Sports 20

With the 2019-20 school year coming to a close, athletes reflect back on fall and winter sports.

Maarya Shafqat Adil | Media Editor • Kira Crutcher | Sports Editor: Print • Jasmin Taylor | Sports Editor: Online

Boys varsity soccer captain Jonathan Novak (’20) said that he felt that the team grew a lot throughout the season both “as players and as a team.”

The team enjoyed more wins than losses.

“It was a lot of fun, we had a really good time together,” Novak said. “It was a good season apart from ISSTs, which didn’t go to plan.”

Boys varsity soccer finished eighth at ISSTs and were relegated. Novak said he was upset considering it was his really last year on boys varsity soccer.

“[It] was one of those things about sports, I was obviously gutted about the whole thing, I still am, but sports are sports and life is life, sometimes things don’t go your way so you just have to take it on the chin and keep going,” he said.

The boys JV soccer team started the season undefeated, and were “excited to travel to Brussels to play,” captain Jay Heyman (’21) said.

Heyman said that this trip, which they named the JV tour was a good experience and taught them a lot.

“Playing against the varsity taught us about our team dynamics and showed us what we needed to do in order to improve,” he said.

Later in the season, the team secured a fourth place finish at LSSAs. Heyman said. BOYS SOCCER

“We played in the rain during LSSAs and beat Cobham,” he said, “Unfortunately, we lost our third game and were knocked out, but beating Cobham was all we needed.”

JJV boys soccer team captain Brandon Likola (’23) said he felt that the boy’s JJV soccer team didn’t start the season off the best, but improved throughout. “When it got to the end we got a lot better, we were making jokes and having fun, so we became a real team in that sense,” he said. “In the beginning, we were just solo players, but in the end, we became an actual team,” Likola said.

They placed fourth at LSSAs.

Girls varsity soccer captain Lousia Linkas (’21) said the team had a great season with lots of wins leading up to ISSTs and that the tournament was very successful.

“We had a very exciting ISSTs, scoring tons of goals and getting creative on the pitch,” Linkas said.

The team made it into finals but lost in a penalty kick shootout.

Linkas said that the team has a promising future with many underclassmen talents

“The team was very young and talented and we worked really well together and did great things, so we are GIRLS SOCCER

looking forward to what that brings us in the future,” she said.

Girls JV soccer captain Cecelia Muecke (’21) said the team had an amazing season despite some of their results and finishing LSSAs in fourth.

“We can all really say now that the true measure of our season was not the number of games that we won, but all the moments that we spent together laughing and bonding,” she said.

Having only four returning players, the girls had to get used to playing together.

“We ended up having a really close-knit team and it was a really fun time whenever we were all together,” Muecke said.

Despite having a young and new team, varsity boys volleyball finished third at ISSTs.

In addition, many varsity players also played on the JV team.

Although a majority of the team was new, JV boys volleyball went undefeated almost the whole season.

Captain Calvin Jacobs (’23) said he felt the team was able to grow throughout the season.

Over the season we really bonded and we ended up going almost undefeated the whole season,” Jacobs said. BOYS VOLLEYBALL

Girls varsity volleyball placed second at ISSTs and only lost two games during the season.

Captain Lindsay Harris (’20) said it was “probably one of our best seasons we’ve ever had since I’ve been on the team.”

Captain Taylor Lewis (’21) said the JV girls volleyball had a “really amazing” season. They ended their season by winning LSSAs.

“Which is of course exciting,” Lewis said.

She said they grew a lot throughout the season.

“It was really cool, especially for the older girls on the team, to see everyone grow and improve, and to end the season as a real team who worked together very well,” she said.

Girls JJV volleyball won LSSAs.

Captain Iulia Savescu (’22) said the team did not have strong connections at the beginning of the season.

“The divide in the team was shown as we lost our first couple of games,” she said.

However as the season progressed, she said they grew closer.

“With practice and bonding, everyone was able to refine their own skills as well as become a better team player,” she said. GIRLS VOLLEYBALL

Savescu also said she credits this development and success to their coach, Luca Toth. C aptain Mackenzie Morris (’20) said the loss of Coach Randy Richardson over the summer was difficult for the entire team, but that they came together throughout the season.

“Although we entered the season with the loss of our coach, our team motivated each other to play to the best of our abilities and work together, where our skills dramatically improved and we were proud of our efforts on the field hockey pitch,” she said.

The team finished fourth at an end of the season international tournament. T he cross country team finished the season with an overall fourth place finish at ISSTs. The girls team won gold, with Madeleine Ashton (’21) placing sixth and Maddy Whitman (’22) winning bronze. The boys team finished seventh with Lorenzo Collier (’22) placing 16th.

Captain Elijah VanderMolen (’20) said that he believes that this was the team’s best season ever.

“This year our roster was filled to the brim with kind, outgoing and passionate individuals,” he said. “Everyone was ready to run their hardest, always FIELD HOCKEY CROSS COUNTRY

Athletes run after the gun signals the start of the LSSA cross country championships, hosted by Cobham Nov. 2, 2019. Tarika Roy placed third in the varsity girls category and Luke Martinez placed second in the JV boys category. PHOTO BY MADDY WHITMAN

pushing themselves to perform better. It really felt like everyone was friends on the team.” T he swim team finished first and second place at most of their races, and second place in the replacement ISST tournament.

