North Branford Field Hockey in Prime Position Entering Postseason

To say the North Branford has dominated the 2011 season so far would be an understatement. Standing at 13-0 with three games to play, the T-Birds are in a perfect place to claim the Shoreline Conference title and enter states as one of the top seeds.

Babby Nuhn’s team has outscored opponents 56-3 so far, allowing single-goal games against Haddam-Killingworth (2-1 on Sept. 27), Westbrook (7-1 on Oct. 4) and Morgan (7-1 on Oct. 8). The other 10 games have been shutouts.

Only one team, other than HK, came within a goal of North Branford and that was perennial SCC powerhouse Branford, which the T-Birds beat 1-0 on Sept. 22. North Branford took 2-0 wins over Stonington (Sept. 13) and Amity (Oct. 10). The rest of the games were won by four goals or more.

North Branford again faced Shoreline Conference foe HK on Oct. 20. While it looked like it would be another close contest with most of the first half deadlocked at 0-0, Danielle Hottin broke the scoreless tie off an assist from with 3:16 until halftime.

In the second half, the T-Birds set about pouring on the offense as they exploded for four more goals. Hottin and McGinnis teamed up again nine minutes into the second half, this time with McGinnis scoring and Hottin assisting.

McGinnis scored again off an assist from Cassidy Norton to put North Branford up 3-0. McGinnis then completed her hat trick with an unassisted goal with 8:06 to play. McGinnis helped close out North Branford’s scoring when she fed Tara Melaccio the ball for a goal with at 1:34 remaining.

“HK was a big win since we are rivals...plus, they are the strongest
competitor in the league,” said Nuhn. “There is no Shoreline title until the last game and I believe in taking it one game at a time because we all know anything can happen on any given day.”

North Branford outshot HK 13-4 with making three saves for the T-Birds. HK dropped to 8-3-0-1 (6-2-0-1 Shoreline Conference), while North Branford improved to 12-0 (7-0 Shoreline).

Not only did the T-Birds succeed on the field, their Play for the Cure fundraiser to support breast cancer awareness was also a success.

“It's awesome that these young student athletes, male and female, are so much more informed about proactive decisions with breast cancer in comparison with years past,” said Nuhn.

The T-Birds hosted Valley Regional on Oct. 24 and celebrated Senior Night before their contest, which they won 4-0.

North Branford closes out the regular season with a contest against Morgan at home on Tuesday, Oct. 25 at 6:30 p.m. and a home game against Westbrook on Thursday, Oct. 27. The regular season concludes with a road game against Waterford on Saturday, Oct. 29.