We had questions about which soccer teams could rise in the SCC. Here are some of those answers:



Can anyone beat Fairfield Prep? Answer: Yes. Shelton did, on the road. The Gaels are for real, everyone.

Will someone new make a move into the top tier of the SCC? It’s been quite awhile since Lyman Hall has been among the upper echelon. The Trojans face Hamden on Tuesday.
Answer: Lyman Hall went to 3-0 by pounding Hamden 5-0.

West Haven and Sheehan would like to be division contenders. The two teams play one another in Wallingford Tuesday. Answer: Teams tied 2-2.

Can the North Haven girls start out 0-3? Last year’s tri-champs in the SCC Oronoque drew the toughest schedule and now hosts Hand on Tuesday.
Answer: Unfortunately for the Indians, the rough road continued with a 2-0 loss to Hand.

Are the Branford girls for real? The Hornets got an easier schedule than North Haven. One of its toughest tests, Amity, awaits in Woodbridge Tuesday.
Answer: Yes they are. Branford won 1-0. Check out that game and more on Tuesday's action in the area.

Matchup of the day? Sacred Heart Academy at Cheshire, 6 p.m. Both of these girls’ teams are likely ticketed to the SCC eight-team playoffs. One of them could be the top overall seed.

Answer: SHA wins on the road 3-2. A little bit of a surprise but there once again seems to be some parity at the top in the SCC.

The Branford girls soccer team remained undefeated with a first-half goal from Rachel Cholewinski. Amity is one of the toughest games on Branford's regular-season schedule. So far, defense if the league title is going smoothly for the Hornets. Here is the game's only goal. I apologize for the fuzziness from my I-phone, but even with that you can see by the angle how great a goal it was.

With the season underway, here is a look at the cross country polls for both the girls and the boys. For more, go here.

Boys

1	Ridgefield			Won quad meet
2	Danbury			Beat Darien in a dual meet
3	Darien			Lost to Danbury
4	Fairfield Prep			2nd at Riverfront w/o their #1
5	New Milford			Won tri meet
6	Guilford			No meet yet
7	Capital Prep			1st at Riverfront Inv
8	Amity			No meet yet
9	Xavier			2nd at Windham and Mercy
10	New Fairfield			Beat Brookfield in a close one

Girls

1	Glastonbury					2nd at Hartford Riverfront
2	Avon					Tri meet wins
3	Ridgefield					Tri meet wins
4	Tolland					1st place Var 1 - at Windham
5	Simsbury					2nd place Var 1 - at Windham
6	Wilton					Lost to Warde 27-31
7	Conard					Tri meet wins
8	Immaculate					3rd at Riverfront
9	EO Smith					1st place Var 2- at Windam
10	Staples					Won tri meets

The first week of the regular season is over. Now we get to answer some questions beginning with Tuesday's action in the SCC:

Can anyone beat Fairfield Prep? Shelton gets a chance on Tuesday on the road at 3:45 p.m.

Will someone new make a move into the top tier of the SCC? It's been quite awhile since Lyman Hall has been among the upper echelon. The Trojans face Hamden on Tuesday.

West Haven and Sheehan would like to be division contenders. The two teams play one another in Wallingford Tuesday.

Could Hand really start out 0-3? The boys have faced Prep and Xavier so far. Now the Tigers get Branford on the road at 6:30 p.m.


Can the North Haven girls start out 0-3? Last year's tri-champs in the SCC Oronoque drew the toughest schedule and now hosts Hand on Tueday.

Are the Branford girls for real? The Hornets got an easier schedule than North Haven. One of its toughest tests, Amity, awaits in Woodbridge Tuesday.

Matchup of the day? Sacred Heart Academy at Cheshire, 6 p.m. Both of these girls' teams are likely ticketed to the SCC eight-team playoffs. One of them could be the top overall seed.

Boys' and girls' Wilbur Cross first-year cross country head coach Travis Gale said he wants to build a running program at the school. With the Governors' season starting on Tuesday, he said he thinks he is on the right track.
"We always meet before and after school, we work in the weight room together, we're pretty much together all afternoon," he said. "That's the good thing about keeping the team together."
He said he's got a total of 32 kids on the team and that a few of them participated in summer conditioning workouts. Captain Danae Rivers said the team has looked strong in preseason workouts.
"We put the work in," she said. "We all finished and completed the workouts. We built up our mileage every week."
Rivers, who leads the girls team, finished first in the 5K portion of the Stratton Faxon New Haven Road Race. Gale said he expects good things from the Rivers and the rest of the girls team this fall.
"I have a real solid top three," he said. "The four-five-six-seven runners are going to change a lot. I hope those pieces can move closer to the top three."
The team's have done more than just running, according to Boys team captain Emmanuel Ruiz. He said the teams play ultimate Frisbee every Friday after workouts, they hang out off the course and Saturday they are having a car wash.
"As a team we see each other, we laugh, we hug, we cry together," Ruiz said. "This is just like a family. We feel comfortable together."
Ruiz leads in a boys group that Gale said will post big numbers this season. He said one of his team's strongest attributes is depth.
"Top five, top six are probably going to be within a minute of each other," the coach said. "I'm excited because they finally listened to me this summer and trained."
Gale said the runners training in the summer shows they are eager to be a part of a running program at Wilbur Cross. And Gale, who is also a gym teacher at Cross, said he has even snagged two sophomores boys with hopes of getting in shape for basketball and put them on the team. He said it is all part of building a program.
"The family bond has improved and that's going to continue because of kids talking in the building," he said. "Being a phys ed. teacher definitely helps me with pulling kids into cross country. It's going to create a bigger program."

EXTRA LAPS: Danae Rivers said she has received an offer from Cornell. She said she is also looking at Princeton and wants to ran cross country and track in college. ... Meanwhile Ruiz said he is looking to stay in state, at University of New Haven and Albertus Magnus to name a few. He also hopes to run in college.

COME OUT AND SUPPORT: The cross country teams will be holding a car wash fund raiser Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in front of the school to raise money for end-of-season awards and to meet entry fees.

Seventeen high school athletic programs have been selected as CIAC Michael’s Achievement Cup exemplary programs recognizing their outstanding achievement as overall athletics programs for the 2012-13
academic year.

The 2012-13 Michael’s Achievement Cup exemplary programs by class:
LL: Cheshire, Fairfield Ludlowe
L: Bunnell, Hand
MM: Brookfield, Ledyard
M: East Catholic, Northwestern, Weston
SS: Bloomfield, East Hampton, Lyman Memorial, Sacred Heart
S: Gilbert, Notre Dame-Fairfield, Shepaug Valley

The 17 schools represent all six classifications and are selected based on achievement in seven distinct areas which are sportsmanship, participation, athletic scholarship, athletic personnel, equity, chemical free initiatives
and athletic achievement.

The schools will be honored at the CIAC Sportsmanship Conference at the AquaTurf in Southington on Nov. 21, and the overall Michael’s Achievement Cup recipient will be announced.
The Michael’s Achievement Cup was created in the early 1980s as the brainchild of Roy Michaels, the
owner of Michaels Jewelry, in an effort to recognize outstanding athletic programs. The program recognized yearly winners since that time, and then in 2008 transitioned directly to CIAC oversight of the program.

Guilford blanked Notre Dame-West Haven 2-0 in SCC interdivision action. Check out this game and the rest of Tuesday's soccer action in the area. Take a peek at Guilford's two goals: