Connecticut: Darien Takes Three Team Titles

By Hal Levy Jun 24, 2008, 10:47am

Blue Wave boys and girls lacrosse and boys volleyball teams finish on top; New Canaan captures girls golf title.

By Hal Levy, Shore Line Newspapers

Special to MaxPreps.com

 

CIAC state titles were decided in a variety of sports over the past couple of weeks. Darien had a nice haul with titles in both boys and girls lacrosse and boys volleyball.

 

In boys lacrosse, the Class L title went to Fairfield Prep with a 15-14 decision over Ridgefield in triple overtime. Chase Bailey’s goal in the extra session was the game-winner and was Bailey’s fifth of the game to go with four assists. Ridgefield got four goals from Colin Scott. Prep’s championship was its third in a row.

 

Both teams finished 19-4.

 

In Class M, Darien was a comeback winner against New Canaan, 11-4. The Blue Wave trailed by a goal, 3-2, after one period but goalie Dar Jameson Love gave up only one score the rest of the way. Nikki Dysenchuk had five goals for Darien, 23-1, while Chas Brickman had two goals and three assists for the consensus No. 1 team in the state.

 

Darien won its fourth straight state title and third in Class M.

 

New Fairfield got three goals apiece from Andrew Fiamengo, C.J. Costabile, Mike Hopkins and Sean Macey in a 17-7 win over Weston for the Class S championship. Costabile added four assists as New Fairfield finished an unbeaten season at 23-0. Weston was the defending state titlist.

 

In girls lacrosse, Darien won the Division I title, 20-7 over Wilton. Caroline Spillane had five goals, Courtney Bennett and Sam Stevenson four apiece, Liz Calby three and Clemmy Little and Caroline Frelinghuysen two each in the win.

 

Amy Drummond and Brooke Flanagan had two goals each for Wilton. The title was a repeat for Darien, which beat Wilton last year in the finals, 17-11.

 

In Division II, Danbury outscored Suffield, 18-10. Princess Livingston had six goals, Jillian Colley and Katherine McKinley five each and Kate Keckeisen, Gina Newsome and Kaitlin Arconti one each for the Hatters, who jumped to a 12-5 halftime lead.

 

Suffield got two goals each from Lisa Beltramello and Molly Clark.

 

In boys volleyball, Staples-Westport rallied from six-point deficits in each of the last two games to defeat Southington, 3-1 (25-14, 18-25, 25-20, 26-24) for the Division I state title.

 

Southington, 20-1, had an 8-2 lead in game three before the Wreckers caught up at 14-14 on a block by Jason Lesser. Two aces by Max Shelman and a later block by Shelman helped Staples make it 24-19.

 

Staples, 21-0, got 31 assists, seven blocks and four kills from Peter Hlawitschka and 11 kills and four blocks from Ari Sinay. Brendan McGoourn had 20 assists, 14 kills and 16 digs for Southington.

 

In Division II, Darien bested Enfield, 3-1 (22-25, 25-12, 25-11, 27-25). The first game had a half-dozen lead changes before Enfield took charge.

 

Darien won the next two with little trouble and led, 20-13, in game four. But Enfield tied the game at 23-all and 24-all and then took a 25-24 lead before Darien closed it out with a kill and two blocks by Brian Begley.

 

Begley had a good statistical night with 15 kills, 14 service points (including six aces) and 15 digs. Teammate Cody Coughlin had 15 kills and four blocks and Nils Remole had 39 assists.

 

Pat Carey had 32 assists and Derek Delude 21 kills for Enfield, 15-6.

 

In golf, the girls’ team state championship went to New Canaan, which shot a 371 at Heritage Village in Southbury to beat Staples-Westport by a whopping 15 strokes.

 

Simsbury, Ridgefield and Danbury were in the 3-4-5 slots and Newington was the only other team to break 400.

 

Individually, Allison Oakes of Westhill-Stamford shot 77 to win by five over Kelly Birch of Ridgefield and Brica Barnes of Berlin. Another stroke back were Kirsten LaPointe of Newington and Brooke Stepanek of Guilford.

 

The boys played for team and individual honors in four divisions and the Northwest Conference won three of the four team titles, taking Divisions II, III and IV.

 

In Division I at Chippanee Golf Course in Bristol, Simsbury shot a 298 to win the team title by six over Greenwich and Staples-Westport with Farmington fourth at 305 and William Hall-West Hartford fifth at 307. No one else was under 310.

 

Individually, Greg Beloin of Farmington was the top gun with a 72 while Marty Crane of Danbury and Jason Morilla of Greenwich had 73s and Tom Larson of Cheshire, Jack Linehan of Simsbury and Will Zabel of Simsbury had 74s.

 

In Division II at Timberlin in Kensington, Berlin shot a 300 for the win by two over Woodstock Axademy with Torrington (309), Darien and Pomperaug-Southbury (both 311) rounding out the top five.

 

Kevin Josephson of Berlin won medalist honors with a 71 while Kevin Jud of Berlin, Zach Sommers of Pomperaug, Brian Murphy of Wilton, Brandon Chicorka of Enrico Fermi-Enfield and Patrick Manning of East Lyme all had 73s.

 

East Catholic-Manchester shot a 319 at Crestbrook Park in Watertown to win Division III with Weston second at 324. Watertown, 327; Holy Cross-Waterbury, 337 and Ellington, 341, completed the top five.

 

Chas Boggini of East Catholic had a 73 for low score with Bernie D’Amato, Weston; Alex DiClemente, Lewis Mills-Burlington and Fletcher Babcock, Killingly, at 77. Any Mai of Suffield shot 78.

 

The Division IV team title went to Northwest Catholic-West Hartford with a 311. Putnam and Trinity Catholic-Stamford both had 315, Immaculate-Danbury shot 322 and Coginchaug-Durham had 326 to round out the top five.

 

Individually, Adam Viccati of Gilbert-Winsted shot 70. Matt Smith of Tourtellotte-North Grosvernor Dale had 73 as did Keith Kwasnik of Northwest Catholic. Chris LaPolice of Trinity Catholic had 74 and Matt Ramsey of Somerts shot 75.