Traversa, Shade Lead Springfield to Rivalry Game Win
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The local high school sports scene gets under way on Tuesday, but the area’s collegians already are laboring on fields throughout the nation.
On Saturday in Springfield, Pittsfield High graduates Dominic Traversa and Chad Shade helped lead the Springfield College football team to a 35-21 win over local rival Western New England. Shade completed three of four passes for 43 yards and ran 11 times for 40 yards. Traversa, a senior captain for the Pride, had five tackles. Springfield’s squad also includes Hoosac Valley graduates Zach Wright, a junior offensive lineman, and Jameson Coughlan, a freshman on the O-line, along with St. Joe graduate Jonny Bianchi, a senior cornerback who had one tackle in Saturday’s win.
Mount Greylock’s Jake Benzinger got the start at right tackle on Thursday night in Winston-Salem, N.C., helping the Wake Forest Demon Deacons start the year with a 51-7 thrashing of Presbyterian. The Deacons ran for 248 yards and compiled 487 yards of total offense.
Taconic graduate Anthony Whiteley ran the ball three times for 21 yards in his debut at Endicott on Saturday as the Gulls dropped a 41-10 decision to Framingham State.
Westfield State’s Evan Garvey (Wahconah) returned two kickoffs for a total of 76 yards in Saturday’s 19-13 road loss at Nichols State.
Wahconah graduate Kevin Boino and the UMass men’s soccer team are off to a 2-0-1 start this fall. Boino has started all three games and has six shots for the Minutemen, who are outscoring their opponents by a margin of 6-2.
Three alumnae of Wahconah Regional are contributing for the Westfield State women’s soccer team this fall. Sophomore Gianna Moncecchi and freshman Ashley Zink have each started both games for the Owls (0-1-1). Freshman Amelia Daugherty has appeared in one game for Westfield State, which lost in overtime to Springfield College before tying Eastern Connecticut State at the Springfield College Invitational.
Pittsfield’s Amanda Wright had a shot on goal for the Pride in that win over Westfield State, and she scored twice in Springfield’s 4-0 win over Roger Williams to give her team a 2-0 start to the season.
Allesandra Arace (Lenox) has started two games so far for the Providence College women, who dropped a 1-0 decision at Minnesota on Sunday to fall to 1-4 this year.
At the University of Maine, recent Lenox graduate Emma Jourdain started her collegiate running career on Friday in a dual meet against West Point. She finished just outside the top 10 with a time of 19 minutes, 38 seconds as the Black Bears dropped a 17-44 decision to the Cadets. Jourdain will be back in Western Massachusetts on Saturday as Maine competes in the Minuteman Invitational at UMass-Amherst.
Drury’s Connor Meehan made his debut with the Xavier men’s cross country team on Saturday at the Queen City Invitational near the school’s Cincinnati campus. Xavier placed fourth out of five teams at the event. Meehan did not score but finished the 5K in 16:57, running a mile pace of 5:27.
If you know a graduate of a local high school who should be included in an upcoming edition of College Collage, please email sports@iberkshires.com.
