COURTESY PHOTOS
Hugh Calice (left) of Beverly football and Katerina Hassapis of North Reading soccer.
For their outstanding work in the classroom and in their respective athletic fields, Beverly football star Hugh Calice and North Reading soccer standout Katerina Hassapis have been selected as the Moynihan Lumber Student-Athletes of the Month for November.
Calice, a senior on the Panthers football team and basketball captain, helped lead his football squad to a banner season this fall which included the Division 2 North sectional championship and a pair of massive upsets over Tewksbury in the semifinals and Billerica in the finals.
“We came into the season wanting to prove something,” Calice said. “Word was out about what we lost and not what we had, so we had a chip on our shoulder.”
Individually, Calice was a force on both sides of the ball. As a linebacker, he was named the Northeastern Conference North’s Defensive Player of the Year, and he was the catalyst of the Panthers’ hard hitting defense.
Offensively, he was a jack of all trades that was called upon to play a bunch of different roles. He could split out wide and play receiver, where he snagged a pair of touchdowns in a September win over Gloucester. He was a punishing blocker at tight end and he even played a little tail back.
“It was a great season, I don’t think I could have asked for a better senior season with the guys,” Calice said. “I got the conference Defensive Player of the Year but it was such an all-around team effort.”
In the classroom, Calice is just as much of a standout as he is on the athletic field.
The owner of a sterling 3.9 grade point average, he excels while taking a very difficult course load which includes honors calculus, advanced placement statistics, honors robotics and honors English.
“I definitely emphasize my work in the classroom,” Calice said. “It all starts with the support from my parents. When I get home from practice I’m tired but my parents really push me through it so I can get my work done.”
Calice is still making his college decision and has narrowed it down to Holy Cross, UNH, Merrimack and Western New England, where he plans to play football.
Hassapis also had a stellar fall season as the senior keeper, leading North Reading to a berth in the Division 3 North Finals, where it fell to Newburyport.
Hassapis was named the Cape Ann League Kinney Division Player of the Year for a second season in a row and recorded 15 shutouts on the season.
“It was an amazing season,” Hassapis said. “We have a great group of girls and everyone was on top of their game all season long.”
The CAL Player of the Year established herself as one of the state’s top keepers over the past two seasons, and she has only been playing the position since her sophomore year in high school.
As a freshman, Hassapis was a varsity striker with deadly speed and athleticism. But during her club season, her team’s starting keeper sustained an injury which left a hole at the position. Hassapis stepped in and excelled in the role. While she entered her sophomore season at North Reading with plans to play striker again, she stepped in at keeper during a practice and her coach immediately named her the starter.
“I stepped in for only a few games during the club season to help the team,” Hassapis said. “It ended up working well. I had to do a lot of training to catch up technically but I caught on pretty quickly. During my sophomore season my coach wanted me to play striker again but I talked him into letting me play keeper one practice and I have stayed there ever since.”
Hassapis, who is also a shooting guard on the Hornet’s basketball team, is a standout student who plans on attending Bentley University next fall, where she will be playing soccer.
Her senior year has her taking a challenging course load featuring advanced placement psychology, advanced placement civics and government and advanced placement calculus. She also sports an impressive 3.8 grade point average.