MERIDEN — The first head-to-head area girls swim clash of the season pitted Southington and the Meriden Co-op on Friday.
Meriden had home-pool advantage. Southington had the win.
The Lady Knights improved to 3-0 with a 90-79 CCC crossover victory.
It was fueled by a sweep of the relays and six individual firsts, all from different swimmers.
Meriden got its victories from Sarah Kim and Addison Markoja.
Kim took both the the 200-yard IM (2:20.70) and 100 backstroke (1:02.77). Markoja won a competitive 500 freestyle in 5:17.63.
Southington got rolling behind the 200 medley relay team of Julia Laszewski, Veronica Okurowski, Kyra Nguyen and Mariam Labadze, who took first in 1:59.88.
All four went on to post individual wins: Laszewski in the 100 freestyle (59.21), Okurowski in the 100 breaststroke (1:14.77), Nguyen in the 100 butterfly (1:04.85) and Labadze in the 50 free (27.36).
Southington All-Stater Ella Nadeau factored in with victory in the individual 200 freestyle (1:58.43) and with both freestyle relays.
Nadeau anchored the 200 behind Rachel Alejandro, Okurowski and Alex Szczepanik (1:50.93). She led off the 400 ahead of Alejandro, Nguyen and Laszewski (4:00.19).
The Blue Knights also took diving led by Maya Kasica (182.35).
Guilford 96, Sheehan 85: The Grizzlies won the first seven events en route to the SCC victory over the Titans on Friday at Walsh Intermediate School in Branford.
Sheehan (1-3) did take the 200 and 400 relays behind Isabelle Hodum, Kaylynn Chen and Hanna Nagy-Leranth. The trio teamed with Jae Welch on the 200 (1:50.57) and with Riley McMahon on the 400 (4:04.41).
McMahon captured the 500 freestyle (5:46.65).
Field hockey
Friday, September 22 (These are in Friday roundup on web)
FIELD HOCKEY
New Canaan 3, Cheshire 0: The Rams of New Canaan handed the Rams of Cheshire their first defeat in a Friday night matchup on the Gold Coast.
New Canaan (1-4-0-1) got its first win. Cheshire came away 3-1.
Enfield 2, Southington 0: The Eagles struck for two quick goals and the 2-0 lead stood up in this CCC interdivisional game Friday in Enfield.
Caleigh Guyer had both goals for Enfield (2-0-0-1) and both were assisted by Bella Taylor.
“Slow start from the long ride and shortened warmup, but we didn’t give up any goals after 5:30 in the first (quarter)” remarked SHS coach Erin Luddy. “We had five shots on goal, but just couldn't capitalize.”
At the other end, Addie Lasek had four saves for Southington (1-4).
Luddy likes the way the rookie netminder is developing. In last Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Sheehan, Lasek kept the Blue Knights in it by stopping two penalty strokes.
“As a sophomore, she is starting to take control of the defense,” Luddy noted. “She is getting more confidence with each game.”
Boys soccer
Southington 2, E.O. Smith 1: Coach Austin Magaro and his Blue Knights may now exhale.
After a frustrating 0-3-1 start, Southington got into the win column with a solid CCC interdivisional victory Friday in Storrs.
SHS outshot and outplayed the Panthers throughout, but the play of E.O. Smith goalkeeper Wenbo Yilmaz kept the home team close.
Southington never trailed, scoring twice in the first half.
Damir Cirikovic was in on both goals. The All-Conference senior set up junior midfielder Evan Jekubovich for the first goal 11 minutes in, then scored 14 minutes later.
On the opening goal, Cirikovic beat multiple defenders on a serpentine run before dishing a cut-back pass to a wide-open Jekubovich, who finished for his third goal of the season.
Cirikovic made it 2-0 tucking home a rebound of a shot by sophomore winger Gianni Baker. It was Cirikovic’s first goal of the season.
The Blue Knights continued to generate chances, launching 21 shots total, including 13 on net. E.O. Smith mustered just six shots, with three on net.
The Panthers did score with five minutes left. Nicolas Gascon redirected a cross.
Other than that, Southington goalie Thomas Grazhdani stopped the two other shots he faced. Yilmaz finished with 11 saves.
Grasso Tech 6, Wilcox Tech 1: The Eagles of Groton improved to 2-4 courtesy of the CTC triumph in Meriden on Friday.
Eric Lopez scored an unassisted goal for Wilcox, which now stands at 0-5.