Youth Sports Roundup: Soccer Teams Shine at Ridgefield Tourney

Youth Sports Roundup: Soccer
Teams Shine at Ridgefield
Tourney; Football’s Black 7
Team Do Good for Circle of
Care
[The following youth sports game summaries, write-ups and
photos were submitted by parents of the New Canaan Soccer
Association and New Canaan Youth Football. Please forward your
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Sitting (l-r): Kyle Russell, AJ
Eason, Robert Evans, Dean
Ciancio
Kneeling
(l-r):
Bailey
Williams, Luke McPhillips, Zach
Boland, Dylan McDonald, Zach
LaPolice, Alec Kazlauskas and
Andrew Morse
Standing (l-r): Luke Morton,
Tighe Hoey, Jack Anderson, Theo
Kammerer, Alex Gibbens, Will
Pirrone and Matthew Rigione
missing from picture – Jack
Finnigan, Joe McClain, Alessio
Pantaleo, Charlie Knight and
Coaches Denis LaPolice, Bob
Evans and Chris Ciancio.
Credit: Rachel McDonald
Football: New Canaan Black 7 Support Childhood Cancer Program
New Canaan 7 Black recently took up a collection to support
Circle of Care, for the organization’s Bags of Love program.
Following a child’s cancer diagnosis, families are immediately
sent to the hospital to begin treatment procedures, most of
which require hospitalization.
Often, parents don’t even have time to grab a toothbrush, let
alone their child’s favorite thing to comfort them. While
Circle of Care works with children and families in a number of
ways to directly support them during their cancer treatment,
their Bags of Love help meet the immediate needs of newly
diagnosed children as soon as they reach the hospital—it’s one
of the first things waiting for them, to let them know they’re
not alone, and to offer them some practical support.
The collection drive NC 7 Black helped them fill those bags
with much-needed items. Find out more about Circle of Care
here.
Soccer
Great job by the New Canaan
Girls
U11
Black
Contributed photo
team.
New Canaan Girls U11 Black Find Success at Ridgefield SCOR
Tournament
New Canaan Girls U11 Black went 3-1-1 in a very competitive
division to end up with second place overall in the
tournament. They started the day with a strong 4-2 win against
Wilton, lost a tightly played 1-0 contest to host Ridgefield,
won 2-1 against Fairfield, tied the eventual tournament winner
John Jay 0-0 and finished the day with a strong 2-1 win
against a big Newtown team. The scoring was spread out among
Zoe Walker (2), Anna Barnard (2), Jasmine Mansourov (2), Abbie
Gaudreau and Kiera Mastey. Coach Wayne Hampton commented on
the day, “A great effort from everyone on and off the field.
It was a pleasure to be a part of.”
New Canaan’s Jade Lowe keeps
her opponent at arm’s length to
control the ball. Contributed
photo
U11 Girls Red Defeats Division Rival Southbury 3-2
The U11 Girls Red soccer team extended their regular season
record to 4-0-1 by defeating their division rival Southbury by
a score of 3-2.
Playing at home on Sunday, with clear blue skies overhead, New
Canaan had been anticipating this match up all season and
arrived focused and ready to play. It was evident almost
immediately that this was going to be a physical, back and
forth game with the mid-fielders seeing a lot of the action.
Relying on their speed and excellent passing game, the U11
girls held their own on the field until a Southbury striker
appeared out of nowhere for the breakaway shot on goal. New
Canaan keeper Katie Perlitz made a “body sacrificing” dive to
block the shot but couldn’t quite get her hands on the ball.
Jade Lowe immediately answered back with a goal of her own to
tie the score at 1-1.
Goal-to-goal action continued throughout the half with the New
Canaan back line, led by the powerhouse combination of Kaleigh
Harden, Avery Minter and Grace Crowell, doing their job to win
tackles and distribute the ball up field. After Southbury
sneaked another hard shot past Perlitz, Crowell stepped up the
pressure and scored New Canaan’s second goal off a perfectly
executed pass sequence from Dillyn Patten and Hollis Mulry.
The second half opened with the same intensity as the first,
with both teams coming out swinging. Game play was again very
evenly matched with the New Canaan offense and defense getting
an equally good work out on the field. Front line teammates
Patten, Caitlyn Tully, Hadley Beiles and Crowell used their
speed and effective ball control skills to make several
offensive rushes to the goal, only to have Southbury’s superb
keeper execute save after save. Always one to keep her poise
on the field, Jade Lowe finally broke the deadlock by drilling
a gorgeous shot across the net into the corner of the goal.
With 10 minutes left in the game, the pressure was now on the
New Canaan defense and keeper Ashley Barton to stave off a
tying goal. Barton stood tall and preserved the win by making
several confident saves.
The U11 Red team will be busy this week preparing for their CT
Cup quarterfinal game against Old Greenwich Thunder Blue on
Saturday, October 18. They again face Old Greenwich on Sunday,
October 19 in a regular season game.
Alexandra Gelvin looks to pass
to Kailee See, as Fiona Mueller
and Tema Wagner offer support.
Contributed photo
New Canaan U9 Girls Red Sweep Ridgefield Tournament
After a tough game last week, the New Canaan U9 Girls Red team
was determined to get back on track this past Sunday in the
Ridgefield Tournament.
