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New Canaan Girls Lax Seniors Lead Team to 15-11 Victory over Ridgefield

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The night opened with a ceremony honoring New Canaan girls lacrosse seniors Mia Carroll, Kylie Murphy, Catherine Granito, Katharine Freiberg and Sami Stewart—a class that has ventured on their journey in the sport and through much of their childhood and adolescence, together. And thanks to hat-tricks from senior co-captains Stewart and Granito and two goals from fellow senior co-captain Murphy, the Rams (10-1, 8-0 FCIAC) notched a 15-11 victory over the previously undefeated Ridgefield Tigers (9-1, 7-1 FCIAC). “The first half we were on fire,” New Canaan head coach Kristin Woods told NewCanaanite.com. “We were a little slow in the first five minutes, which is probably due to there being a lot going on [senior night] pregame. But there’s going to be a lot going on for our upcoming games, too.

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‘The Last Ones Standing’: New Canaan Girls Lax Seniors Forge Lasting Bonds Through Their Sport

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In the spring of 2012, five New Canaan eighth-grade girls played in what they later would call an unforgettable multi-state lacrosse tournament at Yale. The girls—Mia Carroll, Katharine Freiberg, Catherine Granito, Kylie Murphy and Sami Stewart—would end up losing their final game after a last-minute New Canaan travel team penalty allowed Greenwich to tie up the score and force overtime. “It was one of those heartbreaks,” Carroll, surrounded by her four teammates, recalled on a recent afternoon from NCHS varsity head coach Kristin Woods’ office. An interior room on the high school’s ground-floor level, its walls are dotted with newspapers clippings and photos featuring accomplished Rams athletes. “But that season we all became so close with one another and it’s pretty cool that the five of us are the last ones standing.”

That they are.

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Pick Up Your Sticks: 2016 New Canaan Rams Girls Lax Preview

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It’s that time of year, when sports once again are played outdoors. And the New Canaan Rams Girls Lacrosse team is eager to get back at it. Overall, the team’s 2015 season was considered a success, as several dominant efforts led to a final record of 19-4, capped off by a Class M state championship. Yet there were two games against arch-rival Darien that didn’t go the Rams way, including a heartbreaking, 13-12, triple-overtime, defeat to the Blue Wave for the 2015 FCIAC Championship, an instant classic. It’s not a memory that head coach Kristin Woods likes to relive.

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4 First-Half Goals Hurt New Canaan Girls Soccer in 6-2 Loss vs. Undefeated St. Joe’s

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The injury bug has taken a sizable bite out of the New Canaan girls soccer squad in 2015. After starting the year 4-0 and relatively injury free, the girls entered Thursday’s showdown against the undefeated Cadets of St. Joe’s having lost six of their previous seven games with eight players missing some amount of game time during that stretch— including senior starters Ellie Aliapoulios (wrist) and Schuyler O’Mahony (torn MCL), who are not expected to return to play. And while the recent return of a couple starters from injury for the Rams (5-7), junior forward Madison Starr and senior forward and co-captain Sami Stewart, gave them some well-desired firepower to have a chance to upset the Cadets (12-0) for the second time in two seasons after last year’s FCIAC tournament win — St. Joe’s put up four goals in a 10:07 span in the middle portion of the first half and never looked back on their way to a 6-2 victory.

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New Canaan Girls Soccer Preview: Veteran ‘NC Feet’ Squad Ready to Strike

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For New Canaan High School varsity girls soccer head coach Kirk Bamford, entering his seventh season at the team’s helm, two major strengths of the 2015 squad are experience and leadership. The team has 17 returning players, “all of whom are capable of contributing,” Bamford told NewCanaanite.com. “We have our four captains who are instrumental to the team, along with the other seniors, 10 of whom [in total] are back from last year. It’s a great group, very experienced with a great attitude.” Those four senior captains are midfielder Sami Stewart, defenders Mia Carroll and Caroline Gordon, and goalkeeper Katie Donovan—a quartet with more than a decade of experience playing together, which bodes well for the 2015 Rams squad.