Printer Friendly Version - Guilford Field Hockey Gets Victory Against Cheshire; Girls’ Soccer Earns a Win and a Tie

Sophomore Payton Root had a goal with an assist to lift the Grizzlies to a 3-1 victory over Cheshire in a rematch of last year’s SCC Division A championship game. File photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier

The Guilford field hockey team played one game last week when the Grizzlies hosted Cheshire for a rematch of last year’s SCC Division A final. The Grizzlies notched a 3-1 victory over the Rams at Guilford High School on Sept. 17, improving their record to 2-0 on the young season.

Guilford scored all three of its goals during the first half versus Cheshire. Junior Ella Clarke scored the first goal on an assist from sophomore Payton Root. Senior Maddie Epke netted the second goal to give the Grizzlies a 2-0 lead. Root scored Guilford’s third goal of the half for a 3-0 advantage. Cheshire scored its lone goal of the game in the second half for the 3-1 final.

The Guilford girls’ soccer squad played two games last week and came away with a win and a tie to move to 1-1-1 on the season. The Grizzlies earned a tie versus Hand before defeating East Haven in last week’s matchups.

Guilford opened its week by playing Hand to a 0-0 tie at Bittner Park on Sept. 14. Four days later, the Grizzlies hosted East Haven at Guilford High School and edged out the Yellowjackets by a 2-1 score.

Junior Eve Rini scored a goal for Guilford on an assist by senior Gabby Sansone in the East Haven victory. Freshman Tea Gambardella scored the other goal for the Grizzlies on an assist from senior Olivia McMahon.

The Guilford football team played its first road game of the season when the team faced non-conference opponent New London on Sept. 17. The Grizzlies gave the Whalers a great battle in a close contest that ultimately saw New London prevail by a 13-6 score.

Guilford struck first versus New London when sophomore quarterback Tyler Hilgert rushed for a touchdown in the opening quarter to give the Grizzlies a 6-0 lead. New London countered with a touchdown run of its own to take a 7-6 advantage into the second quarter.

New London used another TD run to increase its lead to 13-6 in the third quarter. In the final minutes of the game, Hilgert led Guilford down the field for a potential game-winning touchdown drive. On 4th-and-goal, senior quarterback Nico Messina completed a pass to sophomore Brady Hallihan, but the receiver was stopped just shy of the goal line, and New London held on for the 13-6 victory.

Guilford’s next game is another non-conference matchup, this time against Pomperaug. The Grizzlies will face Pomperaug on the road at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 24.

The Guilford girls’ cross country squad took two of three when it participated in a quad-meet at Mercy High School on Sept. 15. Guilford recorded a team score of 29 and took a loss to Cheshire (27) at the meet, but also claimed victories against Mercy (80) and North Haven (9-0) to improve to 5-1 this season.

Senior Olivia Skapczynski finished in second place overall for the race by running a time of 21:09 for the Grizzlies. Junior Alexa Suchy was next in line by taking third place with a time of 21:18. Senior Lorelei King finished in fifth place (21:43), junior Clara Laughlin took eighth place (21:52), and sophomore Michaela Hogan finished 11th (24:07) to help Guilford get its two wins.

The Guilford boys’ cross country team competed against three squads in a quad-meet at Mercy High School on Sept. 15. The Grizzlies posted a team score of 71 to take losses to Xavier (15) and Cheshire (55) and get a win over North Haven (104). Guilford is now 4-2 on the year.

Senior Justin Shiffrin ran a time of 18:53 to finish in 13th place for Guilford at the meet. Sophomore Coleman Love and junior Michael Massotti finished in 14th and 15th place, respectively, with their identical times of 18:54. Sophomore Alex Hansen finished in 16th place (18:58), while junior Bretton Garrick came in 22nd place (19:25) for the Grizzlies.

The Guilford girls’ volleyball team took two losses last week to move to 0-3 on the season. The Grizzlies dropped contests against East Lyme and Amity in recent action.

On Sept. 13, Guilford took a 3-1 (25-19, 25-13, 15-25, 25-17) home loss to East Lyme. Senior Halle Krause had nine kills with eight digs for the Grizzlies, while fellow senior Daisy Pope contributed 10 digs.

Two days later, the Grizzlies hosted Amity and took a 3-1 defeat at Guilford High School.

The Guilford girls’ swimming and diving team began its season by hosting Lauralton Hall for a meet last week. The Grizzlies took a 104-66 defeat against the Crusaders at the Soundview Family YMCA on Sept. 13.

Junior Eve Rini found the back of the net when the Guilford girls’ soccer team defeated East Haven by a 2-1 score on Sept. 18. File photo by Kelley Fryer/The Courier