th. The following day, Sunday, November 10th, the Dance Team will compete at States in Billerica.
Finally, Needham Football earned the #4 seed and will host #13 Wachuestt Regional on Friday, November 8th at 6:30pm from Memorial Field. You can watch it live on The Needham Channel’s HD and Community Channels, as well as streaming at needhamchannel.org and our TNC Roku App.
Mike Levin has highlights from Girls Soccer and Girls Volleyball’s wins this week, from this week’s edition of The Needham Channel News:
Be sure to come back to needhamlocal.org and needhamchannel.org, as well as our social media channels for updates from and about our playoff coverage. Our Sports X page is: x.com/tnc_sports, and our Instagram is: instagram.com/theneedhamchannel.
