Hockey beats NFI on Senior Day, basketball beats Hillhouse in SCC quarterfinal round, Alex Barbour competed in CIAC State Open Wrestling Meet, and swimmers hosted Xavier on Senior Day.
Hockey — Following the always bittersweet and emotional senior day festivities, the goal was simple for the 2018-19 hockey team – send off its eight seniors with a win in their final regular season game at the Bennett Rink. Three third-period goals, a few huge saves by David Anania, and a penalty kill to start the final period all led to a 5-1 SCC/SWC Division I win over visiting New Fairfield-Immaculate on Satirday.
Tom Ashmore, John Michael Childs, Rory Andriole, Michael Card, and Connor Faughnan all scored for the Green Knights. Notre Dame fell to Darien 7-3 earlier in the week, despite goals from Jack Luzzi, Card, and John D’Errico. They entered Tuesday’s regular season finale at ND Fairfield with a 9-9-1 record.
Basketball — Staring down the barrel of a four-point halftime deficit and possible early exit from the SCC Tournament, the Notre Dame basketball team turned its defense up a notch and became downright stingy as the top-ranked Green Knights rallied to beat Hillhouse, 56-44 ,in a quarterfinal game at Branford HS on Saturday.
Notre Dame (20-1) held the ninth-seeded Academics to four points over the first 10 minutes of the second half to flip the score. Notre Dame used a 15-4 third-quarter scoring advantage to take the lead, resulting in their third win over Hillhouse this season. Connor Raines then broke out of a slow scoring day with a nine-point fourth quarter as the Green Knights stayed comfortably ahead and made enough free throws to cruise to a 12-point win. Raines led Notre Dame with 14 points. The Green Knights had two other -figure scorers as Trevon Setzer-Smith and Zach Laput added 12 and 10 points respectively.
Wrestling — As a result of his fourth-place showing at the CIAC Class L Meet, Alex Barbour qualified for the CIAC State Open Meet. He was seeded 13th in his 182-pound weight class for the competition that started on Friday at the New Haven Athletic Center.
Unfortunately, Barbour lost his first two matches in the double-elimination bracket, albeit both incredibly close matches. Barbour lost, 12-10, to Bacon Academy’s Leonardo Amoro, who was the Class M fifth-place finisher.
Barbour would look to keep his tournament and season alive in the consolation round, but would lose another close battle. This time, he lost a 13-12 decision to New Britain’s Izaiah Medina. Barbour will return next season, along with a slew of other wrestlers for head coach Richard Anderson. In fact, 22 of the 26-man roster will be back for next winter season.
Swimming — Notre Dame swim coach Mike O’Brien let his seniors hand in what events they would like to compete in for their final dual meet of the regular season. As a result, co-captains Bill Hinckley and Jonathan Farricielli both won their event and set personal best times as well. However, the Green Knights fell, 100-71, in their meet with Xavier.
Hinckley and Farricielli were part of four winning events for the Green Knights. Farricielli won the 50 freestyle in 24.81. Hinckley won the 100 freestyle in 51.64. The other Notre Dame wins came from Sean McDermott, who won the 100 breaststroke in 1:09.72. The 400 freestyle relay team also won the final event as Malachi Blatchley, Gavin Kanlong, Colton Varholak, and Michael Iasalvatore in 4:15.42.
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