They won all four games in commanding fashion, defeating
Ridgefield Eagles 5-0, Ridgefield Falcons 1-0, Brookfield
Bulldogs 3-1, and Stamford Hurricanes 3-0.
Six players scored for New Canaan: Lexie Tully (3), Kelly
Polacek (3), Devon Russell (2), Alexandra Gelvin (2), Kailee
See (1) and Isabel Cavanagh (1).
The Red’s dominant performance was also the result of stifling
defense anchored by goaltenders Fiona Mueller, Tully, Russell
and Lila Volpe who held their opponents to only one goal,
while Maggie Murphy, Katie Quill, Ava Pertusiello and Tema
Wagner were persistent in winning possession of the ball.
New Canaan U9 Girls Red now stands 3-1-1 in regular play, with
a 7-1 combined tournament record, and the girls look to
continue their outstanding play in the final stretch of the
season.
NC U9 Boys Red Soccer team
shows off their medals after
Saturday’s
Columbus
Day
tournament in Ridgefield. Back
row Jaden Oyekanmi, Ted Werner,
Will Langford, Coach Chris
Gilligan, Ethan Schubert, Ben
Bilden. Front row: Max Lowe,
Teddy Balkind, Connor Lytle,
Teddy Hoffstein.
New Canaan U9 Boys Red Continues Winning Streak at Ridgefield
Columbus Day Tournament
It was pouring rain on Saturday morning and while New Canaan’s
local soccer fields were closed for the day, it was game-on in
Ridgefield at the Columbus Day tournament.
The New Canaan U9 Boys Red team played four fast games, each
just 25 minutes long, and beat the Ridgefield Hawks 5-1, the
Ridgefield Falcons 2-0 and the Ridgefield Eagles 3-2, and tied
Newtown Blue 0-0.
In their first game, determined New Canaan defensemen kept the
Ridgefield Hawks to one goal and delivered ball after ball
back to the offense, who wasted no opportunity and scored five
goals in 25 minutes.
In game two, Ben Bilden lofted a pass into the box and Connor
Lytle headed it in for the first goal. Minutes later, Connor
Lytle scored again in a take-away, breakaway run. The final
score of 2-0 gave them a 6-goal differential at the halfway
mark of the tournament. After a 2-hour break to dry off and
warm up, the team came back in the afternoon to face the
Ridgefield Eagles.
New Canaan was momentarily down by two as the goalkeepers
struggled to stay standing in a field of mud, but the day’s
offensive power duo of Ben Bilden and Connor Lytle responded
quickly with 3 goals for New Canaan for a 3-2 win.
The rain finally stopped before their game against Newtown
Blue.
While much of the play was in front of the Newtown goalkeeper,
New Canaan did not manage to get it into the net within the
allotted 25 minutes and had to settle for a 0-0 tie. Their
coach Chris Gilligan was happy to see that the boys kept their
great attitude despite the cold and rain, but everyone is
hoping for a clear day next Sunday for the team’s game against
Stamford Gold.
The New Canaan Soccer Girls U10 Red Team Victorious at SCOR
Tournament
The New Canaan Soccer Girls U10 Red Team came up big with a
record of 3-0-1 at the SCOR (Soccer Club of Ridgefield)
Tournament on Sunday, Oct. 12.
The tournament featured teams from around the area and
consisted of four 25 minute fast paced games. The first game
played by New Canaan was a rematch of last week’s game against
the Stamford Hurricanes. Once again the Red Team defeated the
Hurricanes 1-0 on a breakaway goal from Ava Gizzie. Evelyn
Slatoff was perfect in goal and the defense held strong which
allowed New Canaan to chalk up their first victory of the day.
Next, the New Canaan team faced the Wilton White team in
another high-energy matchup. This time Katie Polacek blasted a
shot into the top of the net creating a 1-0 lead. The Red
Team’s defensive play and strong goal keeping of Julia Dunn
shut down the Wilton team and the game ended in a 1-0 victory.
The third game of the day was played against the Fairfield Red
Team. The Fairfield team scored first on a penalty kick to
take a 1-0 lead. However, New Canaan battled back and was able
to tie the game on a beautiful breakaway goal from Caroline
Underwood. With the game even at 1-1, the New Canaan defense
and goaltending of Ellie Gallois was able to keep Fairfield
from scoring any further goals. As time ran out, this game
went into the books as a 1-1 tie.
Finally the last game played was against the Southbury Blue
Lightning.
The scoring opened up when Ellie Gallois scored on a crossing
pass from Ella Patterson. Moments later Gallois added another
goal to make the score 2-0. Working as a team Ella Patterson
scored the third goal on an assist from Gallois. New Canaan
kept up the offensive pressure and Katie Polacek stole the
ball in front of the Southbury goal and beat the goalie to
send the score to 4-0.
With just minutes remaining Katharine Byrne’s footwork
her to thread the defense and cap off the New Canaan
for the day. Once again the defense was impenetrable
Gizzie’s goal tending shut out the Southbury team by
of 5-0.
allowed
scoring
and Ava
a score
New Canaan finished the tournament with three victories and
one tie, only allowing one goal and scoring eight of their
own.