Captain Lorenzo Collier (’22) said he felt they had a good season. “This season went really well for us and was diverse through ages,” he said.

They even brought some middle school students to meets. “It was people of all ages swimming together” Collier said.

He said that a favorite memory was when the team raced against their coaches, who beat them. A fter losing the first game of the season, girls varsity basketball went undefeated.

Captain Natalie Vann (’20) said that this season was different to any she had previously experienced, and that they really grew as a team.

“We meshed really well on and off the court, and had so much fun getting to know each other, spending time with each other and playing with each other,” she said.

Because of the COVID-19 induced lockdown, winter ISSTs were cancelled. Vann said she is upset about the cancellation because she thinks the team would have done well.

“I was definitely sad about the end of the season because I know we would have crushed ISSTs, but I feel fortunate to have had such a wonderful time besides that,” she said.

Girls JV basketball won LSSAs and beat The International School of Brussels both times in back-to-back games when they visited ASL Feb. 7-8. Captain Solenne Jackson (’21) said “The basketball season this year was really great.”

Jackson said she felt the team grew a lot throughout the season both as players and as a group. “At the beginning, not everyone knew each other, but by the end it was clear that we were a team, that we worked really hard and worked well together to achieve our goal,” she said. SWIMMING GIRLS BASKETBALL

Boys varsity basketball started their season with a 12-game winning streak. Captain Darby Craig (’21) said that despite the young age of the team, he thought they were good.

“Most of our starters were underclassmen, but we had a lot of expectations going into the season because we knew we had a good team, but we didn’t think we would have that kind of start,” he said. “In some ways [the season] was a disappointment because we didn’t get to finish what we started.”

Craig said the team also did “really well” in a round-robin tournament in Dusseldorf against The International School of Brussels and Zurich International School when they came to ASL, and beat Cobham twice, which is “always satisfying.”

Boys JV basketball had a “great” season “winning almost every single game,” Captain Rohit Venutrapalli (’21) said.

“Everyone played a lot,” he said. “We all had really good team chemistry and had a lot of fun, it was a great bonding experience.”

Venutrapalli said the team spirit helped the team secure first at LSSAs.

Losing their final game by just one point, JJV boys basketball finished second at LSSAs.

Captain Owen Steege (’22) said their season was a progression and their work was met with good results.

“[It was] very successful because of the hard work that every player put in,” he said. “That hard work rewarded us in the end because we came close to winning LSSAs, even though there were some people on the team who had never played basketball.” C aptain Alice Bake (’20) said that Performance Crew’s biggest struggle this year was getting to the races as weather and lockdown caused many to be cancelled.

“So many of our races have been canceled, especially the ones we’ve been working towards all year like Nat[ional] Schools [Regatta], Henley Women’s Regatta and Henley Royal Regatta,” she said.

Several students rowed at the Head BOYS BASKETBALL CREW

of the Charles Regatta and Claire Graham (’21) won Scullers Head of the River Race.

Development crew had several timed trials against neighboring boat clubs throughout the year. They were captained by Leyth Sousou (’22) in the fall season.

Sousou said that overall the season “was a fun experience where [people] interacted [who] would likely not have talked otherwise.” C aptain Mia Harrell (’22) said that the dance team had several performances throughout the season which “went well.”

She said that despite the unusually small team and the fact that the season was cut short, it “was enjoyable and a growth experience.”

Some dancers had no experience prior to the season, but Harrell said they improved a lot throughout. T his year there were multiple changes made to the ASL rugby program.

For example, games switched from rugby fifteens to sevens.

In addition, the team had a new coaching staff.

The International School of Brussels hosted a rugby sevens tournament, and ASL won three games and lost one.

When ASL hosted a rugby sevens tournament, they won two games and lost one. S everal students have committed to playing sports at their respective universities for the upcoming school year.

For swimming, Lauren Brantley (’20) will be competing for Rice University.

Jackson Olin (’20) will be swimming at Boston University.

Anna Podurgiel (’20) will be attending Brown University next year. All will be competing at the Division One level.

Jack Wilkin (’20) has committed to rowing Division One next year at the University of Pennsylvania.

Jonathan Novak (’20) will be playing Division Three soccer at Amherst College in the fall. DANCE RUGBY COMMITMENTS

PHOTO BY EMILY FORGASH

Darby Craig (’21) shoots a layup against Lakenheath at the homecoming game. The team won 57-48 Jan. 10.

SPORTS S ince the announcement of the school closure March 13, students and faculty have been working from home through the Distance Learning

Plan. Members of the community share their reactions to the closure of the school for the remainder of the year, which was announced May 4. Read more on page 11. Community reacts to closure

The school, usually filled with students, faculty and staff, now remains empty due to the COVID-19 pandemic. End of year traditions like graduation have been altered to comply with government guidelines.