Eye On The CIAC

Eye On The CIAC

Nothing out of the ordinary with this edition of Eye On The CIAC, though there was a record breaking moment from the East Lyme softball team. Teams have begun to clinch league titles and those championships are on the horizon, and the implications of every game starts to carry even more significance. As always Eye On The CIAC attempts to track a few noteworthy games over the past week.

Girls Tennis:

  • On Monday in a pivotal FCIAC contest, Greenwich squeaked past Staples by a 4-3 score. Greenwich entered the match having won eight straight, while Staples came in with an eight-match winning streak.
  • Daniel Hand, which ranks near the top of class L with just one loss, was pushed to the limit on Tuesday by North Haven before earning a 4-3 win. North Haven had won 10 of its last 11 matches before the setback.
  • Southington bounced back from just its second loss of the year with a tough 4-3 win over Hall over the weekend. Hall is now 7-4 after continuing a trend of playing close game, as each of its last five matches have been scores of 5-2 or closer. 

Boys Tennis:

  • Fairfield Ludlowe came away with a tight 4-3 win over local rival Darien on Monday afternoon. It was the fifth time in 12 matches this season that a Fairfield Ludlowe match was decided by one match, with the team improving to 3-2 in those contests and 9-3 overall.
  • Farmington earned a close 4-3 win over local rival Newington. Both teams now have three losses after the match as Farmington improved to 7-3 while Newington is now 8-3 after starting the year 7-0.
  • Westhill also rebounded from a 4-3 loss by earning a 4-3 win over St. Joseph to move its record to 8-4. St. Joseph is in the midst of a tough losing skid in which it has had three 4-3 losses during that stretch.

Girls Lacrosse:

  • A series of close victories continued for New Milford on Monday as the team pulled out a 12-11 win over Bethel. The Green Wave have won three of their past five games by a single goal, including an overtime win over Immaculate last week.
  • North Branford and Old Lyme squared off in a high-scoring affair with Old Lyme pulling out the 18-17 win to improve to 8-3. For North Branford it was the latest in a string of narrow losses as the team is now 5-7 with five of the losses coming by a single goal.
  • Danbury and New Fairfield squared off in a contest of top-10 teams with Danbury pulling out the 14-12 victory to move its record to 10-3, matching the record of New Fairfield. It was a seventh-straight win for Danbury which held off a late surge just days after claiming a one-goal win over Ridgefield.

Baseball:

  • Eye On The CIAC loves reporting on pitchers duels, and there was another 1-0 affair on Monday with Berlin getting past Middletown. Mike Veronesi was the key figure for Berlin, allowing only two hits and fanning six to earn the complete-game shutout.
  • Avon out-pitched its neighbor Canton to capture a 2-1 win on Tuesday and remain near the top of the L rankings. Avon has allowed more than four runs just once in its nine victories.
  • Waterford battled to a 5-1 win over East Lyme in a battle of two teams ranked in the top-10 of the class L rankings. East Lyme won the previous meeting between the two teams by a 3-2 score, and all three of Waterford’s losses have been by two or fewer runs.
  • Staples earned a strong win over top-10 ranked Greenwich by a 3-2 score over the weekend to claim its 11th victory. After a rough stretch in the middle of the season, Staples has won five of its past six games.

Girls Golf:

  • Two strokes were enough for Weston to come away with a win over Immaculate by a score of 235-237 early in the week. Despite a balanced performance from Immaculate where all four Immaculate performers scored between 56 and 63 Weston earned the win behind the top score of 49 from Joy Essaghoff.
  • Mercy picked up a win over Canton 214-222 on Tuesday with Mercy earning its sixth victory of the season. Gianna Cassetta was the medalist for Canton, but Mercy had two golfers shoot 52 and the others shoot 55 to capture the win.
  • Sacred Heart and Suffied actually played to a 216 tie in a meet on Thursday. Emma Heim shot the best round of the day with a 45. 

