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09/30/2018 12:00 AM

North Haven Volleyball Takes Two to Move to 6-3; Santacroce Breaks Her Own Diving Record


Senior Giselle Zumerchik and the Indians’ volleyball squad earned wins versus Foran and Mercy last week to run their record to 6-3 on the year. Photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier

Volleyball

The North Haven volleyball team was victorious in two of its three matches last week to raise its record to 6-3 on the season. The Indians posted a sweep versus Foran, took a five-set loss against Cross, and then came back to shut out Mercy to give themselves a winning week. With the win against Foran, North Haven improved its record to 2-2 in SCC Oronoque Division contests this fall.

North Haven started off last week by hosting Foran and notched a 3-0 shutout versus the Lions at Fred Kelly Gymnasium on Sept. 24. The Indians took the victory behind set scores of 26-24, 25-21, and 25-17. Senior Olivia Petersen had 35 assists with six digs for North Haven, while fellow senior Giselle Zumerchik contributed 15 kills with four aces in the divisional victory. Senior Sam Burke had nine kills to go with two aces for Head Coach Brianna Kleckner’s club.

Two days later, the Indians were on the road to play Cross and lost a 3-2 decision to the Governors in New Haven. North Haven jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but Cross came back to take the match behind the final score of 18-25, 24-26, 25-19, 26-24, 15-12. Petersen had 32 assists with six digs and three aces for the Indians. Zumerchik had 20 kills, nine digs, and two aces.

The Indians wrapped up their week by traveling to Middletown to face Mercy on Sept. 28. North Haven earned a 3-0 (25-11, 25-11, 25-16) triumph against the Tigers to record their sixth victory of the year. Petersen had 19 digs with four aces and three assists, while senior Peyton Davis recorded five kills, four digs, and four aces for North Haven.

Girls’ Swimming and Diving

The Indians took their first defeat of the season by losing to Lauralton Hall last week, but promptly bounced back to defeat Foran and move to 5-1 on the year.

North Haven started off its week with a home meet versus Lauralton Hall and dropped a 106-80 decision to the Crusaders on Sept. 25. Junior Ava Santacroce recorded a score of 235.55 points to win the diving competition and break her own school record in the event for a regular-season, six-dive performance. Santacroce had previously set the school record on Sept. 14, when she scored a 232.40 to break Jillian Westergard’s record of 224.83 from 2005.

Additionally at the meet, sophomore Maddie Bergin took first place in a pair of events for the Indians by winning the 200 freestyle with a season-best time of 1:57.64, in addition to placing first in the 100 freestyle in 55.20 seconds. Junior Angela Gambardella also claimed first place in two events for North Haven. Gambardella won the 200 individual medley in a season-best time 2:13.80 to go with a first-place finish in the 100 breaststroke behind a time of 1:07.39, which was also a season best. The Indians’ 200 medley relay of freshman Brooke Nebor, Gambardella, sophomore Riley Jooss, and Bergin came in first place by timing in with a season-best 1:54.80. North Haven’s 200 freestyle relay of Bergin, Gambardella, Jooss, and freshman Noelle Carmody finished first with a 1:44.97 for another season-best showing.

Two days later, the Indians earned a 93-80 victory over Foran at Foran High School. Jooss took first place in the 200 freestyle at 2:08.30. Carmody finished first in the 50 freestyle with a lifetime-best time of 26.88 seconds to go with a lifetime best of 1:00.70 for the 100 freestyle. Freshman Giulia Faulkner claimed first in the 200 individual medley by clocking in with a time of 2:29.11. Bergin won the 100 butterfly (1:03.10), Gambardella prevailed in the 500 freestyle (5:31.55), and Santacroce posted another victory in the diving by scoring 216.20 points. North Haven’s 200 freestyle relay of Bergin, Gambardella, junior Kiersten Winter, and freshman Taya Laborde took first place in 1:58.54. The Indians’ 200 freestyle relay featuring Winter, Nebor, Jooss, and Carmody swam to first place with a time of 1:51.58.

