Tag: Cambridge Rindge and Latin School

  • For the CRLS fencing team, winning was beside the point

    For the CRLS fencing team, winning was beside the point

    As the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School fencing team’s season came to a close, its members had more to reflect on than just the state tournament.

    The Falcons started the season not expecting to make the state tournament. After six months of grueling practices and bouts on the strip – the area where fencing matches happen –  they proved to themselves and the fencing community that they belonged, even though the team didn’t lift the gold at the state championship tournament.

    CRLS had home strip advantage, hosting the tournament at the War Memorial Recreation Center. The men’s team placed fifth, while the women’s team placed sixth. (The co-ed Falcons split into men’s and women’s teams for the tournament.)

    Finn Graham, who has been foil captain for three years, said he was impressed with the team’s progress. “I saw so much growth from past years in our team, community, and culture, and that was really nice to see,” Graham said. “It feels like I’ve helped to contribute to that.”

    Gareth Flandro, a junior and captain of the épée team, said “I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better at fencing. I’ve improved and started to not just learn the techniques, but really start to apply them. It’s fulfilling in that way for me.”

    Fencing may seem like an individual sport, but it is more than that. The CRLS team is co-ed, with teams in all three blades. The team is composed of freshmen through seniors, and they all work together for a common goal, to have fun and get better.

    “I really like that it gives us an opportunity to be so close, because no one’s there to prove themselves,” Flandro said. “It’s just to improve, enjoy the sport and eventually compete and work our way towards that.”

    Sabre captain and senior Lee Van Voorhis in action. Credit: Bruno Muñoz-Oropeza

    For many, the collaboration and camaraderie are what has gotten the team to where it is.

    “When you’re just watching it, it can look like a more individual sport, but we really work hard together as a team,” Graham said. “It’s something that’s really great about the sport and about this team specifically, is the amount of collaboration that there is.”

    Fencing may not be a traditional high school sport, but to some of the players on the team, that’s what makes it unique. Some students may compete to get out of a physical education class, but for others it is the sport that they have found themselves in.

    Gregory Berger, the team’s head coach, has adopted a mantra for the team.

    “Fencing attracts the geeks,” Berger said. “Me and my coaching staff say, ‘We make athletes out of geeks,’ and the kids grow with it, and they like it.”

    The mantra has seemed to work out for the team, with the players excelling on and off the strip.

    “One of the things that I’m most proud of outside of fencing is that the combined grade point average is over 90 percent,” Berger said. “I am probably the luckiest coach of all – I don’t have to bench anyone for bad grades.”

    For some, the skills learned in fencing translate to both the classroom and into everyday life.

    “I have definitely come really far in learning how to best support people and how to direct people in a kind, but effective way,” Graham said. “I definitely will be using those leadership skills beyond this, and being on the team and being captain really helped me a lot.”

    Aside from the outcome on the strip, Berger and the program want the kids to have fun and enjoy competing. With the fencing season spanning through the bleak fall and winter months, it provides a great opportunity for kids to stay active.

    “If the kids can join and enjoy it, I think that is the only thing I can ask for,” Berger said. “Placing on top is important, but participating is also very important.”

    This story is part of a partnership between Cambridge Day and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

  • Cambridge schools fall short in fencing championships but happy with season success

    Karyna Cheung

    Bruno Muñoz-Oropeza
    Épée bout between a CRLS fencer and another fencer.

    Buckingham Browne & Nichols men’s and women’s fencing teams took home silver medals at the state championship tournament Saturday while Cambridge Rindge and Latin School teams came in fifth and sixth.

    “I think [the teams are] very happy with the result,” BB&N fencing head coach Matthew Zich said. “The whole team ended up contributing big matches and big wins throughout the day.”

    CRLS hosted the tournament, held at War Memorial Recreation Center. The CRLS men’s team placed fifth, defeating Northampton High School 16-11, and the women’s team came in sixth place with a 14-13 loss to the Weston High School team.

    Out of 16 public and private schools in Massachusetts in the fencing league, the top eight schools with the best records during the season faced off in separate men’s and women’s seeded brackets. Teams competed against one another in rounds of 27 bouts across three weapons: foil, épée and sabre. After three rounds of fencing, Concord-Carlisle men’s and Boston Latin School women’s teams took the state championship titles.

    The CRLS teams lost their initial rounds against the Weston men and Concord-Carlisle women, but the bigger accomplishment was the improvement the entire squad saw over the season, head coach Gregory Berger said.

    “We graduated a lot of very experienced fencers last year, and this is a relatively new team,” Berger said. “Having them go from the beginning of September to now, we qualify for a state championship, to me, it’s a major accomplishment, regardless of what they are going to place.”

    The championship caps off the end of the competitive season and the end of several high school fencing careers. It was the last tournament for CRLS’s three captains, one for each weapon.

    Bruno Muñoz-Oropeza. CRLS fencers with assistant coach Angélica Brisk.

    “It’s pretty crazy this is my last competition just because I’ve been doing it for so long,” sabre captain and senior Lee Van Voorhis said. “Fencing has been a big part of my life for a long time, and I really do think that I’ve gained a lot of friends from it, a community, and I’ve really liked learning how to do it.”

    Van Voorhis won three of the four bouts they fenced for the women’s team. Épée captain and junior Gareth Flandro defeated a nationally seeded fencer during a quarter-final bout and both he and foil captain Finn Graham secured victories in the men’s bid for fifth place.

    Graham, a senior and foil captain for three years, has played multiple sports, but found community in fencing he didn’t find in other athletics.

    “It feels like, at least at our level, a pretty inclusive sport,” Graham said. “We have people with different backgrounds and all different skill levels and experience levels, and we all practice together.”

