The West Haven volleyball is riding into the postseason on a positive wave. Winners of four of their last five matches, the Westies are 12-7 on the year.
West Haven won its third straight match and seventh in its last eight contests with a 3-1 road victory over Hamden. With the 25-23, 18-25, 25-17, 25-23 victory, the Westies improved to 11-6 on the year.
“We started off kind of slow again tonight, but were able to pull it together to get the win,” West Haven coach Kate Coldren said. “We really need to figure out a way to start off these games with more intensity and energy and play more consistent volleyball, starting with our serving. Getting this win was very important and we played well in general, but I know we’re capable of much better. We need to finish off the regular season strong and keep the momentum going for playoffs.”
Involved in a tough match from the start, the Westies won both the first and fourth games by two points each. After losing the second game, West Haven pulled away for a third game victory, before edging Hamden in the fourth game.
“Collectively our serve receive and defense was very good,” Coldren said. “We struggled a bit in the front row against some tough blockers, but we found a way to make it work. Bria (Stanley) and Noelle (Noble) played well in the front row and came up with some big hits when we needed them the most. For the third and fourth games, we served tough and that made all the difference.”
Noelle Noble and Neve Krajcir led the defensive efforts with 11 and 10 digs, respectively. Giliana Santaniello added eight digs, eight assists, and four aces, while Bria Stanley had six kills and five digs, and Savannah Lopez had seven assists and five digs.
Noble also had six kills, and Krajcir finished with four aces and three kills.
West Haven posted its fourth win in five matches with a 3-1 victory over North Haven. The 19-25, 25-13, 25-18, 25-22 victory allowed West Haven to improve to 12-7 on the year.
“They played so much better and seem to be back on track with a solid team effort,” Coldren said. “We got off to a slow start, but they put everything together by the second game. We were able to run our offense because our passing was on point.”
Stanley led the way with 17 kills, seven digs, and three blocks, while Krajcir had nine kills, four aces, and four digs. Lopez had nine assists, four digs, three aces and three kills, Noble had six digs, three aces, and two kills, and Santaniello had 16 assists, four kills, three aces and two digs.
“Noelle (Noble) and Savannah (Lopez) played very well on defense and really got the rest of the team motivated to work hard. Bria (Stanley) and Neve (Krajcir) were unstoppable at the net and really made some smart plays when we needed them the most. I can’t say enough about how well they played, and it was good to get a win over North Haven.”
West Haven girls soccer coach Pete Trenchard enforced the importance of entering the postseason on a positive note. Winning two of their last three matches, the Westies were able to do so.
With a 0-2-1 stretch staring in its face, West Haven looked for a way to get out of its slump. Facing a tough Hand-Madison squad, the Westies turned to its defense and goalkeeping, along with timely scoring to post a 2-0 victory in West Haven Monday evening.
The win improved West Haven’s record to 5-5-4 and qualified the Westies for the state tournament.
Mackenzie Gardner made six saves, Jessica Robinson and Selena Izzo found the back of the net, and a solid defense which held Hand to just seven shots, helped West Haven get back on track.
“Overall, we played very well tonight,” Trenchard said. “We bounced back from the loss to Sheehan in our last game, and got a big win against a good team. The win qualified us for the state tournament, which is always the endgame.”
Both West Haven goals came as a result of hard work as Robinson scored on a penalty kick and Izzo scored on a free kick after a foul was drawn by Maya Bermudez.
“Defensively we were solid, and we weathered their attacks and didn’t give them many quality chances,” Trenchard said.
Trenchard wanted to close the regular season on a high note as the postseason approached. Winning two of three games to close the regular season had the Westies enter the postseason with a 6-6-4 record.
West Haven ended the season in impressive fashion with a 2-0 victory over Wilbur Cross on Saturday.
“It was nice to finish the regular season with the win,” Trenchard said. “Cross played well and made it tough on us, but we found a way to score and to finish the season with a .500 record. Now, we take a couple of days off to rest and recuperate, and then get back to work to focus on the state tournament. ”
Gardner picked up her eighth individual shutout of the year with six saves.