Track & Field:

  • Hannah DeBalsi enjoyed a strong day on Monday in a meet at RHS. She posted a time of 5:02.29 in the 1,600, which ranks as the fastest time in that event this year.
  • Tuesday saw a number of strong performances with one of them coming from Killingly’s Alex Mayo who ran a blistering time of 10.4 in the 100 meters in a dual meet against Plainfield.
  • In girls competition Olivia Lane of NFA produced a toss of 34-9 in the shot put against Fitch to put her safely among the qualifiers.
  • Julio Gil-Martinez of Waterford turned in one of the top efforts late in the week with a qualifying time of 22.50 in the 200-meter dash in a tri-meet with New London and Branford.
  • Danbury’s Austin Winter ran in New York state late in the week when he ran a top time in the 800. He covered the distance with a time of 1:53.94.
  • Also late in the week Abigale Slonski of  Griswold jumped 35-9.5 in the triple jump to rank among the best in that event this season. 
  • Also jumping well was Elizabeth Knoll who cleared 5-4 in the high jump for Staples over the weekend. 

Boys Volleyball:

  • In an intriguing match between a pair of highly-ranked L teams on Monday  Fairfield Warde/Ludlowe Coop knocked off Greenwich by a 3-1 score. Fairfield Warde/Ludlowe has beaten every team on its schedule with the exception of Staples, which has knocked them off twice.
  • Masuk climbed above the .500 mark by battling to a 3-2 win over Shelton on Tuesday afternoon.  The team is now 8-7 after the win and has put together an up-and-down season as it has a pair of three-match winning streaks, and three streaks of at least two consecutive losses.
  • Shelton snapped a sting of 5-set losses by winning a 5-set contest against Joel Barlow on Wednesday. Shelton has played five five-set contests this year, and is now 2-3 in those outings.
  • A class M volleyball showdown took place over the weekend with Farmington pulling out a 3-1 win over Lewis Mills. Lewis Mills claimed the first meeting of the season between the two teams also by a 3-1 score. Both teams still rank in the top-5 of the rankings in class M.

Softball:

  • It was a lopsided win, and it led to a record as East Lyme topped Ledyard 15-5 and East Lyme head coach Judy Deeb became the Connecticut state leader in career victories. Her career total reached 553 wins to pass the record previously held by Lou Milardo, and her career record stands at 553-297. Most importantly for the coach, East Lyme is off to a 14-2 start this season.
  • Brookfield opened the week with a tight 3-1 victory over Bunnell to keep pace with the top teams in class L. The squad has the third longest win streak in the class at seven games, and trails only five teams in the rankings.
  • One of those teams it trails is Maloney which dropped its first game of the season on Monday. The Spartans were blanked by powerful Bristol Central 6-0 which was their first loss after opening the year 14-0.
  • Lauralton Hall continued its strong play of late by claiming a 12-11 win over Newtown that improved its record to 12-3. After opening 1-2 the squad went on an eight-game win streak in the middle of the season.
  • A great matchup between highly-ranked rivals lived up to the billing with Bristol Central claiming a 1-0 win. It was a 10th-straight win for Bristol Central with Ileish Burney tossing a complete-game shutout and allowing three hits.

Boys Golf:

  • Killingly remained unbeaten on the season with a convincing victory over Windham on Monday. Drew and John Aitken both shot 40 to lead the team to a 12th victory this season.
  • Thomaston-Wamogo won its 13th match of the season on Tuesday, getting a balanced effort to top Nonnewaug 177-187. Thomaston-Wamogo’s Nick Nemergut was the low scorer with a 40 to help his team raise its record to 13-6 while Nonnewaug dropped to 7-4.
  • Northwestern won a tri-match over the weekend with a score of 171, besting Housatonic and Litchfield. Robby Emmons shot a 37 for Northwestern to lead all competitors.

Boys Lacrosse:

  • One goal was the difference as Hamden earned a key win over Foran. With the season more than half complete the win evened Hamden’s record at 6-6 to keep them in the mix for a postseason spot. Two of those wins have come over Foran by a combined three goals.
  • Darien dealt Ridgefield its second loss of the season in a tight decision on Tuesday. The Blue Wave outscored Ridgefield 2-1 in the final period to capture the 9-7 win and hand their opponents their first FCIAC loss of the season.
  • After a four-match slide in the middle of the season, Daniel Hand won its sixth-straight over the weekend by pulling out an 8-7 overtime win over East Lyme. Will Reynolds scored the winning goal 30 seconds into overtime to claim the victory.

RANKINGS WATCH
Each Monday we take a look at any major movement in the top-10 of the CIAC Tournament Rankings for those sports where it is provided (rankings and records are based on results reported through the CIAC on-line reporting system).

