The Mt. Hope High School boys' lacrosse team experienced a brief hiccup recently during what has otherwise been a superb 2025 season to date.

The Huskies sandwiched multiple league wins around a tight, 12-11 setback on the road against Fitch of Connecticut. The locals entered their second game of last week still undefeated in Division III play at 9-0 and sat at 10-3 overall.

The most recent run of success for Mt. Hope began with a resounding 14-4 on the road over Burrillville. The Huskies were in cruise control from pretty much start to finish against the host Broncos. Mt. Hope built a comfortable 7-1 lead at intermission, courtesy of two late tallies in the second quarter.

The locals then unloaded on Burrillville, building a commanding 13-1 advantage by the completion of three periods. The Huskies eventually led 14-1 midway through the fourth before allowing three inconsequential Burrillville tallies before the final whistle.

Brayden Vales, Ben Browne and Will Stimson had hat-tricks for the locals. Aedan Nelson and Nathan Carpenter each scored twice while freshman Andrew Machado notched his first varsity goal. He was among a handful of Huskies who had assists. Stimson, Vales and Nelson had two helpers apiece. Aidan Pereira was his usual superb self in the face-off circle, winning 18 of 22 draws. Ethan Labollita needed to make 14 stops in the Mt. Hope cage.

Next up, the Huskies followed with a similar one-sided win, 15-2 over Toll Gate. The locals led 6-1 at the break then again blew the game open by scoring six more times in the third to just one for the Titans.

Browne had the range for Mt. Hope, scoring six goals. Nelson and Vales once more scored three apiece. Carpenter and Vales had three assists each as well. Labollita made nine saves.

The locals traveled to Groton for an interstate outing against Fitch, which is a "L" or Division II program in Connecticut. Boys' lacrosse programs in the Nutmeg State are broken down in four divisions: LL, L, M and S.

Nelson found the net five times for the Huskies in the setback. Browne had a pair. Carpenter, Noah Sweeney, Ian Pereira and Vales had the others. Sweeney and Pereira assists on two goals each. Labollita was busy in net, saving 22 shots on target.

The Huskies opened last week with a return to league action and did so with another dominant win, 15-5 over Coventry. Carpenter exploded for an electric eight-goal performance. Nelson added four tallies. Maddox Canario, Ian Pereira, Sweeney and Carpenter, sharing the sugar as well, had two helpers apiece. Labollita was credited with 13 saves.

Mt. Hope finished the week with a trip to Narragansett for a meeting with the Mariners, the sides running 1-2 atop the D-III playoff power rankings. The Huskies were pretty much in control from the opening face-off en route to a 13-8 victory, improving to 10-0 in league play at the time.

Vales helped the locals double-up their hosts about six minutes the second quarter with a side-winding, whip of a shot from the left wing as Mt. Hope built a 4-2 lead. The Huskies eventually took a 7-2 advantage to intermission.

Nelson had a team-best four goals. Browne had a hat-trick and assisted on three other tallies. Carpenter also had two goals and Vales added a goal and two assists. Labollita made 14 saves.

Boys' volleyball

The Mt. Hope High School boys' volleyball team had hectic week of action beginning on back-to-back nights when the Huskies suffered their first Division III loss of the year, but then rebounded with a shutout victory to quickly return to their winning ways.

In a match between two then-league unbeatens, Mt. Hope dropped a tight 3-2 decision on the road in Portsmouth. The Patriots got the best of the locals by the scores of 31-29, 20-25, 25-16, 22-25 and 15-12. Portsmouth improved to 8-0 in the league standings while the Huskies fell to 8-1.

Nate Fisher led Mt. Hope with 16 kills. He also had 17 digs and two service aces. Rasheed Braddock added 18 digs. Jacob Betres had seven kills, five aces and 13 digs. Dylan DeOliveira had 39 assists, 21 digs and a pair of kills.

"The boys fought hard. We just made more mistakes than Portsmouth. We’re going to clean it up for our next meeting" said MHHS head coach Lisa Lunney, looking ahead to when her Huskies host the Patriots later in the month on May 21. "We did some good things. Our mistakes came at inopportune times in the match. It’s fixable."

The following evening also away from home in Providence, the Huskies answered their initial setback with a 3-0 victory over host Hope. Mt. Hope won by the scores of 27-25, 25-22 and 25-20.

DeOliveira had another terrific outing at setter, assisting on 38 points. He also had 14 digs. Fisher led the way at the net with 12 kills while adding 11 digs. Betres had 13 digs and 10 kills.

For the Blue Wave, which entered the contest in third place behind Portsmouth and the Huskies in the D-III standings, they fell for just the second time in 10 league outings. Hope's only other D-III setback came to the first-place Patriots.

"We pushed through after our rock fight last night," Lunney said after the Hope match, adding Mt. Hope was set to have two more difficult matches during this recent stretch: a date against Division II Toll Gate then a trip to Block Island for a league outing.

"It's a rough week," Lunney said. "We need to push through."

That rough week concluded with another back-to-back set of matches, a 3-0 win over Toll Gate at home and a trip to Block Island where the Huskies won, 3-1.

In the sweep of the Titans — 25-9, 25-15, 25-14 — Fisher had nine digs, six aces and nine kills. Betres had seven kills and four digs. Matt Moran had six kills, three digs and two aces.

On the voyage to the island the next afternoon, DeOliveira led the locals with 33 assists and 10 digs in their 25-10, 25-10, 17-25, 25-19 victory.

