Winter Sports Highlights 1.30.17

 

 

Westminster traveled to Kingswood Oxford on Jan. 27. Jumping to an early lead, the Martlets moved the ball well on offense and effectively shut down any offense KO was trying to generate. Finishing the half up 20-4, the girls remained determined to hold onto the lead. However, KO came out aggressively and set the Martlets back on their heels. The team struggled to find steady offensive momentum while KO was finding the basket. Westminster outlasted the Wyverns in a hard fought, physical second half to win the game 27-14. Point leaders for Westminster were Ridgely Green '20 with 10 points, Sophia Gasser '18 with six points and Alayna Tawney '19 with six points. Both Gasser and Allison Kijanka '20 had excellent defensive games.

 

Westminster lost to a strong Avon Old farms team on the road Jan. 28. The Martlets were behind by only 10 points at the half, but Avon's quick offensive ball movement and high field goal percentage led to a difficult second half for the Black and Gold. Andrew Lee '17 had seven points for Westminster.

On Jan. 25, the Martlets headed down the road to Avon Old Farms for another bout in the historic rivalry. The Martlets started off well going into the second half with a two-point lead. The Martlets stingy defense lead by Henry Mitrano '19 and Lukas Dudzik'19 lead to easy baskets. The Martlets and Winged Beavers had a back and forth second half both trading buckets. In OT the Winged Beavers were able to halt the Martlets offense winning the game 41-35. Captain Zach Tarazi '18 lead all scorers with 14 points followed by Dudzik who had 10 points.

   

After a disappointing showing at Loomis on Jan. 21, the Martlets rebounded in exciting form at Avon on Jan. 23. Avon filled the rink with noise and support, but it was Westminster that took it to the Winged Beavers from the first drop of the puck. The Martlets came to play, and the team played with grit. They won the physical battle, and were able to get the puck to the net consistently. Kai Edmonds ‘19 was consistent in net and kept his team in the game. Ryan Doolin ‘18 scored in the second period off a redirected point shot to give Westminster the lead. The game was steady with opportunities at both ends, with the edge going to the Martlets. With a pulled goalie, a chipped Avon puck bounced behind the Martlets with eight seconds remaining. The Winged Beavers evened the game with two seconds remaining. In mature fashion, the Martlets picked themselves up, settled their nerves and brought the same energy to overtime. Tasso Housakos ‘18 made a strong move from the wall to create a shooting lane, and his shot found the back of the net. A thrilling ending to an even better game.

 

   

   

On 24 hours of rest, Second Boys’ Hockey had to gear up for a non-conference match-up against a 9-1 Northwest Catholic varsity. The Martlets scored the only goal in the first period. Given a number of player injuries and conflicts on this off-game-day contest, a newly constructed line of Tim Harris '17, Alec Paro '19 and Jeffery Guiliano '17 worked hard on the forecheck and Guiliano eventually found the back-of-the-net for the initial goal. Early in the second period, Northwest took advantage of a poor clearing play and evened the score at one all. Neither team found the twine during early in the third frame, despite several good chances on both sides. Late in the third period, the hosts connected again when Conor Brennan '17 and Ryan Pineault '20 found Brendan Jacobs '17 on the doorstep. Jacobs slid the puck through the opponent's five-hole and the 2-1 score held up. Birthday boy, Alex Gadowski '18 and Spencer Rellinger '17, split the goaltending duties and kicked out a total of 15 shots. 

 

 

Deerfield was very tough on its home courts. Deerfield’s players consistently controlled the T from #2 to #7. With the Westminster players on the run, their best hope was to be scrappy and absorb the pressure until they could find openings to shoot. Those openings were rare. Chanler Miller ’18 got to eight one game. Will Leathers ’17 played well. Andrew Doucette ’18 got to eight in game one and then forced a tiebreaker in game three but came up short. Aly Tolba ’18 dropped his first game. After hitting fewer cross-court drop shots, he kept the ball pinned to the wall more and won the final three games to salvage a point for the Martlets.