  • Torrington continues to set the pace in softball as one of three remaining unbeaten teams, and currently holding the top spot in class L. Torrington and Suffield remained atop the L and M rankings respectively while Southington and Oxford each moved up one spot to claim first in LL and S. Southington is now the fifth different team to sit in the top position in the LL rankings. In LL Fairfield Ludlowe made the biggest move, climbing from 10th to seventh. No team moved more than one spot in class L while M  saw Lauralton Hall vault from outside the top-10 to sixth. Thomaston was the big mover in class S, rising from sixth to third.
  • The boys lacrosse top-10 rankings saw mostly shuffling with very little major upheaval as there is only one new team in the top-10 of the three classes that was not ranked in a top-10 spot last week. The largest shifts occurred in S where Stonington now leads the rankings after jumping from third. Also in S, Somers moved from fifth to third in the rankings, and Lewis Mills jumped from ninth to sixth, while Morgan dropped from fourth to eighth. Darien is the new team at 10 in class M while Avon remains unbeaten in the top spot. Fairfield Prep moved from ninth to fifth in L, while Ridgefield reclaimed the lead position after Xavier seized it last week. A two-loss week dropped Hall from fourth to eighth, with other teams moving up one spot.
  • Girls lacrosse saw East Lyme make a big leap in class M to shake up those rankings. The team vaulted from seventh to third, sliding several teams down a spot while Farmington moved up one just behind top-ranked New Canaan. In class S, Haddam-Killingworth remains the only unbeaten team in the state and is tops in the rankings. The moves in class S were all one position other than East Catholic rising from 10th to eighth and Stonington falling from fifth to ninth. Darien claimed the top spot from Glastonbury in L as Wilton handed Glastonbury its first loss of the year. Hall jumped from sixth to fourth in LL and Danbury and Ridgefield also enjoyed two spot leaps in the rankings.
  • Boys volleyball remained fairly consistent with the top-3 holding firm in both classes. In class L, Southington climbed from seventh to fifth and Cheshire followed right behind from eighth to sixth. Masuk was a big climber in class M, with three victories last week helping them move from 10th to sixth. St. Joseph appears at ninth after ranking outside the top-10 last week, while the remainder of the moves in M were one position moves.
  • Three of the four rankings leaders remained the same in baseball with only Northwestern claiming the top spot in M as a change. There were minor shifts in LL with Glastonbury and Conard appearing in the bottom two spots, and Southington making a two-position jump to fourth. Maloney vaulted from 10th to sixth in L to mark the most significant change while there were also some new faces in the bottom of the top-10. Northwestern and Wolcott swapping places were the only changes in the top-5 in M. Old Lyme appeared in the top-10 at sixth in class S after ranking outside the top-10 last week and the same is true of Oxford which holds the seventh spot.
  • Stonington assumes the top spot in class S in the girls tennis rankings while Amity and Ellington remain in the top positions in L and M. Woodland drops from first to fourth in S after suffering its first loss, while Holy Cross moves up from seventh to fifth. Old Saybrook enjoyed a three-spot leap from ninth to sixth in S. The top six in M remains unchanged from last week and then Killingly claims seventh place after sitting outside the top-10 a week ago. Platt also joins the top-10 in class M. Fairfield Ludlowe made a big move in L, rising from ninth to sixth, and Glastonbury also moved up three positions from eighth to fifth. Amity is the only unbeaten in L, while M and S have two and three unbeaten teams remaining respectively.

CIAC On TV
For the second-straight week CPTVSports will be airing 15 CIAC games over the coming week. Among the matchups is a contest between top-10 ranked teams Newington and Southington in boys volleyball, another match-up of top-10 ranked teams in boys lacrosse with Farmington and Tolland squaring off, and an intriguing softball contest between Rockville and Bristol Central. There are three boys volleyball, six boys lacrosse and six softball games on the schedule. The CIAC Network is featuring the On-Demand broadcast of the CIAC Unified Bowling Championship, and there is also live baseball and boys lacrosse on the schedule for this week. CPTVSports will also be airing footage from the FIRST Robotics High School State Championships. As always, check out CPTVsports.org for the full schedule, and schedule for games available with the CIAC Network is available on CIAC.tv.

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