Field Hockey
NC 7 Red Wins Field Hockey Home Opener
By Darleen Ferraro
Ellie Parkhill, with ease, running past her opponents downfield. Contributed
The NC 7 Red field hockey team came out with a victory against Trumbull 3-0 at Dunning Stadium on Saturday, September 9th. The day was bright and the weather was warm; a great way to start the season. The team, coached by Cari Hills, looked strong as they intercepted passes, took shots downfield and passed the ball utilizing the entire field. Shawna Ferraro scored the first goal of the game assisted by Cece Ferriera. Polly Parsons-Hills scored the second goal assisted by Ferraro. And, the last goal was scored by Ferraro making the home team close out the game with a winning score 3-0.
Skylar Bennett passing the ball to a teammate. Contributed
The game would not have been a success without the help of the offensive and defensive lines. Skylar Bennett, Taylor Cloud, Cece Easley, Abby Evans, Saige Hartslief, Victoria Lockhart, Avery Morawa, Youl Na, Katherine O’Connell, Ellie Parkhill, Hannah Smick and goalie, Amelia Totaro all proved that their sophisticated stick work paid off which helped to lead this team to a victory. NC 7 Red looks as though they are going to have a promising season ahead of them.
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Soccer
New Canaan Boys 07 White Trample Trumbull U11 Boys Tigers: 4 – 0
—submitted by Anne Walker
New Canaan Boys 07 White on the offensive. Contributed
The New Canaan Boys 07 White are off to a strong start this season with a resounding win over Trumbull on Sunday at Saxe. The first half saw no scoring as the boys eased into their first game but as the second half unfolded and NC gained momentum, the boys unleashed their fury with four consecutive goals. Gianmarco Barrato scored first with an assist by Gustavo do Valle followed by a goal by do Valle with an assist by Simon Tchakarov. Subsequently, Brandon Ma launched a great crossing shot that Tchakarov slammed into Trumbull’s goal. Lastly, do Valle capitalized off of Tchakarov’s corner kick to score New Canaan’s fourth goal. Offensive players Jack Mitchell and Joseph DeKlerk and midfielders Ellis Frey, Lucas Breed, Stephen Brown and Jack Regan added to New Canaan’s charge on Trumbull while the defense line comprising Tyler Bleil, this week’s team caption George Matviak and Christian Crovatto in goal shut out any of Trumbull’s advances. Great first game boys!
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U12 Girls Black Kick Off Season with Big Win
—submitted by Tom Severance
Easton Redding came to New Canaan to challenge the U12 Girls Black team and ran into a barrage of goals and a rock solid wall on defense. The game started with Easton Redding attempting to sprint past Campbell McGurk on defense only to be shut down. McGurk and teammate Logan Severance would continue to shut down Easton Redding all day.
Six minutes into the game Lily Bradley centered a pass to Sloane Griffiths who bounced one off the far post for a 1-0 lead. Only 5 minutes later Anne Gilliam beat 2 defenders on the right side and passed to the right foot of Bradley who rifled a shot to the near post giving the goalie no chance.
Easton Redding countered with several strong attempts but was shut down by brilliant play from goalie Danielle O’Malley. Kira Morton played hard in the midfield keeping the ball up in the offensive zone opening up opportunities for the offense. Kaisa Miligan took advantage of the strong play of Morton and found a wide open Grayson Strine who barely missed on the attempt. Strine found the ball later with one minute to play and streaked past the defense and threaded a pass to Griffiths who made it 3 nil with her second goal of the day.
The second half was almost as good as the first with Lindsay Zaffino controlling a loose ball on the right side and hitting Ella McDonnell who put it home decisively for a 4-0 lead. Zaffino was not done when the unselfish pass by Strine allowed Zaffino to hit the left corner of the net.
As the girls were tiring, it was the fresh legs of Mia Fanning and Sarah Marshall who dominated the play in the middle of the field. The two of them continued to run down Easton Redding offenders and won many loose balls. Goalie Milligan was up to the task with some great saves and in one case stopping a sure goal when she leaped up to snag a high shot. To cap off the win Griffiths scored her third goal with 7 minutes left to play. A great start to the season for the U12 Black team.
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New Canaan Football Club Boys 2009 White Notches 1-0 Win
—submitted by Kevin Burke
On a beautiful September afternoon this past Sunday, the New Canaan Football Club Boys ’09 White squad bested a strong Wilton squad on the pitch at Farm Road to win the first match of their season.
The final score was NCFC 1 and Wilton 0. Notwithstanding missing both practices the prior week due to a rain out and the Labor Day holiday, the boys came out strong and performed well as a team. Heads-up passing. Staying in formation (or, at least, not completely disregarding formation).
And continually putting pressure on Wilton.
There were plenty of strong performances, including a number of fearless saves by the goalkeeper. Defense overall was a bright spot. During the first half, in particular, Wilton rarely ventured onto NCFC’s side. It was not altogether surprising, then, that the match was decided by a penalty kick. Near the end of the first half, Wilton was called for a (blatant) handball. Given the tight play, the crowd could sense this kick might decide the game. After surviving a tense round of rock/paper/scissors among teammates to decide who would take the kick, the NCFC Forward stepped into position. Without hesitation or any apparent concern for the gravity of the moment, he booted the ball in a perfect arch over and to the side of the Wilton goalkeeper for the score. There was jubilation for those in red. And notwithstanding some dead legs in the second half, Coach Jack Knight kept the boys working hard throughout the remainder of the game to hold onto the lead (and no doubt will have them ready for their next match this coming Sunday).