Cape Elizabeth High School
2007 varsity spring sports preview
Baseball
Coach: Chris Hayward (first year as head coach at Cape)
Last year: The Capers ended the year at 11-6 following a West B quarterfinal loss to Mountain Valley.
Players to watch: Seniors – Pat Murphy, Jim Poulin, Tucker Emerson, and Tim Entwistle. Juniors – Derek Laflin, Andrew Moulton, and Adam Danielson. Sophomores – Andrew Guay and Ryan Boyington.
Outlook: Thirteen players graduated from last year’s team and that means lots of inexperience on the Cape sidelines this year.
“We are returning only two players with more than 13 at bats,” said Coach Hayward. “We will be very young and inexperienced at the varsity level. With the young talent we do have, however, we hope to steadily improve and to make a good playoff run.”
Hayward hopes any scrimmages the team can play will “speed up the maturation process and to give me and the staff a chance to see players in game situations where they will earn their playing time during the regular season.”
Softball
Coach: Joe Henrikson
Last year: The Capers reached the Class B state championship game.
Players to watch: Senior captains Marla Houghton, Jackie Maran, Maureen Kertes and Brennan Balfour. Seniors Anna Boulos, Lisa Wolanski and Lauren Bryant. Junior Lauren Donovan and sophomores Colleen Martin, Tricia Thibodeau and Emily Richardson.
Outlook: Only one senior graduated from last year’s West B championship squad. That’s good news for Cape and bad news for the rest of the Western Maine Conference.
Houghton and Martin were all-state choices a year ago. Maran and Thibodeau are the team’s best pitchers.
“If the kids come to play, we’ll be very tough to beat,” said Coach Henrikson. “There are no guarantees, but hopefully we’ll do well. They have great attitudes and we have a lot of talent.”
Boys lacrosse
Coach: Ben Raymond
Last year: The Capers reached the West B regional final before falling by a single goal – in overtime – to Kennebunk.
Players to watch: Seniors Eric Knight, Tyler Loring, and Brendan Nicholas. Juniors Wyatt Morin and Zach Bolden.
Outlook: Cape looks to renew its proud tradition of state title game appearances this season. Unlike other teams who “just hope to make the playoffs,” the Capers are a perennial power that’s not only used to getting to state championship games, they’re used to winning them.
“Our goal is to win the last game of the season,” said Coach Raymond. “That’s been our goal (at Cape) for a long time. The players definitely want to uphold the tradition that’s been here for so long.”
To achieve that goal, the Capers will play a number on non-conference games during the season against very competitive programs.
Girls lacrosse
Coach: Sarah Kinsella (4th season) as the varsity coach.
Last year: Cape finished as the No. 6 seed in the West B tournament where they lost to Cheverus in the quarterfinal round.
Players to watch: Seniors Meghan Mowles (goalie), Hayley Stanfield (attack), Abbie Attwood (midfield), Elise Moloney (attack), and Emily Doliner (defense). Junior Jill Smith.
Outlook: “I am excited about the talent that I have this year,” said Coach Kinsella. “Although it will be a younger team than I have had in the past, I have a lot of confidence in the abilities of my younger players.”
Boys and Girls Tennis
Coach: Andy Strout
Last year: The Cape boys reached the West B regional final where they fell to Falmouth. And the girls reached the West B regional semifinals where they also fell victim to Falmouth.
Players to watch: The boys will be led by seniors Will Hall and Chris Steinroeder. The girls team will be led by seniors Amanda Slack and Melissa Slack.
Outlook: More than 90 kids tried out for the tennis teams at Cape this spring. So Coach Strout has plenty of kids to choose from. The girls’ team lost one doubles player from last year and the boys lost four of the top seven players from last year’s team.
“Depth will be the key factor for both teams,” said Strout. “With the top two singles slots filled with proven talent and great leadership it will be up to the depth to see where the chips fall.”
Boys and Girls Track
Coach: David Weatherbie (5th season)
Last year: The Cape girls finished second at the Class B state championship meet and the boys finished tied for third at the state competition.
Athletes to watch: Some top returners for the girls team include Ashley Robinson – sprints, Erin Gross – distance, Emily Atwood – middle distance, Hannah Doss – middle distance, Marita Stressenger – middle distance, Marissa Turesky – middle distance, and Cathy Wise – throws.
Top boys returners are Joel Bickford – jumps, Stanis Moody-Roberts – distance, Ryan Gross – middle distance, Brendan Flynn – distance,
Calvin Klopp – throws, and Brendan Shields – sprints
Outlook: Cape’s boys and girls should again be among the best teams in the region.
“We look to continue our run of being a top three program in Class B for 2007,” said Coach Weatherbie.
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