Eye On The CIAC

Eye On The CIAC

The calendar has turned to October, and the stretch run of the fall season is coming in very quickly. The brackets for many of the fall sports will be released in approximately a month, with the cross country championships kicking off the season at the end of October. With that in mind, here is another quick glimpse at some of the interesting events from last week.

Boys Soccer:

  • Brookfield preserved its unbeaten record with a 1-1 draw against Pomperaug on the road Monday evening. After a 5-0 start to the year, Brookfield has played to draws in its last two outings.
  • Four technical schools staged a pair of tight games Wednesday night with Windham Tech posting a 2-1 win over Ellis Tech, and Norwich Tech winning a 4-3 shootout over Cheney Tech. Windham Tech is off to a strong start in class M with a mark of 8-1, and its two goals on Wednesday were the second-fewest the team has scored all season. Norwich Tech has won two in a row after suffering through a five-match slide.
  • A cross-town contest between Bristol Central and Bristol Eastern provided the close finish a rivalry match should, with Bristol Central capturing a 3-2 win. Chris Martin scored a goal in the 54th minute that ultimately provided the winning margin.
  • Bolton is unbeaten and near the top of the standings in class S after earning a narrow 2-1 win over Windsor Locks on Friday. It was a second one-goal win in its last four games and just the third time in nine games the squad has scored fewer than three goals. Windsor Locks’ last four games have all been decided by a goal or less, or a tie.

Field Hockey:

  • Newington inched closer to the .500 mark and has been trying to right the ship in the last few weeks with a tight 1-0 win over E.O. Smith which is still searching for its first victory. After opening the year 0-2-1-1, Newington has picked up consecutive wins.
  • Conard remained unbeaten in its early season on the strength of a 2-1 win over Fermi in overtime on Wednesday night. It was a second-straight 2-1 win for Conard.
  • A battle between a pair of highly-ranked teams from classes S and M lived up to the billing as Granby Memorial knocked off Farmington by a 1-0 score. The teams entered the game with a combined 10 wins and only one loss and in this contest Granby’s defense maintained its early-season dominance as the team has not allowed a goal in any of its five victories.
  • A pair of the top teams so far this season staged a tight defensive battle, with Avon and Glastonbury finishing in a 0-0 draw. Glastonbury remains unbeaten and unscored upon (remaining in the hunt for the CIACsports made up trophy for last team to allow a goal) and Avon has not lost since a season-opening setback against Canton, running its unbeaten streak to six.

Girls Swimming:

  • Branford remained unbeaten to start the year by pulling out a five-point win over Daniel Hand early in the week. Paige MacNeil won a pair of events for Branford at the meet in handing Hand its first loss of the season.
  • There was a big showdown in the pool in Fairfield County on Wednesday with Greenwich riding a confidence boost to a dual-meet win over rival Darien by a 98-88 score. The contest pitted the last two State Open winners after Darien ended Greenwich’s run of seven-straight State Open titles. Christina Frias and Kim Hill each had a pair of individual wins for Greenwich in the meet.
  • Watertown improved to 6-1 on the season by edging Torrington and handing the team its first loss. Watertown claimed the meet by a 95-90 score and secured the win on the strength of a win in the 400 freestyle relay.

Cross Country:

  • Fairfield Prep maintained its unbeaten record on the boys side with a sweep of a quad-meet against Foran, Daniel Hand, and West Haven. The competition between Foran and Hand was the tightest of the day with Hand claiming a 13-point win over Foran.
  • The ECC large cross country meet featured a strong performance from Ledyard’s top trio to earn wins over East Lyme and Woodstock. The win over Woodstock was by a one-point margin and Bryce Hedman for Ledyard was the individual top finisher.

Football:

  • In a dramatic rivalry game win, Woodland outlasted Naugatuck by a 25-22 score. The Woodland defense was the story as it forced a number of incompletions and turnover on downs, along with trouble on special teams, while earning the win to retain the George Pinho Memorial Trophy.
  • Farmington improved to 4-0 on the early season (one of 22 teams without a blemish through four weeks) by holding off Wethersfield 32-28. Ivan Guadalupe ran for 167 yards and three touchdowns and  Kenny Jones scored on runs of 63 and 67 yards and totaled 135 rushing yards for Farmington as well.
  • Danbury won a defensive battled with Bridgeport Central, claiming a 13-6 win. Anferny Ith rushed for a touchdown and threw for the other and the Danbury defense stood up with a key fourth-quarter stop to preserve the win and even the team’s record at 2-2.
  • Valley Regional/Old Lyme maintained its unbeaten season by pulling out a three-point win over Avon. The home team survived a fourth-quarter comeback including an on-side kick attempt which Valley Regional/Old Lyme recovered to seal the win.
  • In one of three overtime games of the weekend, Ridgefield kept pace with the unbeaten teams in class LL with a 28-21 win over Notre Dame-West Haven. Ryan Dunn completed a 10-yard touchdown pass in overtime to seal the victory.
  • A triple-deflection on a fourth-quarter touchdown pass provided one of the wildest finishes of the weekend as Fairfield Ludlowe survived a furious rally from Warren Harding to earn a win. Michael Arman collected a 66-yard scoring pass in the fourth quarter that deflected off a handful of players and settled in his arms for the decisive score. 

