Boys’ Lacrosse season comes to a tragic end

Will Kelley and Lear Asplundh
Staff Writers

The 2018 Boys’ Lacrosse season was a one for the books. The team made a improvement in their overall record, beating the 2017 season one of 6-7, the 2018 record was 8-5. The team will have to overcome losing a great amount of seniors this season.
    The senior class consisted of 10 players, all being very valuable to the team. The team will miss all of these players, but like any other season, the underclassmen will have to step up to the next level. The freshmen and sophomore classes showcased much skill this season and look to improve even more next season.
    The attack led the team in goals, once again. Kyle McLaughlin, a freshman led the team in scoring. Sophomore Tom Raupp finished a close second. This shows that the younger players on this roster are going to lead the team for years to come.
    The position that will hurt the team is defense. Derek Donahue and Andrew Smith, both outstanding defensive players are moving on to college so, the defensive side of the ball, along with the goalie will consist of mostly freshman and sophmores. The midfield for the 2019 season will also consist of only juniors and sophomores. With Ryan Meyers, Jay MacDowell and Nils Dahlin graduating this year, younger middies will need to step up. For next year the midfield rotation is set to consists of Ben Koeppen, Parker Cane, Will Kelley, Kel MacDowell and Brian Dougherty, if everything goes as planned.
    Just like the past two freshmen classes, the 2019 class is expected to be very big (12-14 players). This is great for the program because the more players the team has will give the young players more time to develop and become solid players for the program.

The success of the 2017-2018 New Hope-Solebury baseball team

Deven Smith
Staff Writer

Was New Hope’s Baseball season a success? This team experienced a rollercoaster of a season. The season started on a high note with a trip to Florida to play other schools also looking to practice with some preseason games. It then dove back down with a disappointing start to the season with bad weather, losses and injuries.
   Unwilling to quit, the team proceeded to win the majority of their last games ending the regular season with a 13-7 record. The Lions then advanced to the District Finals after a narrow 4-3 victory over Springfield. However the hopes of repeating their district title win ended on May 24, when New Hope suffered a disappointing 4-2 loss to Lower Moreland.
   Was the season a success?
   This is a question that has plagued the minds of every player on the team for the past week. Initially, most feel no, it wasn’t. We had a goal: to win Districts, and we failed. Simple as that, right?
   But then as a team, we look back to all of the memories we made in just three months: fun practices, inside jokes, the thrill of winning a game, bus rides home, meals after games, and of course, seeing those white whales in Florida. Now, after just a few minutes of thinking about our season, my opinion has completely changed. A season is not defined by two runs. A season is about the memories you make with your brothers, and the relationships you will continue to have for the rest of your life.

Why the Yankees will win the World Series

Blake Doherty
Staff Writer


As the 2010s came into reality, so did the potential for the New York Yankees. With players like Alex Rodriguez being caught for steroids and veterans like Andy Pettite, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, and Derek Jeter leaving the sport of baseball, the New York Yankees started to be a forgotten team. They were remembered for their glory days in the late 90s and early 2000s for their dominance on the diamond with Hall of Fame-caliber players on the field every night. However, this viewpoint of the once great ball club changed after their 2017 season.

With the rise of players like Aaron Judge, who hit fifty-two home runs in his rookie season, and Gary Sanchez, a catcher with an incredible arm and thirty-three home runs at the plate, they became a force to reckon with. The Yankees became the dominant team that they were remembered for being through a strong pitching staff and an offense with unbelievable power. As they barely made the playoffs last year, they did not take the opportunity to play October baseball carelessly. Underdogs throughout the entire postseason, they proved all the critics wrong, first by beating the phenomenal pitching staff of the Cleveland Indians, coming back from a two-game deficit to win the series three games to two. They then went on to take the Houston Astros, who later won the World Series in to seven games, losing in Game Seven in a back and forth battle in Texas.
Once the offseason began and critics started to make predictions about who would be next year’s champions, and the Yankees finally started to become noticed as a organization with a legitimate shot at the title. Then, as trades between teams were starting to go through, the Yankees acquired one of the biggest trades in recent history. New York received Giancarlo Stanton from the Miami Marlins, the reigning National League Most Valuable Player, for some of their players including second baseman Starlin Castro. With Stanton, who hit 59 home runs last season, the Yankees offensive lineup went from great to terrifying.

The current status of the New York Yankees this season has only proved everyone right about their power team, leading the Major League with the most home runs with 87. The Yankees also hold the second best record in the Major Leagues, at 35 wins and 17 losses, with the addition of promising rookies in their lineup like Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andújar. Their performances against the top teams only forecast the success that they will have in the postseason, with five wins in seven games against the reigning World Series Champion Houston Astros.

So, when you look at all the factors of the Yankees, the only thing that they lack is an amazing pitching staff. However, they still have some of the best relievers in the game including Aroldis Chapman and a possible Cy Young Award winning starter in Luis Severino. With solid starts by these men on the mound when the championship is on the line, the offense will be able to dominate any challengers that come to face them, and win the World Series.

Cairney sends the Cottagers back to the Premier League

Jack Buckard
Staff Writer

The Premier League has, and always will be, the main focal point of football in England. With elite teams that have world class players, it’s hard for the Premier League not to be. Although, the lower leagues in England don’t get the same about of love, they do get some, but not enough. In order to progress up the league ladder to the higher division, the team has to finish in positions one or two, which achieve automatic promotion. However, if the team finishes in positions three through six, they go into a playoff and whoever becomes victorious in the final, is the third team promoted. On Saturday, May 26, it was Tom Cairney’s Fulham facing off against Jack Grealish’s Aston Villa at Wembley Stadium.
     Both Fulham and Aston Villa have had previous spells in the Premier League, with Fulham being a regular from 2001 to 2014. Aston Villa were also in the league from the start of the new Premier League in 1992, to 2016 when they were finally relegated. Fulham played a more possession-based style, using passes and weighted through balls to break down their opponents, while Villa played a more chaotic, counter-attack style to win games. Both teams went into the final on a high, and the game started to well with both teams trading chances until the 23rd minute. Ryan Sessegnon, a young left-midfielder passed a wonderfully weighted through ball between two Villa defenders to Tom Cairney, who finessed the ball into the bottom left hand corner to give Fulham the lead, which they would never give up.
     As the game wore on, so did the Villa fan’s stress levels. Chance after kept coming, but the strong backline of Fulham stood firm, not allowing Villa to grab a goal and level the game. Early in the second half, Villa forward Jack Grealish made a bad tackle on Tom Cairney, coming from behind, but only earning a yellow card for the tackle. This completely angered the Fulham fans and many users on Twitter, all stating that Grealish deserved a red card. Later, in the 70th minute, Denis Odoi received a second yellow card in the game, getting a full red and sending Fulham down to ten men for the remainder of the half. However, this ultimately led to nothing as Fulham stood strong and won the final, 1-0. Now, the Cottagers are moving on to the Premier League, where they hope to survive the season with the big dogs, while Villa are set for another season in the miserable EFL Championship.