Sentinel Player of the Week, Sept. 24-30: Senior Wyatt Beaulieu, ConVal boys soccer

Christopher Detwiler, The Keene Sentinel, N.H.
·3 min read

Oct. 8—It was a tight race heading into the final day of voting, but ConVal senior Wyatt Beaulieu came away as Sentinel Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 24-30, as voted on by Sentinel readers.

Beaulieu and Keene High senior Kaylyn Trubiano were neck-and-neck in the poll all week. Beaulieu finished with 705 votes (41.7 percent) and Trubiano finished with 655 votes (38.8 percent).

Beaulieu and the ConVal boys soccer team only had one game during the week, and it was a 5-0 shutout over Sanborn on Wednesday, Sept. 28. Beaulieu has now pitched five shutouts in a row — including that shutout against Sanborn — and ConVal has built up a 10-2 record, good for first place in the Division II standings.

"I think it's starts from the back," Beaulieu said. "Really communicating with the players in front of me and making sure everyone knows what's going on. Making sure they know where attackers are, seeing through-runs, making sure everything's holding together. And then the players in front of me are just really strong.

"At the beginning of the season, we let up a couple goals, then we sort of got used to the flow of play. We fell into our groove and since then, I think we've really gained a lot of confidence," Beaulieu added. "Everyone on the back line has tightened everything up. We make very few mistakes. We have a very physical back line. They're very strong. They don't let anyone outmuscle them. And they're fast, which is huge for chasing down anything that squeaks through."

The Cougars are on an eight-game win streak. Seven of those eight consecutive wins have been shutouts.

"One of the things that with Wyatt this summer and then also coming into the season was just an increased focus and intensity," said ConVal coach Scott Daniels. "He's really stepped up in his role as a leader and I think the boys really recognize that. They voted him as one of the three captains on the team, and so I think that focus and desire to lead has been the biggest thing that I've seen in terms of a difference with him."

Listen to the full interview with Beaulieu at Sentinel Source.com.

Trubiano scored five goals in two games for the Keene field hockey team during the week. She scored twice in Keene's 7-0 win over Manchester Memorial on Monday, Sept. 26, then scored her first career hat trick on Wednesday, Sept. 28, in a 7-0 win over Nashua North. The Blackbirds are currently 6-7 with three games to go in the regular season.

Keene is 10th in the Division I standings. Eleven teams make the postseason.

Monadnock sophomore Cainen Avery finished third in the voting with 200 votes (11.8 percent). Avery scored four goals to lead the Monadnock girls soccer team to a 9-0 win over Newport on Saturday, Sept. 24. Classmate Amanda Roy scored three in that game. Senior Julia Hoden and freshman Saige Pelky also scored. Sophomore Bailee Soucia pitched the shutout between the pipes.

Monadnock senior Ethan Brown finished fourth in the voting with 129 votes (7.7 percent). Brown ran for 178 yards and five touchdowns as the Monadnock football team beat ConVal, 63-8, Friday, Sept. 30. It was a bounce-back game for the Huskies after losing to Trinity the week before. Monadnock moves to 3-1 on the season and travels to Campbell (3-1) on Saturday.

Nominees for Player of the Week for the week of Oct. 1-7 will be announced in Monday's Sentinel, online at Sentinelsource.com and on Twitter @KeeneSentSports. You can submit nominations until Sunday here: www.sentinelsource.com/site/forms/playeroftheweek/player_of_the_week/.

Any questions, email Chris Detwiler at cdetwiler@keenesentinel.com.