The West Haven football team fell to 0-2 with a 33-8 loss against Conard Friday evening at Veterans Stadium in West Haven. The game was moved from Ken Strong Stadium due to a fire in one of the light towers Thursday.
As for the game, the Westies could never get into a rhythm, scoring just once on a Jaden Grant touchdown run to get within a touchdown.
The Westies never got closer as Conard controlled play in the second half, securing the win. West Haven will travel to play Newtown Friday evening.
The West Haven volleyball team had mixed results this week. The Westies picked up their first win of the season and improved to 1-1 overall with a 3-0 victory over Bassick Monday evening at West Haven High. The Westies won by scores of 25-9, 25-6, and 25-14.
“It was a nice win for us tonight,” West Haven coach Kate Coldren said. “We needed to get this first win under our belt and now we need to keep this positive energy going. Tonight was about serving for us. It was strong and consistent. Our focus and enthusiasm were much better tonight, but we still need to work on our communication. There were too many times that we didn’t talk enough and plays fell apart. This is something that we need to continue to improve on for the rest of the season.”
West Haven controlled the match from start to finish with a team effort. The Westies did not allow Bassick to get in double digits in terms of points until the third game, and received solid efforts throughout the team.
“Bria (Stanley) and Gilly (Santaniello) both had great games from the service line,” Coldren said. “Bria and Noelle (Noble) played well at the net. It really was a team effort.”
Bria Stanley led West Haven with 11 aces, eight kills, and one assist, Giliana Santaniello had nine aces, one kill, one dig, and 11 assists, Savannah Lopez added six assists, and Noelle Noble had five kills. Romelin Mendoza chipped in three aces, and Neve Krajcir had two aces and two kills.
After a feel good win over Bassick for West Haven’s initial victory of the season, the Westies were looking to keep the momentum going against Mercy Wednesday evening.
While West Haven put up quite a battle, it was not enough in a 3-2 loss to the Tigers. Mercy prevailed by scores of 17-25, 22-25, 25-23, 28-26, 6-15.
“Although tonight was heartbreaking, there are a lot of positives that we can take away from this game,” Coldren said. “We didn’t quit. Even with our backs against the wall, we fought hard. They showed real heart tonight and never gave up. They made adjustments quickly and recovered from their errors. Hopefully, they learned that they need to play consistent and smart from the first point of the first game rather than have to fight back from a deficit.”
After losing the first two games in close fashion, West Haven rallied to take the third and fourth games by two points apiece. Mercy then pulled away in the fifth game for the victory.
“Noelle (Noble) is doing extremely well and is my most consistent player,” Coldren said. “Her passing on defense and serve receive has been outstanding, and she really turned on her hitting tonight. And lastly, Bria (Stanley) is our go to hitter thus far, and her serving has been very good. We have a lot to build on for the rest of the season.”
Santaniello led the way with 19 assists, five aces, four kills, two digs, and two blocks, Stanley added five aces, 12 kills, three digs, and two blocks, Krajcir had seven aces, three kills, and nine digs, Noble was again solid with 14 kills, nine digs, and three aces.
Lopez added 12 assists, five kills, and four digs, Thiana Baez had five digs, and Lexi Prion added four digs.
West Haven improved to 2-2 on the year with a 3-0 victory over Hillhouse Friday evening in New Haven. The 26-24, 25-16, 25-15 victory saw Stanley lead the way with six aces, six kills, five digs, and three blocks.
“It wasn’t pretty but we won,” Coldren said. “We got off to a slow start, but managed to get it together enough to get the win. We still need to communicate better especially when things don’t seem to be going right. We are in this together no matter what, so we need to work together.”
After a battle in the first game which was extended, West Haven prevailed by two points. The Westies won in an easier fashion over the next two games to move to the .500 mark.
“Bria (Stanley) played well at the net and served very well,” Coldren said. “Noelle (Noble) had another good night in the back row passing and Gilly (Santaniello) held our offense together by setting well. She also served extremely tough, getting us back in the game a few times. We have another busy week coming up so we need to get back on track.”
