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10/23/2017 12:00 AMVolleyball
The North Haven volleyball team hosted its annual Pink Game when the Indians faced Lauralton Hall at Fred Kelly Gymnasium on Oct. 16. The night was the culmination of North Haven’s effort to raise money and awareness in the battle against breast cancer, as October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Junior volleyball player Val Gimler spearheaded this year’s fundraising effort, which generated approximately $7,100 for the Sisters’ Project, a non-profit organization in Wallingford that raises money to support local cancer patients and their families. Gimler presented a check to Judi Gallagher from the Sisters’ Project during a ceremony prior to the match.
Every year, a junior on the North Haven volleyball team volunteers to organize the Pink Game. Gimler was inspired by the job that Antonia Barbiero did in 2015, and so she jumped at the chance to take on that responsibility this year. Gimler appreciates all the support she received throughout the process, from her teammates, the sponsors, and an entire community, along with the Sisters’ Project. Ultimately, she was thrilled with the way everything played out.
“I felt really good about the whole thing, and I’m super excited to it again next year,” Gimler said. “Hopefully, we can get one of the younger girls to help out, so we can keep carrying it on and make it better and better each year.”
Indians’ Head Coach Brianna Kleckner felt proud with how Gimler got the 2017 Pink Game off the ground, as well as the way everyone else on her squad rallied around the cause by working hard to make the event take shape.
“I could not be more proud of our team. They did an outstanding job,” Kleckner said. “I was incredibly proud that our team was able to orchestrate such an important event to give back to our community in such an important way. Val did a fantastic job with the whole project. She worked very hard, and it was very obvious that she did, because everything came together so nicely.
In last week’s matches, North Haven lost to Lauralton Hall and Sheehan before closing the week with a win over West Haven for a record of 5-12. North Haven took a 3-0 (25-20, 25-15, 25-20) loss to Lauralton Hall in its first match of the week on Pink Night. Olivia Petersen had 21 assists and 15 digs, Giselle Zumerchik tallied 18 digs with nine kills, and Peyton Davis had 15 digs and seven kills.
Two days later, the Indians faced another Quinnipiac Division opponent with a match at Sheehan and lost 3-0 (25-14, 25-16, 25-23).
North Haven finished up with a contest at West Haven, where the Indians prevailed 3-1 (25-23, 26-16, 25-21, 25-22) to avenge an earlier loss against the Blue Devils. Peterson had 27 assists with 14 digs, Davis had 14 kills, 16 digs, and four aces; and Zumerchik recorded 11 digs with 12 kills and six aces.
Girls’ Swimming and Diving
The Indians finished the regular season with a record of 7-4 and a three-meet win streak after posting a 97-78 home win over Branford on Oct. 16. North Haven improved upon last year’s record of 6-5, while once again competing in Division I of the SCC.
It was Senior Night at Gawrych Town Pool when the Indians defeated Branford, and the team honored the seven members of its senior class, who are captains Avery Hill, Michaela Salvo, Jasmine Nguy, and Laura Borrelli, along with Melissa Greene, Ashley Cipollini, and Juliet Garney. Hill finished with a season-best time of 1:21.32 in the 100 breaststroke, and Jguy swam season bests in both the 100 butterfly (1:03.76) and 100 backstroke (1:07.48). Salvo finished the 50 freestyle in 28.94, which marked a season-best performance.
Sophomore diver Ava Santacroce posted a lifetime-best score with a total of 219.10 points. Sophomore Ava Guidone swam a lifetime-best mark of 1:21.93 in the 100 backstroke. Other swimmers who recorded season-best times were freshman Riley Joos (2:09.24) and junior Emily Gibson (2:29.26) in the 200 freestyle, sophomore Mackenzie Montesi in the 200 individual medley (2:32.37), and sophomore Daria Padro in the 100 breaststroke (1:27.56).
On Oct. 15, North Haven held its annual Lion Heart Lap-a-Thon fundraiser with Amity and Hamden high schools, along with the Hamden Hall Aquatic Club, at the Beckerman Athletic Center at Hamden Hall. Every season, the 17 girls’ swimming and diving teams in the SCC conduct a Lion Heart Lap-a-Thon to raise money for breast cancer research at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven. So far, the teams have collectively raised $23,925 to add to the overall Lion Heart total of $127,528, according to Indians’ Head Coach Martha Phelan. Phelan said that the North Haven girls’ swim team has raised $3,036 toward that total. Donations can be made at lionheart.kintera.org.
Girls’ Soccer
North Haven clinched a berth in the Class L State Tournament by posting a pair of victories last week. After losing to Law, the Indians defeated Hamden and West Haven, clinching their states bid with the latter victory. North Haven now owns a record of 6-7-2.
On Oct. 16, the Indians dropped a 3-0 decision to Law in a Housatonic Division contest. On Oct. 18, North Haven bounced back by blanking Hamden 2-0 at home to complete a season sweep of the Green Dragons. Two days after that, the Indians captured a 2-1 win in West Haven to lock up their spot in states. North Haven had played West Haven to a 1-1 tie earlier in the year.
Boys’ Soccer
The Indians played to a tie against Career-Hillhouse last week before dropping one-goal decisions against West Haven and Amity. North Haven owns a record of 2-11-1.
On Oct. 16, North Haven earned a 3-3 home tie versus a Career-Hillhouse team that the Indians had taken a 3-2 loss to earlier in the year. Two days later, North Haven played another Hammonasset Division game with a contest at West Haven and was edged by the score of 2-1. The Indians closed the week by dropping a 1-0 decision to Amity in a home game on Oct. 20.
Field Hockey
North Haven had a big week last week as the Indians picked up three points by tying Shelton and defeating Sheehan. The Indians, who also took a 4-2 loss at Amity, now own a record of 2-9-3 for the season.
The Indians opened up last week by playing to a 2-2 tie at Shelton on Oct. 16. North Haven was undefeated in its two meetings against the Gaels this year after earning a 1-0 win against them earlier in the season.
Two days later, North Haven hosted Sheehan and shut out the Titans by the score of 2-0. The Indians were also unbeaten versus Sheehan this fall, having previously played the Titans to a 0-0 tie in their season opener. In last week’s victory, Lindsay Rowland scored North Haven’s first goal on an assist from Gillian Grant. Later in the game, Jackie Howlett notched a goal with Mehak Sharma getting the assist for the Indians. Sophie Aquaro made six saves in the cage to get the shutout for North Haven.
On Oct. 20, North Haven face Amity on the road and dropped a 4-2 decision to the Spartans.
Girls’ Cross Country
Reagan Forbes finished in 37th place with a time of 22 minutes and 3 seconds to lead North Haven at the SCC Championship, which was held at East Shore Park in New Haven on Oct. 19. The Indians finished in 16th place as a team at the meet.
Macey DiCarlo ran a time of 23:32 to finish in 64th place for North Haven. Phoung Thai placed 94th at 24:57, Danielle Smith was close behind in 96th place with a time of 25:07, Shannon Reilly finished 109th with a 26:32, Madeline Libero ran a 27:08 to place 111th, and Lily Corcoran finished in 120th behind a time of 29:13.
Boys’ Cross Country
The Indians ran at the SCC Championship last week and came in 17th place as a squad.
Jonathan Opramolla turned in North Haven’s best performance by clocking in at 19:06 to finish in 74th place. Jackson Frank finished in 89th place by posting a mark of 19:34. North Haven’s other runners at the conference meet were Corey Reilly (104th, 20:06), Alex Savenelli (110th, 20:35), Aidan Bergin (111th, 20:53), Alex Page (113th, 21:02), and Alex Kwieraga (116th, 21:49).