North Branford T-Birds' Sports Round-Up

The North Branford T-Birds have been busy on the fields, court and course. The football team won its second game of the season and here’s the latest from the volleyball, girls’ soccer and cross-country squads.

Volleyball

Coach Dick Terrill’s team got its first win of the 2012 season, coming out on top of Cromwell 3-2 on Sept. 24 to stand at 1-4. Before that, though, the T-Birds hosted Old Lyme, falling 3-1 (25-15, 20-25, 25-7, 25-17).

Old Lyme’s Amanda Burke had 11 kills and Paige Palenski had 26 assists. For the T-Birds, Julia Reis had 14 digs, Kayla Nowak had three blocks and three kills, Tori Ramada had six assists and two aces and Deanna Gallo had three kills.

On Sept. 24, the T-Birds battled to their first victory as they topped Cromwell 3-2 (25-17, 23-25, 26-24, 15-25, 15-13). Cromwell’s Lauren Schmitt had eight kills, eight digs and 11 assists, while Stephanie Hautnett had five kills, seven digs and two aces.

North Branford’s win came as a result of a team effort as evidenced by the stats. Nowak had four blocks, five kills and five aces, Ramada had five assists and four aces, Brianna Saroka had five kills and three aces and Gallo had four kills and four aces.

Other T-Birds who contributed were Allie Sanzari with seven assists, Ashley Poston with four kills and Reis with seven digs.

Girls’ Soccer

The T-Birds dropped their two most recent games, dropping a 3-2 decision to Valley on Sept. 19 and falling to Morgan 2-1 on Sept. 24.

Valley jumped out to a 3-0 lead against North Branford with two goals in the first half and one early in the second before the T-Birds got on the board. Marissa Tomaso scored on a penalty kick 15 minutes into the second half before Jessica Iannucci netted one after a corner kick with less than five minutes to play.

North Branford outshot Valley 15-6 with Sarah Miniccuci making 10 saves.

On Sept. 24, Morgan struck first, scoring with 10 minutes to play in the first half, but North Branford’s Emmy Dulak responded just two minutes later to tie it up before halftime.

Morgan’s Kristen Joyce scored the game-winner with 18 minutes to play in the game. North Branford again outshot its opponent with 10 shots to the Huskies’ five. Kelsey Donaldson had six saves for Morgan with Miniccuci making three saves for the T-Birds.

Cross-Country

On Sept. 20, the cross-country squads participated in the 25th Going to the Sun Invitational at Coginchaug Regional High School. Co-captains Sean O’Connor and Ryan Proto were the top two finishers for the boys’ varsity team. O’Connor came in 17th at 18:09.45 and Proto followed in 18th at 18:09.82.  Also finishing for the boys were Jason Conforte (18:38.74, 37th), Zach Augur (19:00.77, 55th), Chris Olsen (22:05.75, 97th), Issac Cammarata (22:21:15, 100th) and Ben Boatman (25:03.28, (107th).

“The top finishers for the boys continue to better their times,” said Coach Floyd Parness, noting the following improvements: Augur (2:19), O’Connor (1:41), Proto (1:08) and Conforte (0:42).

In the girls’ varsity race, North Branford had just one runner; Marissa Bale, who beat her time from the previous year by almost three minutes, taking 26th place at 22:24.03.  

Top finishers for the boys’ in the junior varsity race were: Richard Hernandez 23:27, Patrick Fisher 23:33, Jared Miket 25:08 and Jackson Myers 28:10.  In the girls’ junior varsity race, the top finishers were Sydney Lane 25:57, Megan Rabuffo 28:31, Rachel Sauro 29:18, Megan Oakes 29:41, Jessica Munck 31:02, Jen Berube 31:15, Grace Carr 32:24 and Meghan McCarthy 34:55.

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