Weekly Sports Highlights - April 9, 2011

The Martlets opened up their 2011 season with an exciting overtime victory over the NMH Hoggers. The game was highlighted by exciting back-and-forth play, but the Martlets sealed the victory during the six-minute overtime period on a goal from Alana Carpenter '12. The Martlets and Hoggers traded goals during the first half, but NMH came away with a 5-4 lead at the half. The Westminster defense came up big in the second half, and the Martlets held NMH to just three goals. Nora Edmonds ’11, Bridget Eklund ’11, Kelsey O'Brien ’11, Karlyn Calamita-Crowley ’11 and Eleni Tebano ’13 led the way in the defensive effort. Brooke Heron ’12 aided the attacking effort with a hat trick. Leigh Anne Baldwin ’11 put in two goals for the Martlets, while Gaby Christman ’11, Meaghan O'Herron ’12 and Whit Powel ’11 each finished with one goal. Molly O'Sullivan ’12 had a critical second-half performance in goal, making seven saves on NMH’s 10 second-half shots. Overall, hard work and grit and grace secured the victory for the Martlets.

In their first contest of the season, the Martlets put together a great game against Greenwich Academy. The entire team played well in this exciting duel between two strong programs. Emily Worcester '11 was particularly strong on defense. Tyler O’Neil ’12, who earned a hat trick, led the offense. Other goal scorers were Megan Walsh ’14 (2), Lindsay Hanau ’12 (2), Alex Regan ’12 (2), Sydney Rivers ’12 (2), Katie Hovey ’14 (1) and Sarah Holmes ’12 (1). The Martlets controlled a lot of the draws and came up with many ground balls. Abby Reed '14 also had a great game in goal.

The Second Girls’ Tennis team beat Greenwich Academy 4-3 in its opening contest of the season. In her first match as a Martlet, Electra Walker ’14 won at No. 1 singles in three sets. Mimi Ryan ’12 won a third set tiebreaker to beat her opponent in the No. 4 singles position. Also winning in three sets were Natalie Biedron ’12 and Sayre Reimer ’13. Christi DeSimone ’12 and Emily Teschner ’12 outplayed their opponents at No. 2 doubles, winning in straight sets. Brittany Swanson ’14 and Lulu Spalding ’12 played determined, consistent tennis in the second and third singles positions. Julie LeBlanc ’13 and Haley Lowenstein ’13 put forth a valiant effort at No. 3 doubles.

A slow start against Suffield kept the first half close in the Martlets’ home opener. Despite outshooting their opponent 11-3 in the first quarter, the Martlets could only muster a 1-1 tie at the first break. Tommy Hovey ’11 sparked a second quarter rally with what would be the winning goal on an Andy Dines ’12 feed just four minutes into the second as Westminster took a 5-2 lead at the half. Dines also scooped up 12 ground balls, Taylor Paul ’11 had eight, Cory Latour ’12 with eight, and Alec Dunn ’13 and Kevin Campbell ’11 each had six, helping Westminster to a 68 - 24 win in the GB game. Gordon Santry ’12 had five saves and Jake Pappas ’11 had one, in what turned out to be a strong defensive second half that led to a 13-2 win.

Westminster baseball opened the season with a dramatic victory in a 4-to-3 contest versus Kingswood Oxford. Matthew Leach ’11 pitched five complete innings, relinquishing only five hits and three runs. Leach also helped the cause offensively with a double in the fifth and, more importantly, by initiating a string of singles in the top of the seventh as well. Andy Kent ’11 earned the win in relief, as he controlled the Wyverns through two complete innings, striking out two batters in the process. The Martlets got on the board in the top of the second inning as Tucker Brumley ’11 hit a solo homer. After dropping the lead in the bottom of the sixth, the squad rallied in the top of the seventh on singles by Leach, Kent, Colin Cross ’12 and, finally, Aaron Ugalde ’12 for the game winner. Smart defensive play by Nick Finn ’12, who garnered five assists and two putouts, anchored the strong defensive effort by the team.

The Martlets opened their season with two wins. After a 15-0 victory over Hotchkiss, Westminster blanked Williston 10-0. Alli Devins ’13 had four hits. Sydney Daniels ’13, Carmen MacDonald ’11 and Rachel Monroe ’14 had two base hits apiece for the Martlets. Brittany Sutton ’11 struck out 15 batters and pitched a one-hitter for Westminster.