Youth Sports Roundup: Weekend Wins for New Canaan’s Lax and Soccer Players

Lacrosse

NC 6 Red Lax Takes New York By Storm (submitted by Darleen Ferraro)

It was a busy week for the NC 6 Red team.  They faced off against two very strong opponents from just over the New York State line.  Playing Bedford and Bronxville, NC 6 Red walked away from each game with a victory.

Game One was played on Monday, May 15^th against Bedford at Fox Lane.  Even with a muddy field, which needed mowing, and whistles that seemed to never end, the team rallied together and was able to keep themselves in the winning spot with a score of 8-5.  Caroline Underwood took the lead in this game by scoring 2 goals, having 2 shots on goal and having 1 assist.  Tessa Cosco also proved how fearless she was of crashing the net and scored 2 goals. Stella Nolan played like a champ and scored 1 goal, had 1 shot on goal and also an assist. Katherine O’Connell scored 1 goal and had 1 assist.  Caroline Langford and Polly Parsons-Hills scored 1 goal each. Katharine Byrne had an assist and a great shot on goal.  Reagan Bailey

and Shawna Ferraro helped their teammates score by having one assist each.  Grace Crookenden also had a nice shot on the net.  Katherine Caione, Nola Kammerer, Molly Read, Abby Richardson, Izzy Schuh and Kate Warner did not disappoint with their aggressive defending and ball stealing which helped pave the way for the offensive line.  Katherine Wronski had an amazing game and saved 11 shots from getting in the net.  As you can see, this was a group effort and a well-deserved win for this team.

Game Two was played on Saturday, May 20^th against Bronxville at the Water Tower Turf.  NC 6 Red showed this other New York team who was boss by winning 8-6.  After what seemed to be a slow few minutes in the beginning of the game for our girls, the other team capitalized on this and scored a quick two goals.  Coach Maureen “Mo” Deagan was not happy with this and yelled to the girls on the field, “Wake-up New Canaan.”  That must have been their alarm clock, for after this wake-up call, they quickly rose into action and began playing like the NC 6 Red we all know and love.  It was neck and neck for the remainder of the game.  With only two minutes left, and a score of 6-6, NC took over control and scored two goals to win the game.  Again, like always, it was a group effort and all of these girls did their part.  Tessa Cosco had 1 goal, 3 shots on goal and 1 assist. Caroline Langford had 1 goal, 1 shot on goal and 1 assist.  Stella Nolan had 1 goal and 3 shots on goal.   Katharine Byrne, Abby Richardson, and Caroline Underwood all had 1 goal and 2 shots on goal.  Katherine O’Connell had 1 goal and 1 shot on goal.  Ella Imbruce had 1 goal. Polly Parsons-Hills had an assist and Molly Reed had a great shot on goal.  Reagan Bailey, Kate Barnard, andShawna Ferraro helped the offensive line out by making

skillful passes to keep the girls in scoring position.  Nola Kammerer, Izzy Shcuh, and Kate Warner exemplified just how important it is to have a strong defensive line since they kept Bronxville at bay and held them from scoring on Wronski.  Speaking of Wronski, Katherine Wronski played another great game and saved 6 shots. This win created a lot of enthusiasm in the team and the fans.  Hopefully, this excitement continues when we play our next game, New Canaan’s rival, Darien, on Tuesday, May 30^th at 6:00 p.m. at the Water Tower Turf.  The stands will be open and gladly accepting any extra support!

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Soccer

NC ’08 Girls Black Beats Darien Orange (submitted by Robyn Peterson)

Even with a Spring chill in the New Canaan air, the ’08 Girls Black team sizzled in this season’s grudge match against Darien Orange.

While the warm sun provided some reprieve from the cold on the sidelines, New Canaan showed no such mercy on the field. Early in the first half, Jenna Vigano fired a missile into the top of the net to put New Canaan ahead, a position they held the entire game.

Larkin Celiberti led a number of attacks for New Canaan that kept Darien on their heels.

Before the end of the half, Skyla Warren, assisted by Serena Peterson, punched a shot past the Darien goalkeeper to put New Canaan up by 2.

With heroic goaltending by Charlotte Hanover, Darien finished the first half scoreless.

Over halftime, Coach Maegen Doyle cautioned her troop to control their passing, and to stay focused: The winning team needs to win both halves, not just the first.

The message was received: Early in the second half, Jenna Vigano fired in another goal, assisted by Skyla Warren, to give New Canaan a 3-0 lead.

However, Darien narrowly avoided a shutout by knocking a goal in the bottom of the second half.

In the end, New Canaan proved to be too much: Emma Prior was a force on defense; the midfield was controlled by Maddy Peterson and Natalie Hamilton; and constant pressure was kept on Darien by the offensive talents of Sadie Harris, Lindsay Hanlon, and Ariella Blatt.

With the final score 3-1, New Canaan clutched an important victory in the Spring 2017 season.

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New Canaan Boy White 07 dominates FUSA 07 Boys Blue 6-2 (submitted by Anne Matvaik)

NC Boys White 07 continued their winning streak with a definitive win over Fairfield at

Farm Road. The sunny spring day saw the boys on the offensive with quick moves, great passing and good communication. Undeterred by FUSA’s first goal, made quickly upfront, New Canaan answered back with a breakaway goal by Simon Tchakarov. With a battery of shots of goal during the first half, the offensive line of Jack Mitchell, Ellis Frey and Gregory Martin dominated and culminated into two more goals: another by Tchakarov and a third by John Murphy. On defense, Gianmarco Barrato, Oliver Sturn and George Matviak wrestled the ball away from FUSA’s forwards and goalie Finn Arrix successfully stopped everything that came towards NC.  It wasn’t until the final minutes of the first half that FUSA scored again, bringing the score to 3 to 2.

But the second half only saw more goals from NC  The speed and endurance of the midfielders and front line, including Liam Cannon, Parker Della Bitta, Gustavo do Valle and Christian Crovatto kept much of the play on Fairfield’s side. An assist by Matviak resulted in a hat trick by Tchakarov. With the score at 4 to 2, Tchakarov scored again, bringing NC’s tally to 5. In the last minutes, Barrato fired a final shot on Fairfield, with an assist by Mitchell, to end the game definitively with a score of 6 to 2.

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2005 Girls Black Remain Undefeated (submitted by Michael Mottolese)

The 2005 Girls Black team took on rival Darien Sunday at the NCHS track field. Not having played a game for a few weeks due to weather and scheduling, the New Canaan girls got off to a slow start, despite some pressure from forwards Rory McCarthy and Paxton Beladino.

The team struggled to make good passes, and thankfully keeper Emily Fox and defenders Amanda Benson and Natalie Plosker held off a few attempts by Darien, and kept the game scoreless at the half.

Early in the second half, The New Canaan team started to gel. The Darien keeper made some good saves under increasing pressure from New Canaan forwards Plosker,  Abby Richardson and Jocelyn Riley. The Darien keeper then cleared the ball to a waiting Plosker, who booted it in for the first goal of the game.

Charlotte Walter pounded in a corner kick towards the goal, which was handled by Plosker, who then passed to Richardson for the score to make it 2-0 New Canaan. Walter followed up her corner kick with a goal of her own to extend the lead to 3-0. Late in the game, Midfielder

KK Mottolese moved from mid-fielder to forward and broke her way down the field towards the goal, only to be stopped short by the Darien defense, but Ava Dunn was there to pick up the loose ball and kick it in for the score to make the game 4-0. The New Canaan 2005 Black team is 4-0 this season and hopes to build on their early success.