When college coaches have former Pinkerton Academy athletic standouts join their programs, they know that they’re getting fundamentally sound and motivated athletes who will more than likely make significant contributions before graduation time rolls around.
One case in point is accomplished former Pinkerton student/athlete Cori Rees, who wound up her collegiate lacrosse career this past spring with yet another fine campaign for the University of New Hampshire women’s lax contingent.
The 2010 Pinkerton graduate – who was a key senior defender on the 7-10 UNH team – started all 15 games in which she played during the 2014 campaign. She was second on the team in ground balls (25) and tied for third on the squad where caused turnovers (nine) were concerned. Rees had an 11-game ground ball streak and tallied 21 total with six multiple grounder efforts, including a season-high four in the opener against Hofstra.
The former Astro collected three ground balls against both Lehigh and Iona, and she also tied her career high of three caused turnovers against Lehigh.
During her junior lacrosse season of 2013, Rees started all 17 of her squad’s matches and led it in caused turnovers with a dozen.
Speaking of former Lady Astro lax players who made significant contributions to their collegiate crews, Caitlyn Whearty was a going concern all spring for the Colby-Sawyer College women’s team.
The sophomore midfielder scored 25 goals and set up nine others for 34 total points. She also collected 38 ground balls and notched 28 draw controls for a team that had a sub-par campaign with a 4-13 record.
The ex-Lady Astro had four, three-goal games during the 2014 season, performing that feat against Salem State, Wentworth, Castleton, and the University of Maine at Farmington.
Whearty’s freshman season of 2013 wasn’t anything to sneeze at either, as she netted 20 goals and assisted on five others for 25 points. She also snagged 25 ground balls, claimed a team-high 48 draw controls, and was good for 18 caused turnovers while still getting acclimated to the speed and higher level of play at the collegiate level.
During her years at Pinkerton, Whearty played lacrosse and soccer, earning two varsity letters in lacrosse and one in soccer. She was also the varsity girls’ gymnastics team manager all four years.
In baseball, Nick Pica showed both versatility and skill during his hardball days at Pinkerton. And he has gone on to collegiate baseball at Rivier University in Nashua.
Pica was a sophomore pitcher for that Gate City school’s 2014 baseball team, and he appeared in eight games with five starts and one complete game.