Also during the week, Laborde swam a lifetime-best time of 1:08.96 in the 100 backstroke, Winter recorded season-best performances in the 200 individual medley (2:23.23) and the 100 breaststroke (1:14.84), freshman Scarlett Vogel turned in a season bests in the 50 freestyle (27.28) and the 100 freestyle (2:14.19), and sophomore Molly Coyle swam a season best of 2:36.84 for the 200 IM.

Boys’ Cross Country

North Haven stands at 9-3 on the season following a busy week that saw the Indians earn four victories between two meets.

North Haven was in Wallingford to run in a quad-meet at Sheehan High School on Sept. 26. The Indians recorded a 15-50 victory versus Career and also took defeats versus Cheshire (18-41) and Sheehan (21-36) at the meet.

Three days later, the Indians swept a quad-meet at Eisenhower Park in Milford by earning a 27-28 win over Lyman Hall, a 15-50 victory versus North Branford, and defeating Law on a tiebreaker in a contest that finished with a final score of 28-28. Senior Jack Opramolla took first place with a time of 18 minutes and 6 seconds for North Haven. Freshman Jake Hines finished in sixth place (18:40), senior Jackson Frank took seventh place (18:44), and freshman Mike Rubano finished in eighth place (18:48) for North Haven.

Girls’ Cross Country

The Indians competed at two meets last week and picked up a couple of wins to go with a few defeats. North Haven is now 6-6 on the year.

The Indians competed at a quad-meet in Sheehan on Sept. 26 and earned a win against Career in the meet. North Haven defeated Career by a 15-50 final to go with an 18-45 loss versus Cheshire and an 18-41 defeat to Sheehan in Wallingford.

On Sept. 29, North Haven had a meet at Eisenhower Park, where the Indians took 15-50 defeats against Lauralton Hall, Lyman Hall, and Law. Junior Reagan Forbes finished in second place overall by recording a time of 21 minutes and 43 seconds for North Haven.

Boys’ Soccer

North Haven faced Notre Dame-West Haven in a divisional game and then took on non-conference opponent Valley Regional in last week’s action. The Indians played Notre Dame to a 2-2 tie and then lost 2-0 versus Valley Regional. Head Coach Reid Chieffo’s team has and overall record of 2-4-1 with a record of 0-3-1 in the SCC Housatonic Division.

The Indians hosted Notre Dame-West Haven for a Housatonic Division clash on Sept. 26. North Haven battled the Green Knights to a 2-2 tie to pick up its first point in divisional play this season. AJ Fraschilla scored the first goal for the Indians on an assist from fellow senior Justin Shea during the opening half. In the second half, sophomore Luke Franco netted North Haven’s second goal with senior Ben Blumenthal recording the assist.

Three days later, North Haven faced Shoreline Conference opponent Valley Regional and dropped a 2-0 decision against the Warriors. The game was originally slated to be played at Valley Regional High School in Deep River, but was moved to North Haven Middle School.

Girls’ Soccer

North Haven hit the field for one contest last week when Head Coach Jeff Knuth’s team hosted Lauralton Hall on Sept. 28. The Indians dropped a 5-2 decision against the Crusaders at North Haven Middle School to move to 1-5-1 on the season.

Field HockeyThe Indians were on the road for a pair of games last week. North Haven lost contests against Lyman Hall and Hamden and now has a record of 0-5-1 on the season.

On Sept. 26, North Haven headed to Wallingford to face Lyman Hall and took a 2-0 defeat at Fitzgerald Field. Then on Sept. 29, North Haven played Hamden on the road and lost to the Green Dragons by a 6-0 final.

Football

The North Haven football team had a bye week for Week 4 and now gets ready to play Hillhouse on the road this week. The Indians enter the matchup with an overall record of 3-0 that includes a mark of 2-0 in SCC Tier 1 games. Hillhouse, which plays in SCC Tier 2, brings a record of 0-4 into its contest against North Haven. The game kicks off at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 5 at Bowen Field in New Haven.

Senior Sam Burke contributed nine kills and also a pair of aces when the North Haven volleyball posted a 3-0 shutout versus Foran in a home match on Sept. 24. Photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier
Senior AJ Fraschilla scored a goal for the North Haven boys’ soccer team when the Indians played Notre Dame-West Haven to a 2-2 tie last week. Photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier