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05/24/2021 12:00 AM

North Haven Boys’ Tennis, Girls’ Lacrosse Notch First Victories of the Season


Junior Ben Rudikoff won his No.1 singles match in straight sets to help the North Haven boys’ tennis earn his first win of the year with a 4-3 victory versus Shelton last week. File photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier

Boys' Tennis

The North Haven boys' tennis team notched its first victory of the year and its first win with Head Coach John Higgins when the team defeated Shelton last week. North Haven played a road match against Shelton on May 19 and edged out the Gaels by the final score of 4-3. North Haven finished with a record of 1-15 for the season.

North Haven won three of the four singles matches in its win over Shelton. Junior Ben Rudikoff posted a 7-6, 6-4 win at No. 1 singles for North Haven. Sophomore Lucas de Lencastre claimed a 7-5, 6-4 victory at No. 2 singles, while senior Matt Labanara won his No. 3

singles match 6-0, 6-0. North Haven's No. 3 doubles team of junior Justin Geremia and sophomore Jess Hansard recorded a big victory by winning 6-4, 6-4 to help the squad come out on top.

Girls' Tennis

The North Haven girls' tennis team finished its regular season with a record of 9-7 after splitting a pair of recent matches. North Haven posted a win over Cheshire before taking a loss to Amity during the final week of the regular season. Head Coach Bob Migliorini's team opens up postseason play this week.

On May 17, North Haven hosted Cheshire and claimed a 5-2 victory versus the Rams. Junior Ally Vollero claimed a 6-2, 6-1 victory for North Haven in the No. 1 singles contest. Junior Taylor Morris notched a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 2 singles; sophomore Risa Tobin earned a 6-2, 6-2 victory at No. 3 singles; and freshman Chandler Morris prevailed by a 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 score in the No. 4 singles match. On the doubles court, North Haven's No. 2 team of senior Sophia DelVecchio and Kaitlyn Ha netted a 6-2, 7-5 victory.

On May 19, North Haven took a 7-0 loss at Amity in its regular-season finale.

North Haven is competing in the SCC Division I Tournament as the No. 5 seed this week. North Haven played a first-round match at No. 4 Lauralton Hall on May 24 (after press time). With a victory, North Haven would have played at top-seeded Amity in the semis on May 25 (after press time). The championship was on May 26 (after press time). Following SCCs, North Haven is competing in the Class L State Tournament that gets underway on Friday, May 28.

Girls' Lacrosse

The North Haven girls' lacrosse team picked up its first win of the season by claiming an 8-5 home victory versus Morgan last week. North Haven went on to take losses against Lauralton Hall and Amity to finish the year with a mark of 1-14.

On May 17, North Haven hosted Morgan and defeated the Huskies by the final score of 8-5. Senior Adrianna Corniello scored three goals, and fellow senior Gianna Mastroianni netted two goals for North Haven. Junior Sophia Dorio, junior Riley Minns, and junior Eliza O'Connor each scored one goal to help North Haven get its first win with Head Coach Bernie Pellegrino. Junior goalie Hannah Sommer made eight saves in net.

The following day, North Haven played a home game with Lauralton Hall and took a 9-3 defeat.

Then on May 20, North Haven took a 15-4 loss to Amity in a road game. Mastroianni, Minns, O'Connor, and senior Isabella DeFelice scored North Haven's goals in the game.

Boys' Lacrosse

The North Haven boys' lacrosse team gained a split of two games last week to move to 2-11 entering the final week of its regular season. North Haven notched a win over Shelton and took a loss to Fairfield Prep in recent action.

On May 17, North Haven hosted Shelton and recorded an 8-7 victory to get its second win of the campaign. Two days later, North Haven took a 13-4 defeat against Fairfield Prep in another home game.

Boys' Golf

The North Haven boys' golf team finished its regular season with a record of 5-6 by earning road wins versus Career and Hillhouse last week.

On May 17, North Haven claimed a 194-235 win over Hillhouse at Alling Memorial Golf Club. Freshman Kevin Lawlor was the match medalist by carding a low score of 45 for North Haven. Senior Justin Yeager scored a 47, senior Chase DiCarlo turned in a 48, and freshman Chris Labanara finished with a 52 in the victory.

The following day, North Haven defeated Career by a 192-213 score in its regular-season finale at Alling Memorial. Sophomore Christian Basmadjian garnered medalist honors with his low total of 43 on the afternoon. Yeager shot a 47, DiCarlo scored a 52, and freshman Danny LaDore also posted a score of 52.

Softball

The North Haven softball team won three of its five games during the last week of the regular season to post a record of 11-7. North Haven begins the postseason with the SCC Tournament this week and will be competing in states after that.

In its first game of the week, North Haven took a 7-2 home loss to Amity on May 17. North Haven bounced back by earning a 4-1 victory at Mercy the following day.

