FCIAC

Wilton overcomes early deficit to beat Ludlowe

WILTON — Just four and a half minutes into its state tournament opener, the Wilton girls soccer team found itself trailing.

Fairfield Ludlowe found the back of the net as the 22nd-seeded Falcons were looking to upset the 11th-seeded Warriors on their home field.

“I think I was surprised and I didn’t expect it,” Wilton standout Ally Dejana said of the early deficit. “We got off to a bit of a slow start but we really picked it up.”

Dejana, however, scored the next two goals, helping carry Wilton to a 2-1 victory over FCIAC foe Fairfield Ludlowe in a CIAC Class LL state tournament first-round game in a steady rain on Monday afternoon at Lilly Field.

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St. Joseph shuts out Westhill

TRUMBULL — An overtime loss to Ridgefield last week in the FCIAC semifinals left the St. Joseph girls soccer team with seven days to practice — and stew over that defeat — before the Class LL tournament commenced.

On Monday afternoon, St. Joseph took out that frustration on Westhill in the Class LL first round.

The Cadets dominated in all facets, scoring six times in the first half en route to a 6-0 victory on a chilly, wet afternoon. Sixth-seeded St. Joseph moves on to host No. 11 Wilton — a 2-1 winner over No. 22 Fairfield Ludlowe — in the second round on Wednesday.

“I had a sense we would come out and play well, only because how we practiced after the Ridgefield game,” St. Joseph coach Jack Nogueira said. “We were a little hungrier. I didn’t think it would be 6-0, but I thought we would play very, very well.”

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Trumbull cruises to win over Cheshire

TRUMBULL — After stewing over their tough FCIAC first-round playoff loss for the last 10 days, the Trumbull High Eagles figured they deserved at least a soothing 10-minute break during halftime of Monday’s Class LL first round girls soccer game against Cheshire.

Thanks to Erin Melia’s goal, set up beautifully by Simone Dewar 34 seconds before intermission, the Eagles got their wish.

“The third goal (giving Trumbull a 3-1 lead before halftime) was massive for us,” Trumbull’s first-year coach Rich Sutherland said after his team’s 5-1 victory. “At 2-1, it’s a tough game. At 3-1 it changed the game and had (Cheshire) hanging their heads. It was a good time for us to score.”

With Skylar Jorge scoring three goals, including two by penalty kick, the 13th seed Eagles (12-6) advanced to Wednesday’s second-round game at No. 4 Shelton at 2 p.m. The win helped erase the memory of Trumbull’s 4-0 FCIAC quarterfinal loss to eventual champ Ridgefield back on Oct. 26.

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No. 2 Trumbull sweeps No. 1 Westhill in FCIAC volleyball final

The Trumbull Eagles celebrate a point during their 3-0 victory over Westhill in the FCIAC championship match Saturday at Fairfield-Ludlowe HS, — Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media photo

FAIRFIELD — Making history was the mission. And nothing was going to stand in the way of the Trumbull High School girls volleyball team from finishing the job.

The No. 2 seeded Eagles soared to a 25-22, 25-22, 25-13 victory over No. 1 seed Westhill High Saturday afternoon before a raucous capacity crowd at the Ludlowe High gym to capture their first-ever FCIAC Championship.

“It was 20 years since a Trumbull girls volleyball team even reached the FCIAC final,” Trumbull’s sophomore setter Ali Castro said. “Knowing we are the first Trumbull High girls volleyball team to capture an FCIAC title. That’s history that will stay with us forever.”

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Stamford outlasts Bridgeport Central in defensive clash

STAMFORD—At this point in the season a win is a win and the Stamford High football team will take them anyway they can.

Saturday at Boyle Stadium the Black Knights escaped a defensive struggle against Bridgeport Central with a 7-0 victory.

It was Stamford’s second win on the season while Central remains the only team in the FCIAC without a victory.

While neither offense was able to get going, it was the defenses for both teams shining.

“Getting the shutout feels good,” Stamford defensive back Daniel Simms said. “We were getting put in bad situations by our offense but (the defense) executed the whole time. We had a good shutout. We tried to stop the run first because they every time they threw the ball it was basically a 50/50 ball, so, we tried to stop them from running.”

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Trumbull overcomes early deficit to beat Westhill

Trumbull High football coach Marce Petrocchio said that the first quarter Friday against Westhill “took 10 years off my life.” Fortunately for Marce, the rest of the game probably restored those 10 years.

With Adam Tolk having a great all-around game, quarterback Colton Nicholas passing for 264 yards and two touchdowns and running back Corey Osborne rushing for 130 yards and a score, Trumbull reached .500 with a 35-15 victory.

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Ridgefield edges upstart New Canaan for 3rd FCIAC girls soccer title in four years

Claire Middlebrook and the rest of the Ridgefield Tigers’ senior girls soccer players are quite accustomed to being in the winner’s circle. So it’s fitting that they’ll go out the way they came in as freshmen — FCIAC champions. After having their two-year reign atop the conference end last fall, the Tigers are back on … Read more

Trumbull nips Ludlowe in 5 to reach FCIAC Volleyball final

FAIRFIELD—A berth in the FCIAC Girls Volleyball final is a worthy reward.

Trumbull High School earned its chance to play for the 2018 league crown Thursday night by outlasting Ludlowe High, 25-15, 23-25, 25-21, 21-25, 15-10 in the FCIAC semifinals before a passionate crowd at the Ludlowe High gym.

The win means No. 2 seed Trumbull will face No. 1 seed Westhill (20-2) on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Ludlowe’s gym for the FCIAC Championship. Westhill held off Darien, 3-2 in Thursday’s early semifinal.

“Every night in FCIAC volleyball is a battle. This was fun,” said Trumbull’s first-year head coach Nicole Trommelen. “How did we do this? With our fight. With our resilency. Ludlowe beat us in the regular season. And we could have gotten down after losing Game 4 to tie the match. But our team responded as it has all year against adversity.”

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Ludlowe beats Danbury to ensure winning season

FAIRFIELD — Another game, another heart-pounding win for the Fairfield Ludlowe football team.

The Falcons, who came into this season with three wins combined over their previous three seasons, has now doubled that mark this season and, like it has in four of their six victories, it came down to the wire with Danbury before they emerged with a 44-39 FCIAC win over the Hatters on Thursday night at Taft Field.

On the strength of Colin Wilson’s five touchdown passes, three to Brian Howell, and an interception in the final seconds by Howell, the Falcons made sure they’ll have a winning record in 2018.

“Even though they haven’t had success in the past three seasons, they know how to win because they don’t blame each other when things go bad,” Ludlowe head coach Mitch Ross said. “They kept going and going and played a fantastic clutch game.”

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Darien edges previously unbeaten Staples for FCIAC title

In recent years the Darien and Staples field hockey programs have had several memorable showdowns, scripting a new rivalry in a sport where historically the Blue Wave have had the edge with the Wreckers having closed the gap over the past couple of seasons.

A new chapter was written Thursday night as the No. 2 Blue Wave re-established themselves as the best team in the conference, defending their FCIAC championship by knocking off the top-seeded Wreckers in a 2-1 thriller at Brien McMahon’s Jack Casagrande Field.

“Our goal was to get here and obviously playing Staples is always such a great, fun competitive game,” Darien head coach Mo Minicus said. “We wanted nothing more than to beat them and these girls played their hearts out.”

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