Sports Highlights 02.15.16

Congratulations to Chris Jones ’16, who scored his 1,000^th point as a Martlet last week! He is the only basketball player on record at Westminster to pass that impressive mark.

 

 

First Boys’ Hockey defeated Hotchkiss 6-3 on Wednesday and made a late comeback to tie Choate 4-4 on Friday night. J.P. Schuhlen '16, back from an injury that kept him out for six games, didn't miss a beat in his return, scoring just 48 seconds into the game on Wednesday to set the Martlets rolling into one of their best offensive performances of the season. In the second period, Connor Lloyd '16, Johnny McDermott '16, Brian Smyth '16 and Schuhlen all scored, and the boys took a commanding 5-2 lead into the final frame. Rylan Williams '16 put the final Westminster goal away to close out the 6-3 win.

 

The boys came from behind in the last few minutes to get the tie against Choate on Friday night. The Martlets opened the scoring when Jack Flanagan '17 knocked home a McDermott shot and rebound, but the Wild Boars answered with a two-on-one goal late in the period to tie it up. In the second, the Martlets netted two more goals (Schuhlen and Taggart Corriveau '16) to take a 3-2 lead into the final period, but Choate responded once again, scoring two consecutive goals regain the lead heading into the final minutes. Flanagan found the equalizer in the waning minutes, cleaning up a puck in the crease and banging it past the net minder to force overtime. Both teams had plenty of opportunities in overtime to win, but the final would remain 4-4. Stephen Gasior '16 finished the game with 27 crucial saves.

 

 

Back in action after a long weekend, First Girls' Hockey came out on fire Wednesday afternoon, scoring three goals in the first period on the way to a 5-3 victory over Deerfield. Midway through the opening period, Lily Holmes '18 took a pass from Haley Martini '16 and slipped it past the Big Green goaltender. Minutes later, Sarah Melanson '16 scored, assisted by Sarah Migliori '16, followed by Holmes with her second of the period, assisted by Emma Lange '18. With a 3-1 lead heading into the middle stanza, the girls continued to put the puck on net and, with just over five minutes remaining in the period, Migliori scored another, assisted by Holmes and Katherine Berry '16. Rosie Sieglaff '18 finished the scoring line for the Martlets with a goal near the end of the third period. While Deerfield was able to score in every period, the Martlets outshot the visiting team and kept the Big Green players from getting many clean shots to get a big 5-3 home win.

 

 

The home meet between the Martlets and the Kingswood Oxford Wyverns went down to the wire on Wednesday afternoon. Both teams were matched within points of each other until the final 400 yd. freestyle relay, when Westminster emerged the winner. Dallis Alvarez ‘18, Elizabeth Brewer ‘17, Leta Giordano ‘17, Co-Captain Charlotte Lennox ‘16, Ally Marenco ‘18 and Elisabeth Morin ‘18 swam season best times, while Personal records were set by Maggie Chaves '19, Co-Captain Erin Haydon '16, Claire Hotaling '16, Lily Johnson '19, Liza Lennox '18 and Mia Poling '18. Giordano won the 200-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly. Co-Captain Erin Haydon won the 100-yard freestyle, and the relay team of Nornia Xu '17, Hotaling, Liza Lennox and Giordano won the 200-yard freestyle relay. The relay team of Liza Lennox, Marenco, Co-Captain Haydon and Giordano clinched an important win in the 400 freestyle relay. It was a close, exciting meet that showed the heart of this talented team.

 

 

First Boys’ Squash had a strong showing at the U.S. High School National Tournament in Philadelphia over the weekend, going 2-2 to finish Sixth in their division and 16th overall. The team was led by Aly Tolba ‘18, who went 4-0 in the tournament, and Addison Cilmi ‘16, who went 3-0. The weekend was capped off by a thrilling match against Horace Mann that the Martlets would ultimately lose 4-3. Despite the final score, the boys fought hard and should be proud of their effort. Cilmi put Westminster on the board first with his third win of the weekend, but following losses from Wonjune Kang ’16 and Declan Horrigan '16, it was up to Sam Worcester '16 to right the ship. After losing the first game 6-11, Worcester won 11-1 with a combination of power and speed. He squeaked out a tie-breaker in the third game and won smoothly in the fourth game. Bryan Yekelchik '16 fought back after being down 0-2 but ultimately lost 1-3. Tolba followed with a dominant performance using volleys, width, length, and nicks to beat a strong opponent in three quick games to tie the match 3-3. Will Leathers '17, playing the deciding match, fought back after being down 0-1 and 1-2 to push the match to a fifth game. Leathers, playing his best squash ever, had two backhand volleys to tie the deciding game at 9-9. Unfortunately, he missed both and lost the match 7-11, but he certainly made a statement to his teammates with his play and his heart.