Head Coach Karen Castagnola's club went on to split a doubleheader against West Haven at North Haven Athletic Complex on May 19. North Haven took a 7-4 loss in the opener. Junior Jamie Swiatek hit a home run for North Haven, while senior Sydney Maezna and junior Alexys Signor both had two hits in the game.

North Haven rebounded by grabbing a 4-3, eight-inning win over West Haven in the nightcap. Junior Megan Cross hit a pinch-hit single to drive in the winning run in the bottom of the eighth and give North Haven the walk-off victory.

Olivia Olson started on the mound for North Haven and pitched the first four innings. Freshman Gabby Blanchard earned the victory by tossing the last four innings of the contest. Olson also clubbed a two-run home run for North Haven. Maenza and Swiatek contributed three hits apiece to the winning effort.

The following day, North Haven claimed a 22-0 home win over Career in its regular-season finale.

North Haven is the No. 7 seed in the SCC Tournament and opened the draw with a quarterfinal game at No. 2 Amity on May 24

(after press time). With a win, North Haven will face the winner of No. 3 East Haven and No. 6 Jonathan Law in the semis on May 25 (after press time). The championship game is at West Haven High School at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 27. Following the SCC tourney, North Haven will compete in the Class L State Tournament that starts on Friday, May 29.

Boys' Outdoor Track

The North Haven boys' outdoor track team posted a fourth-place performance with 81 points scored at the SCC West Sectional Championship that was held on May 18 at Bowen Field.

North Haven saw three athletes take second place in their respective events at sectionals. Senior Torray Armfield finished second in the long jump with a distance of 21 feet-7 inches for North Haven. Senior Anthony Vigliotto claimed second place in the discus (124-4), and sophomore Ethan Anderson earned runner-up honors for the shot put (44-1). Anderson also finished fifth in the discus (109-2), and Vigliotto also finished eighth in the javelin (127-5).

Freshman Derek Ciaburro took third place in the high jump (5-8). Junior Matt O'Connell came in third place for the pole vault (11-6) and was also eighth in the long jump (19-1). Senior Patrick Rourke finished fourth in the 800 (2:04.97). Junior Cole DeCusati finished fourth in the discus (111-0) and took sixth place in the shot put (39-5).

North Haven's 4x800 relay of senior Aaron Barbiero, junior Luke Nugent, senior Jason Tong, and senior Nick Howlett finished in third place (9:13.66). The 4x100 relay of junior MJ DeVilliers, Jr., sophomore Daniel-Mark Thomas, senior Taray Smart and Armfield finished fourth (45.81); and the 4x400 relay of Rourke, DeVilliers, Jr., Thomas, and junior Jack Pollard came in sixth place (3:43.89).

Senior Kyle Fitzgerald and fellow senior Joe O'Connor both cleared 9 feet in the pole vault to finish in sixth and eighth place, respectively. Pollard took seventh place in the 400 (55.29).

Nugent ran a time of 19.66 to finish eighth in the preliminaries of the 110 hurdles and then finished with a 20.57 to take seventh place in the finals. Smart finished seventh in the 200 (24.27) and also placed ninth in the prelims of the 100 (11.65).

Sophomore Youdef Gebril finished eighth in the shot put (38-2), and senior Luke Franco placed 10th in the long jump (18-9.5) for North Haven. Senior Ray Lewis finished ninth (47.19) in the 300 hurdles, while fellow senior Cam Cargan took 10th place (47.84) in the event.

Girls' Outdoor Track

The North Haven girls' outdoor track squad finished in seventh place by scoring 48 points at the SCC West Sectional Championship at Bowen Field on May 18.

Freshman Erika Fronte took second place in the shot put with a throw of 31 feet-2 inches for North Haven at the meet. Junior Emily Cocco finished third in the event behind a distance of 30-2. Cocco also took second in the discus by launching a toss of 80-5. Freshman Grayce Christoforo placed fourth in the javelin with a throw of 82-8.

Sophomore Julia Ball finished fifth in the triple jump by hitting a distance of 31-6. Junior Ada Forbes finished fifth in the 800 with a time of 1:06.85. Junior Grace Finch ran a time of 1:06.85 in the 400 to take seventh place.

North Haven's 4x400 relay of Finch, freshman Anna Mortali, senior Sofia Fappiano, and Forbes finished in fifth place with a time of 4:47.50. The 4x800 relay of Mortali, sophomore Anna Kattis, senior Taya Stanley, and junior Caitlyn McFarland also finished fifth by timing in at 12:33.22. North Haven's 4x100 relay featuring Finch, Ball, Forbes, and freshman Jade Lewis recorded a time of 54.89 to finish in sixth place.

Junior goalie Hannah Sommer made eight saves when the North Haven girls’ lacrosse squad defeated Morgan by an 8-5 score to notch its first victory of the 2021 season. File photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier