Sports

Sports Pics:

alpine skiing and wrestling

01/29/09

Sports Pics: basketball and

gymnastics

02/05/09

Sports Pics: basketball and

hockey

02/12/09

Sports Pics: basketball and

hockey

02/26/09

Sports Pics: wrestling and

hockey

03/05/09

Sports Pics: ADL basketball and youth wrestling

03/27/09

October brings unpredictable weather, the thick of the high school fall sports season, MLB playoffs, the NFL every weekend, and some interesting college football games. Sticking close to home, some of our high school teams have completed their seasons; field hockey has one week left, soccer has two while x-c and football are rolling along.

The Hornet football team won its sixth straight game last weekend bombing BHS 47-14. Essex scored early and often as QB Max Librizzi completed 20 passes throwing for 280 yards and 5 more TDs. The strong-armed senior now has 30 this fall. Evan McCrea had 2 rushing TDs, WR Kevin Jenko had 2 receiving TDs while Pat Nee, Adam Picard, and Mike DiMambro grabbed 1 each. The junior has 6 touchdowns and 11 catches this season. The defense was everywhere halting BHS drives and creating turnovers, and the offense looks to be unstoppable. This week Essex hosts St.J on Friday night. Last week the jv’s beat LI 39-6 and improved to 4-1. They battled BFA on Monday. The freshmen are 1-3 after a 40-18 loss to the MMU Cougars. They played Middlebury last night.

The boys’ soccer team went 1-1 last week blanking BHS 3-0 behind Sam Martin and the defense. On Saturday they fell to CVU in a rematch of a week ago 3-1. Tyler Powell scored for the Hornets who trailed 2-1 at the half. Martin stopped 8 shots. Essex is now 8-2 with games against NCUHS and SB this week. The jv’s are 7-2 after a 2-0 loss at the hands of the Seahorses. The jv gold team completed a successful season @ 7-4-1 under second year coach Juan Bender. The boys defeated BFA 6-3 Monday. Some of the St.Albans fans should go over the rules of the game. They ended the fall with a 3-2 loss to a rugged MVU squad.

The Essex girls’ soccer team was 1-1 last week losing a heartbreaker, 1-0, to MMU on a Cougar goal in the final minute. The defense is getting stronger, and it showed Friday night as the team blanked SB 2-0. Lara Collins stopped 1 shot in the shutout. Senior captain Katie Greene banged in a first half goal, and junior forward Emily Johnson pooped one in with about 14 minutes to play in the game. The shutout was the 4th of the season as the Hornets improved to 3-5-1. The jvs split their games last week, dropping another exciting 1-0 game, this time to MMU in OT. The Essex defense played very well. On Friday the girls rebounded and scored three times to shut out SB and improve to 7-2. Alex McFarlane, Kim Dvorak, an Ali Cook all scored versus the Rebs. Elli Lucas and Stella Grenn shared the GK duties. I continue to be impressed with the play of the defense, and the way this team battles every game. They continue to be a fine group to work with. The teams host CHS and BHS then travel to CHS on Saturday at 2 p.m. for a rescheduled game. The freshman under first-year coach Tara Cariano won their last two games of the season over BFA and CHS to cap a fine 11-1 fall.

The field hockey team went 2-0 last week to claw its way back to 6-6 this fall. Players are getting healthy, and the team looks to be getting stronger as the regular season nears. Last week in the make-up of the HC rainout the Hornets blanked MMU 2-0. Senior cpt Grace O’Neil and junior Lindsey Paquette scored with Anne Levy making one save in the win. Then on Saturday the team beat CHS 3-1 with Marissa Neary, Lexi O’Sullivan and Taylor Barry all scoring. Levy stopped 7 shots. In their final week of regular season play the girls traveled to MAU and host BHS Friday @ 4pm. The jv’s are 7-3 (no report vs the Lakers) after wins over MMU and Middlebury. In the win over the Tigers Taylor Hallowell, Jess Barnett, and Nicole Beaudoin all scored. Goal scorers vs MMU were Hallowell (2 ) and Charlotte Adams. Assists by Kyla McNally-Anderson and Jess Barnett while Kyla McNally-Anderson scored a beauty of a goal on a corner. The freshman went 0-1-1 last week and completed their season 1-5-4. The dropped a 3-0 decision to ADL, coached by the high school’s Emily Danis, then tied Rutland 1-1. Nice job.

The cross country teams ran in the Middlebury Invitational Saturday. The boys won 47-59 over MMU with Charlie Kline 3rd, Edmo Gamelin 8th, Stefan Deutsch 11th, Felix Wu 12th, and Calvin Sanderson 13th. The girls edged CVU 43-45 placing 4 runners in the top 10: Clare Murphy 4th, Rachel Pinto 7th, Lindsey Judge 8th, and Rayna Dally 10th. Nikki Braceras and Danielle Kittell ran 13th and 16th. The jv boys won their race behind the 1-2-3 finish of Luke Salerno, Christian Prior, and Ricky Kline. The jv girls were 2nd to CVU as Markie Palermo won the race with Shivani Sharma 3rd and Sarah Ruby 6th. This week the boys are heading to Burnt Hills, NY near Saratoga. Next week the teams compete in the NVAC Championships @ MVU.