Girls Volleyball:

  • Bethel might be one of the hottest teams in the state as the Wildcats outlasted Stratford 3-2 on Monday for its fifth-straight win. After opening the year with three-straight losses, including a 3-2 set-back to Weston, Bethel has responded with five consecutive wins. It halted a three-game win streak for Stratford. Stratford then bounced back the next night by topping Weston 3-2. These three teams could stage a heck of a round-robin based on the regular-season results among them.
  • East Lyme continued its winning ways this year by battling past Waterford by a 3-1 score on Tuesday evening, earning the team its eighth win of the season. The winning streak came to an end on Friday when still unbeaten Morgan claimed a 3-0 win. Morgan sits at 11-0 and is atop class S, and has only lost three sets total in those 11 victories.
  • Fairfield Warde slid into the top-10 in the class LL on the back of a 3-2 win over Brien McMahon. After a two-match bump in the middle of the season, Fairfield Warde has reeled off four-consecutive wins to improve to 8-2. 

Girls Soccer:

  • East Hampton is off to a strong start and that continued on Monday with a 2-1 win over Coginchaug which raised the team’s record to 7-0-1. East Hampton surrendered just its second goal of the season, but managed the win regardless. It did snap a streak of six consecutive games in which the team had kept its opponents off the scoreboard.
  • One of the longest streaks in Connecticut high school sports came to an end this past week as Glastonbury posted a 2-0 win over Northwest Catholic. Northwest Catholic entered the match with a 48-match unbeaten streak but Taylor Walker and Maddy Lamagna found the back of the net for Glastonbury which now has an eight-game unbeaten streak of its own.
  • Amity and Jonathan Law played to a 1-1 tie as Amity maintained its position in the top-10  rankings in class LL. It did snap a five-game stretch in which Amity had not conceded a goal. The tie snapped a two-game losing streak for Law which is scrapping its way to .500.
  • Fairfield Ludlowe earned a win in the battle of the cross-town rivals with a 1-0 victory over Fairfield Warde. It was the first loss of the season suffered by Fairfield Warde, and was just the second match this season in which Fairfield Warde has conceded a goal.
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).
  • Four teams sport perfect records (without a loss or a tie) thus far in boys soccer, and three teams remained atop the rankings from last week, while Greenwich has moved up one spot to the top of class LL. Staples jumping from eighth to third was the biggest move in LL. There was virtually no change in the L rankings, while in M, Nonnewaug also made a leap from eighth to third. Lewis Mills also made a huge climb from outside the top-10 to fourth position. Valley Regional made the exact same move in class S, and is now sitting in fourth.
  • Three new teams assumed the top spots in all three classes in the field hockey rankings. Thomaston jumped two spots to sit atop class S, while Lauralton Hall and Hall each moved from second to first in M and L respectively. There was very little movement in class M with just East Lyme appearing at ninth as a significant change. Granby Memorial climbed two spots in S where there was also little movement in the top-10 as all but one of the same teams remained and no team moved more than two positions.
  • Twenty-two football teams are still without a loss, including eight teams in S and seven in L. Shelton, St. Joseph, and Derby remained in the top spots in LL, M, and S respectively, while Windsor moved up one position to sit atop the L rankings. Prince Tech and Rocky Hill each moved up two places for the biggest moves in S, while Wolcott’s appearance in the top-10 of M at eighth from outside the top-10 was a major move. Gilbert/Northwest Regional also had a big move climbing from ninth to sixth. Masuk was the biggest climber in L, jumping from 10th to fourth as one of the large group of unbeaten teams in that class. There was almost no movement among the top-10 in class LL with just a few teams moving up one spot.
  • There were no changes at the top positions in each of the four classes in girls volleyball and all four class leaders are still unbeaten at this point in the season. Greenwich made the biggest positive move in LL moving up from ninth to fourth. Staples also made a big move, jumping from outside the top-10 to sixth. The top five remained exactly the same in class L, and Platt moving from 10th to seventh was the biggest shift. Bethel was the biggest climber in M, jumping from 10th into the top-5 at fifth place. Abbott Tech currently sits at second in S, sliding up from sixth the previous week, in what was easily the most significant move in the class.
  • There are four teams remaining in girls soccer that have not suffered a loss or a tie, and each of them holds the top position in their respective rankings. Suffield, Joel Barlow, Lewis Mills, and Parish Hill are those four teams and they lead LL, L, M, and S respectively. Immaculate made a large leap in L as it jumped from eighth to second in one of the biggest leaps of the week. Tolland also was also a big mover in M, climbing to second from sixth in that class. Bolton was the big riser in S with its move from eighth to fourth, while in LL New Milford debuts at seventh and St. Joseph moved from fourth to second.
CIAC On TV & The Web
It is a big week for girls volleyball fans on CPTVSports with three games on the schedule along with some football and girls and boys soccer. Rivals Bristol Eastern and Bristol Central facing off is one of the volleyball matches, as is Coventry facing Granby Memorial, and E.O. Smith against RHAM. Elsewhere Fairfield Prep and Shelton square off in football in a game that will be shown live. The girls soccer match between Bolton and Avon and the boys soccer contest between Brookfield and Bethel will also be on the schedule for CPTVSports.

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