 

A lot of excellent squash was played this afternoon as Westminster hosted a resilient and tenacious Choate squad. The progress from the beginning of the season to this point has been truly remarkable. As an indication of how close and even this match actually was, six of the 11 matches went the full five games, with each team winning three. Those Martlet victories went to Travis Paulsen ’20, Vincent Wang ’19 and Scott Lee ’20, who all played gutsy and inspired squash in outlasting their respective opponent. Special kudos go out to Paulsen, who clawed and scratched his way back from a 2-0 deficit, and then, running on fumes, barely hung on to finish up the final game. The other Martlet victory came from Quoc Truong ‘20, who, in what has become the norm for him, played three extended games, losing one 13-11, but coming out on top on the other two by identical scores of 14-12. On the losing end of the five-game marathons were Spencer Organ ’18, Boyan Alipiev ’19 and Dinh Truong ’19. Truong, who fell behind 2-0 and then rallied nicely to tie up the match at two apiece, was edged out in the fifth game. But he left everything on the court. 

 

Playing a solid and deep Avon squad for the second time this season, this one on the Winged Beavers home turf, Westminster knew it was up against a worthy foe. Sure enough, the Martlets were only able to come up with a single victory, a five-game seesaw duel won my Vincent Wang ’19. Tied two games apiece, Wang hit his stride in the last frame to pull off a decisive 11-3 win. Of the 10 remaining matches, only Boyan Alipiev ’19 avoided a shutout, winning his second game, 11-9. There were a few close games, however. Both Jack Hajdukiewicz ’18 and Travis Paulsen ’20 lost an on-the-edge-of-your-seat final game, 14-12, where a few points here and there would have gotten them back into the match. Likewise, Scott Lee ‘20 and Will Carlisle ’19 each lost a game by the slimmest of margins. Finally, Quoc Truong ’20, in true Truong-like fashion, played two games decided by two points, the first extending to 11-13, and the second ending at 9-11. 

 

Alex Lin '19 gave her team a much-needed boost at Canterbury on Jan. 28, winning two close individual races and running down opposing swimmers in both of her relay swims to help Westminster stage come-from-behind victories in a triple-dual meet against Canterbury (53-49) and Westover (51-43). Lin won the 200 Freestyle and the 100 Freestyle, the latter in a personal best time, narrowly edging out her speedy counterpart from Westover. In the 200 and 400 Freestyle Relays, Lin swam third along with teammates Dallis Alvarez '18, Liza Lennox '18 (200), Alex Wolf '19 (400), and co-captain Leta Giordano '17, and in both races she caught and passed the leader, paving the way for Giordano to close the door in the anchor leg. Giordano was victorious in the 100 Fly and placed second in the 50 Free, Lennox took second in the 200 IM, and co-captain Elizabeth Brewer '17 finished second in the 100 Backstroke. In a close meet where every point mattered, Jane Ogden '19 put in her top performance of the year in the diving event, smashing the 200-point barrier for the first time with a winning score of 223.50. Cecilia Raymond '20 also scored her personal best (188.05) to place fourth. Angelesia Ma '20 contributed to the effort with a fast 100 Fly (5th) and 100 Breaststroke (4th). Sarah Minella '17 also swam fast in the 100 Breaststroke and in her first attempt at the 200 Freestyle. Shannon Keefe '19 swam her best ever 100 Freestyle, and Natalie Fay '19 got best times in the 100 Backstroke and the 100 Freestyle. It was a close meet and great outcome for the Martlets.

 

Matt Norris '19 kicked his game up a notch Jan. 28 in New Milford, winning the 200 IM in a personal best time and placing second in the 500 Freestyle, but in the end the Saints went marching into the winners column in convincing fashion over the Martlets. Co-captain Jordan Gabbidon '17 grabbed two second place finishes (200 Freestyle and 100 Fly), and Albert Gao '18 took second in the 100 Free, second in the 200 Freestyle Relay (along with Norris, Emmett de Kanter '19, and Gabbidon), and won the 100 Backstroke in a grueling sequence of events with little rest in between. That same relay team was back in action moments later to again take the runner-up spot in the 400 Freestyle Relay to end the meet. Co-captain Joel Groves '17 won the diving contest with his best score yet before placing fifth in the 100 Freestyle and third in the 200 Medley Relay along with Jack Detwiler '19, Teagan Stedman '18 and co-captain Gary Simons '17. Hayden Cathcart '18, Jeevan Palaniyandy '19, David DeFronzo '19, Justin Schuster '19 and Daniel Pinckney '20 also all had fast swims.