Congratulations to this week’s Doors of the Week!
Varsity Volleyball: Meghan Holland ‘23
The door of the week this week for varsity volleyball goes to Meghan Holland. As a tri-varsity athlete and 4 year senior, there is no doubt that Meghan is a leader on the team. The energy of the volleyball team starts with Meghan. Whether it’s DJing at practice, leading our offence as our setter, or cheering her teammates from the bench, Meghan pushes her team to be the best that they can be. It doesn’t matter how much skill a team has if the team doesn’t play to its potential. Meghan pushes her team to meet that potential. Congratulations Meghan.
Varsity Field Hockey: Julia Tamul ’25 and Loulla Rousou ’25
Julia works so hard and has a great attitude. She is incredibly supportive of her teammates, asks great questions to improve, and is a strong competitor. Moreover, she is a really versatile player. Julia can come up with huge defensive plays but also has beautiful touches in the offensive circle. We appreciate her willingness to play any position and are so proud of her leadership and team-first approach. Keep up the great work, Julia!
Loulla has done a terrific job as our starting right back this season. Over the past few games, she has really excelled and is doing a great job stepping to ball and executing her passes. Loulla is an athletic, mentally tough kid, who welcomes constructive criticism and seems to truly love the game of field hockey. We are so proud of her for her improvement over the course of the season and can’t wait to see her stellar play in the final two games!
Boys JV Soccer: Ari Santos ’25
Ari has been a hard-working, mature, and positive teammate throughout the season. He plays wing back and often must contend with the opponents’ speediest attackers. With limited speed himself, he must aniticipate, make quick decisions, hustle, and persist in ball scrums to successfully defend our goal. When he dispossesses, he is quick to distribute and look for a return pass. On several occasions, he has taken a overlapping run on the wing or stepped into the midfield from his wing position. He scored a beauty vs Berkshire and sparked our energy from this position. In our win against Avon, his leaping header turned their attack into our attack, which Diego and Winston converted into a goal for us. Ari has also made errors in the back which led to opponents’ goals. He has made wayward passes in practice and in games. He owns these errors, apologizes to his teammates, and works hard to do better. Like many players on this squad, Ari brings a true team spirit, maintains a relentless positive vibe, and matches that with an intesne desire to compete and win. His leadership has helped us develop a team bond this season.
Boys Water Polo: Oliver Browne ’24
Oliver Browne ’24 joined the water polo team this fall and immediately embraced the challenge of working in the goal. As his confidence and comfort increased, he took command of the goal and learned to make difficult saves and then to begin the team’s transition to offense with precise outlet passes. He played with aplomb in every JV game and also performed well during his occasional periods in the goal in varsity contests.
Boys Jr A Soccer: Sammy Sullivan ’25
Sammy has been as committed to our team as any player this year, which is all the more impressive considering an injury sidelined him for over half of the season. When he finally got into games, we put him at defense, as he came up from last year’s Junior B team with a sterling reputation in the backfield. But his commentary on the bench during games convinced the coaches his in-game intelligence would serve him at any position. Then, during an intrasquad scrimmage at Monday’s practice, he put up a hat trick. So our coaches took a chance at starting him at forward in Wednesday’s contest against Loomis. The decision paid off ten minutes into the game when he fed a perfect cross to the striker to put the team up. Then they managed almost the exact same play to break the tie early in the second half, before Sammy then gave the team another lead with a stunning outside shot of his own. The bench went while and the squad rallied around him after they had secured the victory. On a team of smart, kind, and dedicated players, Sammy stands out, and we’re excited to celebrate his future development in the program.
Girls Varsity Soccer: Jasmine Irizarry ’23 & Fife McCargo ’23
Senior co-captains, Jasmine Irizarry and Fife McCargo, are this week’s girls varsity soccer doors of the week. All season, Jasmine and Fife have collectively led and unified the team with their heart, focus, and connection. They have shown up every day with positivity, team-first attitudes while striving to be the best leaders for their teammates. They have persevered and grown in the challenging and demanding midfield position every day that they stepped on the field. Coaches and teammates alike are incredibly grateful for all that Jaz and Fife have shared and given to the Deerfield girls varsity soccer team this season and throughout their Deerfield careers!
JV Volleyball: Simi Lawal ’23
Senior Simisola Lawal ’23 jumped high and hit hard this week, and she made several impressive blocks at pivotal moments against Andover. All season, both on and off the court, Simisola keeps her teammates energized, motivated, and focused.
Boys Jr. B Soccer: Nick Smiarowski ’26
Our final DOTW is Nick Smiarowski. Nick has been the anchor of our defense all season, whether he was playing at left back or sweeper. His play was one of the reasons that we only allowed 7 goals in 12 games and his booming kicks out of the back frequently led to opportunities in the offensive end. Nick always came to practice and games ready to play and he was one of the steadiest and most mature players on the team.