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03/03/2018 11:00 PMGirls’ Ice Hockey
The Branford-East Haven-North Branford girls’ ice hockey squad recorded its first two State Tournament victories in program history, including a major upset against top-seeded Greenwich in the quarterfinals, to move on to the semifinal round. The Wings defeated Northwest Catholic-Mercy 6-3 in their state tourney opener, after which they posted a 4-1 win at Greenwich in a quarterfinal matchup last week.
The 8th-seeded Wings improved to 18-4 with these two victories and advanced to face the 4th-seeded Suffield-Enfield-Housatonic-Ellington-Metropolitan Learning Center co-op squad in the semifinals at The Rinks at Shelton on March 7 (after press time). With a win, Head Coach Jack Norton’s club would play the winner of No. 2 seed Darien and No. 3 New Canaan for the state title at Bennett Rink in West Haven at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 10.
The Wings opened up the State Tournament by notching a 6-3 home victory versus 9th-seeded Northwest Catholic-Mercy in a first-round contest at DiLungo Rink on Feb. 27, marking the program’s first victory in states. Emilie Wilkinson led the way by scoring three goals for a hat trick to go with one assist on her birthday. Emma Sheehan, Sophia Caturano, and Julianna Constantinople each added a goal for the Wings. Emmy Norton had two assists, while Alycia Ferretti and Morgan Odice both had one assist. Goalie Julia SanGiovanni played an incredible game in net by making 45 saves.
Then on March 3, Branford-East Haven-North Branford hit the road to face off against No. 1 seed Greenwich in the state quarterfinals and came home with a 4-1 win against the Cardinals. Constantinople recorded a hat trick to lead the Wings to their upset win. Norton had a goal with an assist, and Caturano also had an assist in the victory. SanGiovanni put together another sensational effort in net by making 19 saves for the Wings.
Greenwich scored the first goal of the game, but Constantinople tied it by netting a power-play goal, and it was tied 1-1 after the opening period. Norton scored a goal to give the Wings a 2-1 lead just 15 seconds into the second period, after which Constantinople lit the lamp to make it 3-1 just one minute later. Constantinople netted a shorthanded goal in the third period to cap off her hat trick and put the game away for the Wings, who advanced to the semis with the 4-1 win.
Boys’ Ice Hockey
The Branford boys’ ice hockey squad completed its regular season last week, and the Hornets also found out who they are facing in the opening round of the Division II State Tournament.
The Hornets hosted North Haven at Northford Ice Pavilion on Feb. 28 and dropped a 6-0 decision. The next day, Branford was home to face New Fairfield-Immaculate and also lost that game by the final score of 6-0 to finish the regular season with a record of 13-6-1.
In the Division II State Tournament, Branford is the No. 8 seed and hosted No. 9 South Windsor (7-11-2) in a first-round game at Northford Ice Pavilion on March 6 (after press time). With a win, the Hornets would face the winner of top-seeded Farmington Valley and No. 16 Westhill-Stamford in the quarterfinals on Friday, March 9. The semifinals are at Ingalls Rink on Monday, March 12, and the state final takes place at Ingalls at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 16.
The week prior to completing its regular season, Branford posted a 7-1 win against Newtown at Danbury Ice Arena on Feb. 24. The Hornets scored three goals in the first period, one in the second period, and then added three more goals in the third on their way to the victory. Jack Manware and fellow sophomore Blake Kustra both scored two goals for Branford, while junior Max Bunton had a goal with four assists.
In the opening frame, Manware from on assists from Bunton and junior Rob Lionetti, Kustra scored from Bunton and sophomore Spencer Engstrom, and then Bunton scored on Kustra’s helper for a 3-0 Branford lead through one. With 2:18 left in the second period, Manware netted his second goal on assists from sophomore Zach Jones and sophomore Jake Rivera to make it a 4-0 game. Then in the third, Lionetti scored from freshman Finn Thompson, freshman Sawyer Moriarty scored a goal from Engstrom and Max Manware, and the Kustra got a goal on a Bunton assist for a 7-0 advantage.
Girls’ Basketball
The Branford girls’ basketball team competed in the Class L State Tournament last week and earned its first state tourney victory since 2010 by routing Naugatuck in a first-round contest. The Hornets then took a loss against Law in the second round to finish the year with an overall record of 8-14.
Branford entered states as the No. 28 seed and opened the draw by posting a 41-24 victory at No. 5 seed Naugatuck.
Then on March 2, the Hornets traveled to Milford to take on No. 12 Law and dropped a 55-52 decision. Branford stormed out to a 22-8 lead after the first quarter, and then Law won the second quarter 15-8 to cut the Hornets’ lead to 27-23 at halftime. Branford was up 40-35 entering the fourth quarter, but Law outscored the Hornets 20-12 in the final frame to come away with the win.
Junior Sophia Araneo scored 22 points to lead the Hornets. Senior Emma Pierson scored 12 points, sophomore Karly King scored 11, and senior Tori Raffone had five points for Branford.
Boys’ Swimming and Diving
Sophomore Aidan Henry finished in the top five of two events, including a second-place showing in the 200 individual medley, for Branford-Guilford boys’ swimming and diving team at last week’s SCC Championship. Henry, a sophomore at Guilford High School, scored 63 points between his two top-five performances to help his team score 265 points and finish in 11th place out of 15 teams at the SCC meet, which was held at Southern Connecticut State University on Feb. 28.
Henry posted a time of 2:00.87 in the 200 individual medley to take second place, only finishing behind Fairfield Prep’s Richard Nolan, who swam a 1:55.65. Later in the evening, Henry took fifth place in the 50 freestyle by hitting the finish line with a time of 50.26 seconds.
Henry also swam the anchor leg on a pair of relays at the SCC Championship. In the 400 freestyle relay, the team of freshman Daniel Kamen, junior Noah Horton, junior Andrew Orce, and Henry finished in eighth place with a time of 3:38.74. In the 200 freestyle relay, Horton, Kamen, Orce, and Henry came in 12th place by swimming a 1:39.68.
Branford-Guilford’s 200 medley relay of freshman David Zhang, junior Matthew Daley, Horton, and sophomore Evan Laughlin finished 13th with a time of 1:57.91. Orce finished 23rd in the 100 breaststroke (1:11.08) and came in 32nd place in the 100 freestyle (56.57) at the meet. Freshman Connor Coyne took 24th place in the 200 freestyle and was 31st for the 100 butterfly (1:02.32). Kamen placed 27th in the 500 freestyle (5:28.84) and finished 28th in the 200 freestyle at 2:01.15.
The day before the swimming portion of the meet, the SCC Diving Championship took place at Southern Connecticut State University, where freshman Emanuel Acevedo totaled a score of 271.30 points to finish in 10th place out of 19 divers.
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