NC Baseball A Division Championship: Yankees 7, Red Sox 6
The Russell Speeder’s Car Wash Yankees outlasted the Karl Chevrolet Red Sox in 8 innings to capture the A Division championship of New Canaan Baseball. Contributed
In an epic extra-inning affair, the Russell Speeder’s Car Wash Yankees beat the Karl Chevrolet Red Sox in 8 innings to capture the A Division championship. Joe Ho led off the bottom of the 8th with a walk and advanced on a walk by Jacob Kozar. He scored on a clutch single to center by Brendan Bailey, one of Bailey’s game-leading three hits, to complete the comeback from 6-1. Earlier, the Yankees needed two in the bottom of the 6th to extend the game and Theo Doehla’s RBI single with two outs saved the day. Jake Valente added a two-run RBI single in the fourth. Henry Lapin, Will Boggess & Tristan MacAllister also contributed key hits.
As they did all season, the Yankees rode the excellent pitching of Thomas Shullman, Charlie Ellis, Maddox Hoffman, and Pep Biasotti, despite tenacious hitting by the Red Sox. That Red Sox hitting was led by Alex Dathan who collected three hits while Bennett Heagle contributed a triple and led the stellar pitching staff.
The fine pitching staff included: Adrian Delicata with two shutout innings, Charlie O’Neil who reached base three out of four times and held off the Yankees in that epic 6th inning, and Nico D’Andrea who, in addition to keeping the Yankees off balance while on the mound, made a great play at short stop to close out the 5th inning.
The Red Sox fought hard and played a great defensive game. They had contributions up and down the lineup from Zachary and Tyler Santiago, Braiden Sykes, Nolan McLoughlin, Henry King, Hudson Cullis, and Carter Evans.
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KK Mottolese (Left) and Ava Dunn (right). Contributed
NC U11 White Beats Westport 5-2
The New Canaan U11 White Girls team took on Westport Wednesday evening at Coleytown Middle School in Westport. The game saw New Canaan take control early with a goal from the strong foot of Abby Holmstead assisted by Ava Dunn. Natalie Plosker, playing through a back injury, added a score, breaking through the defense and driving it home. New Canaan’s offense, bolstered by the play of Jocelyn Riley, Kate Dickinson, Emily Fox and Paxton Beladoni, kept the pressure on the Westport keeper. Late in the half, Holmstead found a seam and took the ball on her own and found the back of the net to make it 3-0 at the half. Fine goal keeping from KK Mottolese kept the Westport team off the board in the first half.
In the second half, New Canaan’s backfield manned by Amanda Benson, Peyton Franz and Abby Richardson, fed the offense for two more scores. Mottolese came out of the goal in the second half and fed Plosker her second goal with a nifty give-and-go pass which Plosker then kicked high out of the keeper’s reach. Goalkeeper Fox made a number of good saves, but Westport managed to score two late goals. New Canaan’s scored their 5th and final goal as Dunn found Franz for a close range goal.
NC White Blanks Weston 2-0
On a bright but windy afternoon in Weston, The New Canaan U11 White girls gutted out a win fighting for two goals against a strong Weston team. First half Goalkeeper KK Mottolese had her work cut out for her, with the wind against her, but made a half dozen saves to keep NC in the game. Natalie Plosker, still playing with an injury that would sideline most of us, fought through Weston’s defense to hammer home the first goal, giving New Canaan a slim 1-0 lead. New Canaan’s defense, patrolled by Amanda Benson, Abby Richardson, Peyton Franz and Plosker worked hard to protect their goal. New Canaan’s offense, manned by Delaney Hoey, Ava Dunn and Jocelyn Riley kept the pressure on the Weston keeper.
At fifteen minutes in the second half, with the wind now at her back, Paxton Beladoni squirted a long shot through the Weston defense for the second goal. Emily Fox, Mottolese, Riley, Dunn and Hoey rounded out the offensive pressure for the remainder of the half. Rookie goalkeeper Richardson who was called on to play goal in the second half, kept Weston off the board to keep the game 2-0.
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Brooks Thompson, Finn Arrix, Holden Prymas, Sajan Shah & Tommy Havens preparing for Bethel’s shot on goal. Contributed
U9 Boys White Soccer Draws 2-2 with Bethel
It was a hot one for U9 Boys White’s make up game against Bethel on Saturday. White started out strong in the first half with great passing between team members. Charles Cushman scored the first goal for White giving New Canaan a 1-0 lead. Then after a bit of back and forth, Jack Mitchell passed the ball to Alex Russey who took the ball down the field and scored for a 2-0 lead. Tommy Havens, in goal, saved a few shots but Bethel scored for a 2-1 score at halftime.
In the second half, Brooks Thompson had a few shots on goal but unfortunately Bethel’s goalie was right there to save them. Gregory Martin had a nice play using hand signals to motion for his team mates to move towards the center. Nice footwork was demonstrated by Simon Tchakarov and great defense plays by Oliver Sturn and Holden Prymas. Unfortunately, Bethel was able to score a goal to tie the game 2-2.