First Girls' Squash

 

 

The Martlets faced their biggest challenge yet on Thursday night, facing off against a skilled CT Falcons team. It was a physical, high intensity game from the first shift, but Westminster got 100% effort from every player on every shift and was able to edge out the Falcons in an exciting 2-1 victory. The biggest factor in the game was the outstanding goalie play from Lily Farriss '19 and Julia Krys '19; the duo held on to win despite being outshot 41-12! The game was scoreless until the third, when Katie Simeon '16 and Katie Nielsen '18 put the Black and Gold on top 2-1. 

 

 

Second Boys’ Basketball is riding a red-hot five-game winning streak after defeating Suffield Academy 55-37 and The Gunnery 59-43 last week. Max Brigham ‘18 led the win over The Gunnery on Saturday with 27 points, while Dave Gollenberg '16 proved to be a spark for the offense, providing six assists in the game, and Paul McNamera '18 held down the defensive end with five steals.

 

 

The Marlets overpowered Canterbury on Saturday afternoon, hitting their shots and playing stifling defense against the Saints in a 62-12 win. Jumping to a quick lead that they would maintain for the rest of the game, the girls were able to dictate the tempo of the game and dominate the boards. With points coming from all seven players, it was a solid team effort. Cindy Jeong '17 (11 points), Sophia Gasser '18 (10 points) and Maeve DeFronzo '16 (10 points) all scored season-highs, while Brenna Monroe '17 led the effort with 14 points.

 

Westminster tied Hotchkiss 2-2 on Wednesday and beat Choate 2-1 in overtime on Saturday, setting its record to an excellent 9-4-2. In Saturday’s win, the boys got on the board first when Jaggar LeClair '18 made a nice backhanded pass from behind the net to Jeffrey Giuliano '17, who wristed a shot over the glove hand of the Choate goalie. After a scoreless second period, Choate evened the score 1-1 on a power play opportunity early in the third period to force the Martlets into their fifth overtime game of the season. After a relentless fore-checking effort by Alec Costanza '17, Giuliano and LeClair, Jaggar made an almost identical pass as before to Giuliano in the slot, who made a great wrist shot top shelf to end the game in dramatic fashion. Westminster outshot the Wild Boars 32-21, with Spencer Rellinger '17 making 20 saves on the afternoon.

 

 

The Martlets reeled off their eighth consecutive victory with a 12-2 win over the Wild Boars from Choate on Saturday. Ryan Lee ’18 and Lukas Dudzik ’19 got things started with hard-fought 3-1 wins, as Lee rebounded nicely from a first game defeat, and Dudzik maintained his composure after dropping the third game to secure his match in the fourth. Porter Girty ’18 and Carl Ekholm ’19 followed suit, with Girty (like Lee) losing the opening game and then winning the next three, and Ekholm (like Dudzik), bouncing back from a game three loss to close out the match in four. Making his debut with the Thirds team, Ted Sirbaugh ’16 proved that he belongs in the show with a convincing 9,7,3 sweep of his opponent. Nate Londal ’19 put Westminster up 6-0, winning two close games and then wrapping things up with a convincing 11-1 victory. The odds then took the courts, and Nate Swift ’19, Ethan Na ’19, and the continually improving Joe Patrina ’18 added to the margin with decisive 3-0 victories. Patrina made numerous returns of seemingly unreachable shots, and Swift and Na each had a rare shutout win in game two. The unflappable Hayden Cathcart ’18 and Matthew Swenson ’17 played their usual brand of steady squash, hitting well-placed wide and deep shots mixed in with well-timed boasts and drop shots, in winning their respective matches. Finally, in the match of the day (and perhaps the season to date), Sean Ryan ’18, down 2-1 after three excruciatingly close games, dug down deep in the fourth, staving off a match point or two, and then—with both teams and coaches (and his parents!) now hanging on to every point— dug down even deeper to wrap up a thrilling five set match. It was squash at its finest, with long rallies and unexpected, risky shot-making from both players, and a perfect finish to a satisfying afternoon of competition.