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10/09/2016 12:00 AMBoys’ Soccer
The Hornets’ boys’ soccer squad had a nice week that saw the team earn a pair of road victories to improve to 5-5. Head Coach Paul Hunter’s club prevailed 5-0 in East Haven on Oct. 3 and claimed a 5-2 victory at Lyman Hall on Oct. 7. Sophomore Marzio Mastroianni had a hat trick in the win against Lyman Hall.
For the East Haven victory, Branford got on the board midway through the first half when Trey Duval side-footed in a rebound from a Mastroianni shot. Abdalla Syed headed in the Hornets’ second goal in the 29th minute from a Ethan Boileau cross. Trey Duval opened the scoring 10 minutes into the second half on a pass from Boileau, who scored just two minutes later on an inch-perfect through ball from Ben DeMaio. Hazem Salem made it 5-0 in the 79th minute by hitting a screaming shot off the bottom of the crossbar that bounced straight down and in. DeMaio had the assist.
Three days later, Branford beat Lyman Hall to avenge a loss to the Trojans from earlier in the season. Coach Hunter said the Hornets played their best soccer of the season in the first half with crisp passing, spot-on touches, and good finishing. Duval again started the scoring by converting in the 15th minute on a tap-in from a Mastroianni shot that the Lyman Hall keeper was unable to handle. Duval got his second of the game within 40 seconds on an assist by DeMaio. Lyman Hall cut it to 2-1 with a goal in the 22nd minute, but Mastroianni made it a two-goal game again when he scored on another DeMaio helper six minutes later. Mastroianni scored his second goal in the 53rd minute and completed a hat trick by scoring his third in the 72nd minute. John Tratnyek and Derek Tratnyek had the assists, respectively, as the Hornets made it 5-1 before Lyman Hall scored the game’s last goal.
Girls’ Soccer
Branford lost a pair of 2-1 contests last week and is now 2-8 for the season. On Oct. 4, the Hornets dropped a 2-1 home contest to North Haven. Two days later, Branford had a home game against Sheehan and lost by that same 2-1 final.
Taylor Brown scored when she followed up a shot by Bridget Wirtz for the Hornets’ goal in the North Haven game.
Against Sheehan, Melissa Beatty scored for Branford on a set piece that was served by Maddy Rowe.
Field Hockey
The Branford field hockey team took its first defeat of the season, but still claimed victory in two of its three recent contests for a record of 7-1. The Hornets have clinched a berth in the State Tournament for the 39th-straight year and are 4-1 in games that count toward the SCC standings. Last week, the Hornets edged Hamden 2-1 at home on Oct. 3, took a 2-0 loss at Cheshire on Oct. 5, and posted a 4-0 home victory over Lauralton Hall on Oct. 8.
Branford scored two times in the first half in the Hamden victory. Brianna Shaw scored a goal on Kiersten Bjork’s assist 7:10 into the game and Carol Frye scored from Bjork just a minute later for a 2-0 lead. The Green Dragons made it 2-1 by scoring on a penalty stroke in the second half, but the Hornets held Hamden at bay the rest of the way and hung on for the 2-1 win. Keira Integlia made seven saves in goal.
In the Cheshire game, Integlia again had seven saves for Branford.
In the Lauralton Hall contest, the Hornets scored a pair of goals in each half and prevailed 4-0. Autumn McHenry scored from Frye with 7:42 left in the opening half, after which Molly Zaffino scored on LanLe Crotty’s assist on a corner play with 6:12 remaining. Sabrina Torcellini scored on an assist from Frye just 2:46 into the second half for a 3-0 lead and Zaffino iced it by scoring from Bjork seven minutes after that. Integlia stopped seven shots for the shutout.
Volleyball
Branford was triumphant in two of its three matches last week to run its record to 7-4. The Hornets earned a 3-1 home win against Shelton on Oct. 3, took a 3-2 defeat in East Haven on Oct. 5, and recorded a 3-1 victory at Lauralton Hall on Oct. 7.
Against Shelton, Head Coach Eva Esposito’s club won with set scores of 25-21, 25-14, 13-25, 25-23. Adrienne DiGioia had nine kills with five digs for Branford, while Haley Maercklein had eight kills, five digs, six blocks, and four digs. Lauren Elmasry added six digs, Diana Karosas had three kills, and Marisa Minore posted six digs with five kills for the Hornets, who had lost to Shelton 3-0 in the teams’ first meeting.
Two days later, Branford dropped a contest at East Haven, rallying from a two-set deficit before losing in five. Maercklein recorded 14 kills, six blocks, and five digs; DiGioia had 13 digs with seven kills, Erin O’Brien tallied 18 assists and added three digs, and Minore had five kills.
The Hornets improved to 4-1 in Oronoque Division play and avenged a prior loss to Lauralton Hall by beating the Crusaders 25-15, 25-27, 25-15, 25-14. DiGioia racked up 15 kills and nine digs, Maercklein had 13 kills and nine blocks, O’Brien lent a hand with her 25 assists, and Jen Hwang added seven digs in the victory.
Football
The Hornets hosted SCC Tier 3 opponent Sheehan in their first game on the new turf field at Branford High School and took a 46-8 loss to the Titans. Branford dropped to 3-2 overall and 2-1 in Tier 3 with the defeat.
Sheehan used a 14-yard touchdown pass and a 83-yard TD run by Zach Davis to take a 13-0 lead midway through the first quarter. Branford got on the board with 2:45 left when Griffin Lynch scored on a 1-yard run and threw the 2-point conversion pass to Daniel Thomas to make it 13-8 through one. However, Davis ran for four touchdowns in the second quarter to give the Titans a 40-8 lead at halftime and scored his sixth TD of the night in the third for the 46-8 final.
Dalton Carden rushed 14 times for 84 yards for Branford. Lynch gained 64 yards on 10 carries, while Noah Lordan ran five times for 35 yards. Branford’s defense was led by nine tackles from Carden, plus eight from William Ryder, and seven apiece by James Dering and Nasir Watkins.
The Hornets have this week off and will be back in action on Friday, Oct. 21, when they host Amity at 7 p.m. Amity is a SCC Tier 2 squad and owns a record of 1-4 this year.
Boys’ Cross Country
Branford competed at the Wickham Park Invitational on Oct. 8 and captured a 26th-place finish. Andrew Byrne led the Hornets’ pack by placing 51st with a time of 18:01. Matt Daley finished in 126th (19:14), Spencer Mariotti was 150th (19:38), Ryan McCarthy came in 152nd place (19:39), and Harry Troidle placed 173rd (20:11) for the Hornets.
Girls’ Cross Country
The Hornets had a few runners compete at the Wickham Park Invitational and were led by Courtney Cosgrove, who crossed the finish line in 50th place by running a time of 21 minutes and 58 seconds. Head Coach Kevin Connell credited Emily Borst for running well on a difficult course as she placed 152nd behind a time of 24:43. Sophie Spencer finished 160th at 25:27 for Branford.
Girls’ Swimming and Diving
The Hornets split a pair of meets last week to stand with a mark of 5-3. Branford began the week by dropping a 98-80 home contest to Cheshire at the Walsh Intermediate Pool on Oct. 4. Two days after that, the Hornets faced Sacred Heart Academy at Albertus Magnus College and came out on top by the score of 97.5-85.5.