Sports Highlights 02.09.2015

With winter long weekend scheduled Thursday afternoon through the following Monday, it was a fairly quiet week for the Martlets, with most teams only playing on Wednesday afternoon.

First Girls' Basketball came up big against Miss Porter's on Wednesday afternoon and continued to show marked improvement in a 59-39 win. The girls outplayed the competitive and physical challenger in the first half but missed several free throws and close shots, keeping the game close. The shots started falling in the second, as the girls opened the half with an 11-2 run and eventually extended the lead to 26. The team was able to get its reserves significant playing time in the game's final minutes. Meg Richard '15 and Jacqui Richard '16 combined for 34 points, but 10 girls scored at least two points in the win. Gabby Brown '17 again provided offensive spark off the bench, while Sophie Tawney '17 blocked four shots and Emma Merlin '16 led the team in rebounding.
 

Westminster co-hosted the National High School Squash Championships over the weekend. The tournament seeded 104 boys’ teams and 64 girls’ teams from around the United States at various locations in Greater Hartford, including Trinity College, Avon Old Farms School, Wesleyan University and Loomis Chaffee School.
 

The Martlets lost their first two matches on Friday, but bounced back on Saturday to win a thrilling 4-3 contest. Addison Cilmi ’16 lost a very close match in four games, missing his bid to go 3-0 on the weekend. Will Leathers ‘17 played his best squash ever in a tight four game loss. He truly left everything on the court, digging for every ball, scrapping for gets, and working the corners whenever possible. Cal Perkins ’15 earned a big victory for the Martlets, fighting off two game points on the glass court, before winning 12-10 in the fourth game. The other three victories were all five game wins. Henry Amory ‘18 won 11-2 in the fifth to go 3-0 on the weekend. Wonjune Kang ‘16 gave his usual full effort taking the fourth and fifth games with assertive, proactive squash and his normal indefatigable retrieving. The most exciting five-gamer belonged to Declan Horrigan ‘16. His 11-9 win in the fifth game made the match exciting to the end. Horrigan scrambled and clawed and pushed to the T relentlessly to make himself hard to beat. He hit many rails to length to great effect. It was a fantastic result for a strong effort. It's hard to remember the last time the team won three five game matches to take a match (the Loomis Coach says he remembers a time, and we did it to Exeter four years ago), but it's a fabulous result.
 

The Black and Gold traveled to Pomfret on Wednesday afternoon and took a 4-1 win over the Griffins. Erin Ozturk '15 put Westminster on top 1-0 midway through the first off of a pass from Lilly Holmes '18 and Catherine Crawley '16. Crawley notched her own in the second, but Pomfret also scored in the period to make the score 2-1 in favor of the Martlets as the teams entered the locker rooms. Sarah Migliori ‘16 came up big in the final period, scoring twice to give the team a comfortable 4-1 lead. Complementing the strong individual efforts from goal scorers was consistent energy from the entire team, including fantastic play on defense from Ashley Carbone '16, Sarah Melanson '16, Emma Lange '18 and Ashlee White '18. The girls displayed resilient and determined play on both ends of the ice for a hard-fought road win.
 

The Seconds team also traveled to Miss Porter's on Wednesday and came away with a well-deserved victory. The team started out slow, as they found open looks but couldn't find the net, and at the half Westminster trailed and only had 6 points on the board. Maeve DeFronzo '16 brought some aggressive play and offensive rebounding to the court for the Martlets in the second half, and Westminster turned it on to come from behind and steal a 26-19 win.
 

In a very evenly matched game, the Martlets held off Franklin County's U14 team and came away with a tight 2-1 win. The girls lost to Franklin County in their first game of the season and knew they had improved enough as a team to take them on this time around. Both goals for Westminster came from Anne Bitterli '16, with one slipping in with just one minute left in the second, and the winning goal coming as the third period ticked down to its final two minutes. Assists went to Susanna Baker '15 and Katie Simeon '16. Hannah Stone '18 had some phenomenal saves in goal to hold onto the slim lead.