New Canaan Girls U9 Red Soccer Defeat Westport Blue 3-1
New Canaan Girls U9 Red Soccer team’s Kathryn Norton controls the ball as Devon Russell looks on. Contributed
Looking to avenge their only loss last year, the New Canaan Girls U9 Red Soccer Team traveled to Westport on Sunday and played to win.
From the start both teams fought hard for possession and it was clear to New Canaan that they needed to be physical and intense to get on the scoreboard. Lexie Tully struck first when she charged up the right sideline and fired a bullet despite pressure from several Westport defenders.
On defense, Maggie Murphy, Devon Russell, and Fiona Mueller were tenacious, and turned back Westport’s multiple attacks on goal. Kelly Polacek masterly protected the net, and made many tough saves to keep New Canaan ahead. However, Westport was hungry for the win, and proved that they were an offensive threat when they scored to tie the game.
The Red did not back down and kept up the pressure with an offensive effort by Kathryn Norton, Lila Volpe and Isabel Cavanagh who made many impressive drives up the field. But they were unable to capitalize, and the score remained 1-1 at the end of the first half.
Determined to chalk up the win, New Canaan came out fighting in the second half. Polacek was an immediate force on offense and skillfully connected with Tully who found the net again when she launched a hard shot off the goalie’s hands.
Westport was determined to come back once again. Their offense was relentless and physical, and made several attacks on goal, but New Canaan’s second half defense, anchored by Alexandra Gelvin, Kailee See and Tema Wagner proved to be too strong. Despite multiple scrambles and shots, goalie Katie Quill was fearless, as she held Westport scoreless for the entire half.
Late in the second half the Red were able to add an insurance goal. Tully received a corner kick in the box and passed to Ava Pertusiello who buried a shot in the corner to seal the win.
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New Canaan U13 Girls Red Soccer Team Top the Table
New Canaan (NC) U13 Girls Red travel soccer team remain undefeated this season in league play (3-0-3) as they notched a 2-0 victory away against the Stamford Hurricanes.
NC striker Jane Charlton put NC on the scoreboard first as she ignited her jets and found the back of the nets finishing her breakaway against Stamford 14 minutes into the match.
Four minutes later, Charlton found herself on another breakaway but this time NC went to goal with numbers so an alert Charlton centered the ball to Katie Dunn who finished the play for NC. Dunn’s strike to the far left post overpowered the Stamford goalkeeper as it was too much for her to handle even though she got a glove on it putting NC up 2-nil.
During the second half, Stamford really roughed up the NC girls but they didn’t yield as they held their ground. One of the Stamford infractions in the 18 yard box resulted in a NC penalty kick opportunity which was unsuccessful.
It was a great pleasure watching NC connect on many beautiful combinations through the midfield anchored by Riana Afshar, Katherine Lisecky, Maddie Otero, and Kearney McKiernan as they worked very hard and smartly passing the ball wide opening up space for their strikers to move into. As usual, NC’s back defensive line (Ellie Anderson, Sophie Potter, Sophie Smith and Caroline Wilson) was steadfast and impenetrable as NC posted its second league shutout.
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New Canaan Girls U9 Black Scores Big in Win over Westport
The U9 Girls Black team this past weekend locked up an impressive win over Westport.
The first half would find both teams struggling to get any clear scoring chances.
Westport broke the stalemate with the first score of the game. New Canaan struck back quickly when Claire Ognibene fired a hard shot that got blocked by the Westport goalie but Ognibene followed up and put the second chance in the upper left hand corner.
A few key saves by Claire Pellegrino and solid defense by Maeve Hibbert, Claire Ognibene, Amanda Vigano and Sophie Brauweiler kept Westport from getting another chance.
The half ended in a 1-1 tie.
Quickly in the second half, New Canaan’s Pellegrino showed off her speed and tenacity by feeding Charlotte Walter with a pass and Walter, who dominated the midfield in the first half, found the mark to make the score 2-1.
Pellegrino was not finished setting up her teammates when a few minutes later she found Sloane Griffiths who extended the New Canaan lead to 3-1.
Logan Severance on a great clear from the defensive zone found Ognibene for her second goal and a 4-1 New Canaan lead. Lily Auerbach provided some fresh legs to the defense after arriving at halftime. Lilly Magliacano, Rani Joshi and Hadley Walker were involved in several chances that found the goalie instead of the net.
To cap off the impressive win Hibbert took a shot that hit the goalie and Celia Parkhill was there to slam a shot into the back of the net to extend the lead to 5-1.
The second half goalie responsibility went to Sophie Brauweiler and Rani Joshi who had an impressive save near the end of the game.