Santaniello ran the West Haven offense with eight assists and five aces, Noble had four digs and three kills, while Baez and Krajcir each added three aces.
For the West Haven girls soccer team, it has not been home sweet home thus far in the 2019 season. With a 4-2 loss against North Haven Tuesday evening, the Westies fell to 1-2 overall on the year, and 0-2 at Ken Strong Stadium.
The Indians scored three times in the first half and another early in the second to go up by four goals, before West Haven finally got going.
“We were flat in the first half tonight,” West Haven coach Pete Trenchard said. “The second half was better. We played with more intensity and more heart. If we had put that effort in for the entire match, it would have been a different story. We need to find a way to play like that from start to finish.”
Trailing by four goals, West Haven finally got in gear in the second half when senior Taylor Nowak scored off assists from freshmen Julia Tsakonas and Emma Walker with 11 minutes, 47 seconds to go in the contest.
Just 49 seconds later, West Haven was at it again. Senior Alexia Guerrero scored with help coming from sophomore Cori Severino and Tsakonas to get the Westies within a pair of goals. West Haven never got closer as North Haven held on for the win.
Junior Mackenzie Gardner made 10 saves in the loss for West Haven.
The Westies fell to 1-3 with a gut-wrenching 2-1 loss at Cheshire Friday afternoon. West Haven held a 1-0 lead, but could not close out the contest.
“The result was upsetting, but the effort was not,” Trenchard said. “We played very well throughout the game. We were well organized and created some quality chances.”
Madison Lentine scored off assists from Severino and Jessica Robinson at the 14:20 mark for a 1-0 lead, but Cheshire evened the game 11:57 later.
The Rams were not done and took a 2-1 lead with 3:27 remaining in the contest for the 2-1 victory.
Gardner made six saves in the loss for the Westies. Cheshire held an 8-4 shot advantage in the game.
The West Haven boys soccer team is off to just the start head coach Chris Cap could have hoped for. With another solid defensive performance, the Westies won their third straight contest to open the season with a 2-0 victory over Foran Saturday morning.
The shutout was West Haven’s second of the year as the Westies have allowed just a pair of goals this season.
The solid defensive effort led to just six shots by the Lions. West Haven goalkeeper John McLaughlin made three saves for the shutout, his second of the year.
West Haven scored the only goal it would need at the 10:07 mark as Aldo Barragan found the back of the net. The Westies increased the margin to two goals 28:38 later when Brian Rivadera set up Derick Meza.
West Haven, which took 11 shots, improved to 3-0, while Foran fell to 1-1-1.
The West Haven girls and boys cross-country teams ran in Hamden Tuesday afternoon with Career and Cross also competing.
On the girls’ side, Hamden topped the Westies, 15-50 and Cross did the same by an identical score. West Haven and Career did not have enough runners to score against each other.
The boys topped Career 20-39, but fell to Hamden 15-45, and Cross, 22-39.
For the girls, junior Kenedi Merola finished in 26 minutes, 34 seconds, senior Daelle Coriolan finished in 26:43, and junior Maryn Lovallo recorded a time of 27:48.
On the boys’ side, senior Ryan Martinez was the top finisher in 19:36. Junior James Weber finished five seconds later at 19:41, and sophomore Eric Owen ran a time of 20:15.
The West Haven girls swimming team fell to 0-2 on the year with a 101-80 road loss against Branford Thursday afternoon.
West Haven had a pair of first place finishes in the meet as Kaelyn Falanga placed first in the 50 freestyle in 27.09 seconds, and the 500 freestyle in 5 minutes, 57.09 seconds.
The Westies also had five second place finishes. The 200 medley relay team of Madison Hobart, Molly Wilson, Falanga, and Victoria Acuna placed second in 2:06.69, while the one-meter diving had a second place finish by Kaylee Taulty with 144.30 points.
The 200 freestyle relay team of Acuna, Taulty, Molly Wilson, and Morgan Falanga was second in 1:57.63, Hobart was second in the 100 backstroke in 1:13.79, and the 400 freestyle relay team of Morgan Falanga, Eileen Barrington, Kaelyn Falanga, and Hobart also played second.
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