The Westies had 10 shots in the contest and took a 1-0 lead when Emma Walker scores from Alexia Guerrero at the 23:37 mark.
Cross battled and gave West Haven all it could handle before Julia Tsakonas scored from Robinson at 76:04.
The West Haven boys soccer team is looking to get back on track. With a tough stretch to end the regular season, the Westies are working to get back to their winning ways.
In the midst of a 3-1-1 stretch, West Haven was looking to keep the season rolling along. Unfortunately for the Westies they ran into a tough North Haven team and fell 6-0 on the road Monday evening. With the loss, West Haven fell to 6-5-2 on the year.
North Haven held an 18-12 shot advantage in the contest with West Haven goalkeeper John McLaughlin making 10 saves. North Haven’s Matt Casey finished with eight saves.
Kasey Mongillo scored three goals for the Indians, who jumped out to an early lead 6 minutes, 9 seconds into the contest on a goal by Mongillo. Mongillo scored at the 13:02 mark to sandwich a tally by Jack Pollard for a 3-0 advantage.
While the West Haven boys soccer team is still searching for its first victory in a handful of games, the Westies took a step in the right direction Saturday afternoon with a 1-1 draw against Jonathan Law.
The draw, which moved the Westies to 0-3-2 in their last five games, and 6-6-3 overall, was in comeback fashion.
After Law’s Marcus Dostal scored at the 35:56 mark for a 1-0 advantage, West Haven pressured. That pressure finally paid off when Derick Meza scored at the 62:11 mark off an assist from Aldo Barragan.
West Haven held a 13-10 shot advantage in the contest.
McLaughlin made three saves and Brian Carew made four saves in the draw for West Haven.
Danici Malkut made nine saves for Law.
The West Haven girls swimming team fell to 1-8 with a 98-80 loss at Hamden Monday evening. The Westies had two first place finishes, including the 100 backstroke by Madison Hobart in 1 minute, 10.86 seconds, and the 400 freestyle relay team of Morgan Falanga, Alana Orecchio, Kaelyn Falanga, and Hobart in 4:21.68.
The Westies also had four second place finishes. The 200 medley relay team of Hobart, Molly Wilson, Victoria Acuna, and Kaelyn Falanga had a time of 2:09.57, Morgan Falanga was second in the 200 freestyle in 2:20.22, Kaylee Taulty was second in the 1 meter diving with 175.50 points, and the 500 freestyle had Kaelyn Falanga place second in 6:04.54.
The Westies had a competitive meet against Jonathan Law Thursday afternoon, but fell in a home meet 94-84. With the loss, West Haven fell to 1-9 on the year.
West Haven had two first place finishes as Taulty won the 1meter diving with 180.45 points, and Kaelyn Falanga was victorious in the 500 freestyle in 5 minutes, 52 seconds.
The Westie shad five second place finishes, with three of those outcomes coming in the relay events. The 200 medley relay team of Hobart, Wilson, Acuna, and Kaelyn Falanga was second in 2:07.63, the 200 freestyle relay team of Morgan Falanga, Wilson, Orecchio, and Sofia Shubin placed second in 1:58.15, and the 400 freestyle relay team of Acuna, Kaelyn Falanga, Morgan Falanga, and Hobart was second in 4:23.36.
The 50 freestyle saw Kaelyn Falanga place second in 28.22, while the 100 butterfly had Hobart second in 1:11.79.
The West Haven boys and girls cross country teams participated in the Class LL division championships Saturday afternoon at Wickham Park.
The top runners for the boys were senior Sebastian Villanueva in 17 minutes, 29 seconds, sophomore Eric Owen in 19:21, and junior Allen Aldrich in 19:35. The top runners for the girls were freshman Amanda Gullo in 26:14, senior Rowanne Mustafa in 27:35, and senior Daelle Coriolan in 28:40.
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