Outdoor track

Another competition yielded another record-breaker effort for Mt. Hope High track and field standout Thea Jackson. This time, the junior bettered her own school outdoor marks in both the 100-meter dash and the long jump.

At the Sgt. Brian St. Germain Invitational held last weekend in West Warwick, Jackson clocked a new 100-meter record in 12.07 seconds and covered 18 feet, 11.5 inches in the long jump.

Those winning efforts were part of a three-victory outing for Jackson, who added first place in the triple jump with a leap of 37'8.5." She was also second in the high jump, falling in a jump-off with Nini Olawuyi of Exeter-West Greenwich as each cleared 5'2."

Of significance as well, Jackson's three victories also set new meet records in each of those events.

Other results of note for the Huskies on the girls' side included Jessica Deal running fourth in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:59. Lola Silva was also fourth in the long jump at 17'1.5." And Kara Pisasale was eighth in the pole vault, clearing 9 feet.

From the Mt. Hope boys' team, Alex Watkinson threw a new personal record in the javelin at 105' 6."

In their most recent Eastern Division regular season meet, sweeps of St. Patrick's, Tolman and Shea, some of the highlights included Jackson Cicchinelli's win in the boys' 800 meters with a 2:12.2, Will Southworth's victory in the 1,500 in 5:41.0, Tyler Scarborough's triumph in the 400 in 56.6, Watkinson's win in the jav with a 92'7," Quentin Smith's victories in the shot put with a 34'3" and the hammer with a 110'1" and David Lowney's win in the discus with a 92'5."

In a similar sweep by the girls, which also included Bay View, Deal won the 3,000 in 11:12.7, Jackson took the 200 in 24.6, the long jump at 18'7.5," the triple at 37'4" and the high jump at 5' 2," Pisasale won the 800 in 2:37.6 and pole vault at 8 feet, Kyleigh Durrette won the hammer throw with a 47'9" and the shot at 23'10," Mia Milo won the discus at 62'5" and Hazel Bradley the javelin at 57'4." Also, Deal, Pisasale, Sarah Bissonnette and Julia Pisasale claimed the 4x400 relay in 4:48.8.

Softball

For the first time this spring, the Mt. Hope High School softball team earned consecutive victories, backing up its win over North Providence with a 15-8 decision over Middletown.

Hailey Ferriera paced the Huskies scoring four times and going 4-for-4 at the plate, including a home run in the sixth inning, a run-scoring triple in the fourth inning and singles in both the first and second frames.

Mt. Hope spotted the Islanders a run in the top of the first, then scored two in the bottom of the inning and tacked on four more in the home half of the second. Ava Waddell plated a run with a single in the first while Emily Moran doubled in a run in the second. Anna VanAmberg (three hits) later added a RBI-single as did Moran. Madison Andrews was the winning pitcher for the locals. Sophia Haberman scored three times and had a pair of hits. Callie DaPonte likewise had two hits and two runs scored.

The Huskies improved to 3-9 overall at the time, but suffered their 10th loss of the spring in their next outing, a 14-0 setback to St. Raphael.

Waddell accounted for the lone Mt. Hope hit as Saints' hurler Emma Martin struck out and walked just one batter over her four innings of work. The locals actually out-hit Cranston East in what turned out to be a 15-7 setback to the Thunderbolts. Waddell had three hits and two RBI. Ferreira also three hits and scored twice as did Mekayla Neves, who had a pair of hits. VanAmberg added a double and a triple.

Girls' lacrosse

The Mt. Hope girls' lacrosse team dropped a 14-9 decision to South Kingstown to open recent Division II play. Adriana Botelho scored four of the goals for the Huskies.

Lola Silva and Miley Boucher had two each. Catherine Frawley chipped in one. Nadia Albritton made 11 saves and Stella Hill three while splitting time in net for the locals.

The Huskies followed up with their second win of the spring, a 10-8 decision over visiting Narragansett.

Baseball

The Mt. Hope baseball team is in the midst of a losing skid in Division I play. Among recent notable efforts for the Huskies, though, was a close, 8-6 loss to rival Barrington.

The sides went just about score for score in the middle innings. The Huskies got on the first with a run in the top of the second, but Barrington doubled that in the bottom of the frame. The Eagles then plated another in the home half of the third before Mt. Hope answered with three in the visitors' fourth to take a brief 4-3 lead.

That's because Barrington hung a five-spot on the board in the bottom of the fourth to retake the advantage. The Huskies clawed back a pair in the top of the seventh, but go no closer.

Rhys Davies had a day for Mt. Hope, 5-for-5 at the plate with two runs, a double and one run driven in. Brian Abbruzzi had two hits and a RBI as did T.J. Castriotta, who also scored twice. Trace Dubois reached base three times, including on a base hit. He stole three bases, scored a run and had one RBI. Jacob Ferreira also had a hit and drove in a run.

Golf

The Mt. Hope golfers met up with first-place and unbeaten Barrington for a second time this season as both traveled to the Agawam Hunt to face East Providence in an Eastern Division match.

The Eagles stayed atop the league by carding a team score of 156. The Huskies earned the split with a 166 and the host Townies came in 181. Mt. Hope's Ben Peters was the day's medalist, carding a 1-over par 37 on the front side at Agawam.

Luke Domina was next in at 42 for the locals with Quinn Frawley right behind at 43 and Jackson Howland in with a 44 for the final counting round.