    The state championship tournament was organized by CRLS fencing assistant coach Angélica Brisk and her husband, George Scott. Brisk and Scott are also founders of the high school fencing team, established in 2014.

  • CRLS boys’ soccer beats Lexington on penalty kicks

    CRLS boys’ soccer beats Lexington on penalty kicks

    By Layla Penn
    With the score tied at 1 after 90 minutes and two 10-minute overtimes, the Cambridge Rindge and Latin boys’ soccer team was exhausted, but knew it had a job to finish.
    Most soccer players see penalty kicks as a nightmare, but the Falcons saw opportunity against Lexington. Co-captain Rhys Brown, Angel Nunez, Jamilsom Parker and Xavi Mir, all seniors, each drove home their penalty kicks, and sophomore goalkeeper Winslow Livley saved the second one from Lexington. That put CRLS ahead 4-2. The team watched as Livley faced his fourth shot, bounded to the top right corner of the net and pushed the ball into open air.

    There was a sharp moment of silence before the team ran to embrace Livley, confirming their win, followed by Cambridge students rushing onto the field to celebrate with the team.

    “It was incredible, there’s not really much to describe it with,” Livley said. “This was my first state (playoff) game, so I got into the flow, played just like I would in a regular game, and did a little bit extra in the end to save it all.”

    That kept Cambridge undefeated at home this season, and into its first Sweet Sixteen appearance in nearly two decades.

    All the scoring was in the first half, with a quick goal from the Minutemen followed by a Cambridge header from senior captain Giacomo Cotta-Ramusino Zambotti, set up by Xavi Mir off a corner kick.

    The 9th-seeded Falcons threatened multiple times in the second half through Rhys Brown, his brother Michael, and sophomore Mathis Asnake. On the defensive end, Livley and senior defender Angel Nunez made several plays to keep the Falcons in the game until the penalty kicks. Livley made a big save with two minutes left in the second overtime to keep CRLS alive.

    For the senior captains this was a new kind of special. “We’ve always been the team that’s been out in the first round, giving high-fives at the end, crying,” said Michael Brown, a co-captain along with his brother. “It was a great feeling to be out here with my brothers being seniors, big senior class. I just love being with them, and I love dancing with them.”

    Head coach Niko Emack (disclosure: Emack is a member of Cambridge Day’s board), said that goal keeper coach Noah Lawless, 23, has been a huge asset to the team, and credited him for Livley’s success. Lawless praised Livley, saying “I’m incredibly proud of Winslow. It’s not really something you can teach. It’s just straight instinct, and he just saved us today.”

    Emack also named Nunez, a Dual County League All-Star, the man of the match. “Angel was instrumental to our win,” Emack said. He noted that in addition to scoring his penalty kick, Nunez marked Lexington’s striker the whole game.

    In the quarterfinals CRLS will play 8th-seeded Weymouth, which beat Plymouth North 3-0.

    This story is part of a partnership between Cambridge Day and the Boston University Department of Journalism.

    This article was originally published on  November 5, 2025.

  • “Electric” play has CRLS boys’ soccer poised for the playoffs

    By Layla Penn
    The crunch of leaves on the ground mixes with the smack of soccer balls as Cambridge Rindge and Latin School players run shooting drills. Their breath hangs in the cold air, and they are still practicing in mid-fall,  signs that playoff season has arrived.

    The Falcons clinched a playoff spot with a 10-3-3 record, a leap from last year’s 5-9-4 finish. They are ranked ninth in the state in Division I, the largest high schools.

    The players credit the team’s success is a testament to their chemistry and growth, built through connections on and off the field. “This year, the team has never been more connected,” said senior captain Giacomo Zambotti, 17.

    To build up stamina for their upcoming season, they put a heavy emphasis on team bonding. “It really just started at preseason,” said senior Andre Baraglia, 17. “We would go jogging with the team, building connections with the players.”

    The team had four freshmen, a record – in years past it usually had one or two. With young players on a competitive team, the varsity veterans make an effort to make the players feel comfortable. “I don’t feel out of place,” said freshman Leo Davis,14. “The team takes really good care of all the freshmen.”

    Davis said senior captain Rhys Brown, 17, has been a role model both on and off the field.

    Head coach and former CRLS player Niko Emack, 29, leads a staff of five assistant coaches, four of whom are Cambridge Rindge and Latin alumni. For Emack, the team’s impact goes beyond the field. (Disclosure: Emack is on the board of Cambridge Day.)

    He said its success has brought pride and unity not only to the players but to the city. While Cambridge is considered a wealthy community, he said, many players come from families that struggle financially and often go overlooked.

    “The diversity that we bring to the field, the different playing styles and backgrounds, racially, socioeconomically, religiously, we see right here on the field,” Emack said. “It’s a statement about who we are as a city school.”

    The talent gaps on the team are so minimal that each of the nearly two dozen players has been getting minutes on the field, Emack said.

    “The players know that they can’t get complacent,” he said. “Everyone has to stay sharp, and give effort and because of that I think it’s created a healthier team dynamic.”

    Goalkeeper coach Noah Wallace, 23, said the players’ passion was on full display during senior night, where Zambotti tied the game against Newton North in the final five minutes after the Falcons trailed for most of the match. “Electric all around,” Wallace said.

    The team will find out its first playoff opponent at 1 p.m. Saturday, when the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association releases the bracket.

    Emack doesn’t care who they play or what the outcome is.

    “If we lose, if we tie, if things don’t go our way, and we work hard – I think we’ve built a strong team that we can live with those results if we know we give 110%,” Emack said.

    This post was updated Nov. 1, 2025, to correct that Falcons boys’ soccer has a 10-3-3 record.

    This article was originally published on October 31, 2025.