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New Canaan U14 girls soccer team. L-R: (foreground) Natalie Lopez, (bottom row), Taylor Frame, Elizabeth DeMarino, Michelle LaBadie, Sophie Potter, Emma Achille, and Katie Dunn, (top row) Lizzie Kuchinski, Jane Charlton, Charlie Gardner, Maddie Otero, Kearney McKirnan, Caroline Wilson, Katherine Lisecky, Sophie Smith, Riana Afshar, and Head Coach Barry Beattie, not pictured are players Sophie Curcio and Allison Leopold. Photo credit: Nichole LaBadie
New Canaan U14 Girls Travel Soccer Team Initially Tied for First in Scarsdale Tournament
New Canaan’s (NC) Division-A U14 girls travel soccer team participated in a scorching Memorial Day Tournament this past Saturday on the SUNY Purchase Campus against 3 Premier Clubs and all the 44 minute matches were on even hotter turf fields. Although NC was initially tied for first place in total points won (5 points), they finished in second place due to a predetermined tie breaker algorithm as follows; head to head outcome (tied them 0-0), then goal differential (both teams tied again with a plus 2), then goals scored and they had 3 (2 of which came from their arbitrary 2-0 forfeit win) whilst NC only had 2. After that it would have been goals conceded which NC would have won as all 3 of their matches were shutouts!
NC played its first match against North Rockland Fury, which ended in a 0-0 draw. NC controlled possession most of the game and produced the only 2 real goal scoring opportunities. At the 36-minute mark, NC attacking midfielder Katherine Lisecky sent in a strike from just outside the 18 yard box that just kept rising and narrowly went over the crossbar. At 40 minutes, a NC midfielder punched the ball through the North Rockland defense which resulted in a footrace between their goalkeeper and NC striker Katie Dunn which culminated in a collision in the box as they both reached the loose ball at the same point. The ball popped free but the defense was able to clear it out of the box.
NC played its second match against Scarsdale Youth United which also ended in a 0-0 draw. NC dominated possession most of the game and peppered the Scarsdale goalkeeper producing 5 superb goal scoring opportunities to no avail. At the 7 minute mark, NC striker Jane Charlton found herself in a 1v1 breakaway where the goalie came out, got big and blocked Charlton’s shot but didn’t control the ball. Charlton was able to get another foot on her own rebound which then rang the right post. Charlton had 2 more breakaways at 18 and 21 minutes, respectively, which again the Scarsdale goalkeeper came up with huge saves to keep them in the match. At the 25 minute mark, NC attacking midfielder Lizzie Kuchinski sent in crossing pass to the center of the box which resulted in a prolonged melee which NC headed the ball into the goal after it had dropped down after hitting the soccer goal crossbar. The goal was nullified as the sideline referee claimed that the ball had hit the football crossbar instead which made the ball out of play. NC last opportunity at 38 minutes again came from Charlton which again was denied by the Scarsdale keeper.
Thunder sounded before NC could start its final match of the day which halted all matches until at least 30 minutes after the last thunder clap and if that didn’t happen before 6 PM then the tournament was to be terminated. While waiting, it was announced that the Scarsdale team went home and forfeited their game to the North Rockland team which put them into first place. Knowing this, NC also knew that they had to not only win their match but they had to win it with a goal differential of 3 to beat the tie breaker algorithm.
As soon as the last game started, NC dropped the hammer and went into overdrive against Rivertowns United Fire as they had a very clear target that they knew they had to achieve. Again, NC was peppering the bejesus out of the Rivertowns’ goalkeeper unsuccessfully for the first half of the match. Finally, at the 28 minute mark, NC broke through from a set piece as NC won a corner kick which again was delivered skillfully into box by Charlton that found NC’s Emma Achille who finished it off putting NC up, 1-nil. At the 42 minute mark, NC attacking midfielder Lizzie Kuchinski fed the ball up to NC striker Taylor Frame who successfully chipped the goalkeeper increasing NC’s lead to 2-nil. NC refused to let up the pressure as they could taste victory and the 3rd goal they desperately needed so for the last 2 minutes of play they threw in everything they had left but were unable to achieve their target.
On the flipside of the field, New Canaan’s tenacious and impenetrable rotating defensive back line anchored mainly by Elizabeth DeMarino, Natalie Lopez, Sophie Potter, Sophie Smith and Caroline Wilson as well as goal keeper Michelle LaBadie kept busy during the entire day. Their combined efforts were directly reflected on the scoreboard as NC shutout all 3 teams it faced in the tournament and extending their total number of shutouts in all competitions to 6 so far.
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Ava Pertusiello looks to pass to Lexie Tully in Sunday’s comeback win. Contributed
U9 Girls Red Comes Back To Best FUSA 4-2
Not knowing if there would even be a match right up to “go/no-go” time, the Red showed up as if still expecting to have the day off. The wet conditions made first half play very sloppy with New Canaan struggling to generate offensive opportunities. FUSA was no better, but they did manage to score a couple of lucky goals to go up 2-0 at the half.
After Coach Alan O’Keeffe’s halftime pep talk, the girls took charge, and the second half was completely different than the first. New Canaan’s forwards immediately went on the attack and within minutes Ava Pertusiello fed a pass to Lexie Tully streaking down the middle. Tully wasted no time striking a high line drive over the goalie’s head to start the comeback.
A short time later Pertusiello received a throw in near the goal line, fought off a defender, and found the net with a low shot thru traffic. With their opponent starting to teeter, the offense stepped up the pressure. Kelly Polacek, Lila Volpe and Izzy Cavanaugh controlled the ball for long stretches, passing between each other across the field and driving to the net.
Midway thru the second half FUSA came alive and frantically tried to turn things around. However stalwart defenders Maggie Murphy, Kathryn Norton and Devon Russell would have none of it and expertly shut down every advance. A few opponents managed to get shots off from outside the box, but goaltender Charlotte Walter was rock solid in keeping FUSA from tallying any more. Not wanting to settle for a tie, the Red’s offense went into overdrive. Tully and Pertusiello went back-to-back again with similar high line drives over the goalie to complete the 4-2 comeback win.