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:

Cheshire girls' swim coach Dan Mascolo (Register file photo)

The 2013 girls' swimming season kicks off today and while the Cheshire girls’ swim team lost some key swimmers from last season, including Jenna Cannata, Sara Barlok, Kenzie Keddy, Molly Condron and Taylor Deubel, coach Dan Mascolo is confident the Rams have a good shot to defend their Southern Connecticut Conference title.
The Rams used their talent and depth to win the 2012 SCC swim meet with 1,314 points and continue to have the talent and depth in 2013 despite the losses from last season.
Among the top returners are Lindsay Smalec (butterfly, individual medley), Laura Mongillo (backstroke, IM), Denise Costello (freestyles, breaststroke), Delaney Molnar (butterfly, freestyles), Taylor Plumley (distance freestyles) and Erin Mostoller (diving).
“We have a very deep team once again and we should be pretty strong in the odd stroke events this season,” Mascolo said. “We are looking to build on last year’s success in the SCC and are looking forward to a very competitive (CIAC) Class L meet this season.”
Among the newcomers expected to make an impact this season are freshmen Lily Kurtz (IM, breaststroke), Kristen Reid (freestyles), Emily Murphy (backstroke, freestyles) and Danielle Dietrich (butterfly, breaststroke).

Cathy McGuirk conducting practice during 2011 season with her assistant and husband John

Two local field hockey legends, Branford coach Cathy McGuirk and Haddam-Killingworth coach Patsy Kamercia, are about to reach major milestones in their illustrious coaching careers.
McGuirk is 10 wins away from career-win 500 as she enters the season with a 490-101-62-9 career record.
“I have had so much fun and learned so much coaching field hockey,” McGuirk said. “The best part has been all the great kids I have coached and now so many of their daughters.
“Lucky me, not to mention coaching so many years with my best friend and now husband of 45 years (John McGuirk). That’s another milestone.”
Branford opens the season on Tuesday at Southern Connecticut Conference rival Hand at 7 p.m.

Patsy Kamercia

Kamercia, who led her team to the CIAC Class S title last season, is one win away from career-win 400. She enters the season with a 399-159-81 career record.
Last season Kamercia retired after 41 years as an HK physical education teacher and decided to return one more season to coach field hockey to get the milestone.
Kamercia was selected the Register All-Area Field Hockey coach of the year last season and was inducted to the Connecticut High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame last November.
Kamercia gets her first crack at No. 400 in the Cougars’ season-opener on Tuesday at home against Canton at 4:15 p.m.

The Amity girls, above, are getting ready for another successful season.

By Henry Chisholm

Cross country is no longer something athletes use to get in shape for other sports, at least not to Amity boys coach Bob Orgovan.

“We don’t get (other athletes) that much anymore,” he said. “Years ago it used to be like that.”

Orgovan said in the past he’s had players basketball players, hockey players and even wrestlers. However, the majority of his runners are focused on running. He said it is common for an athlete to use cross country for track, but no other sport.

Check out more of this story and the top area cross country runners to watch this season.

Above, Branford girls’ soccer captains Tanya Altrui, left, and Izzy Suppa are hoping to lead the Hornets on another SCC tournament title run. It won't be easy, but the Hornets will be a solid team in the SCC once again in 2013.



Check out our cross country preview in Monday's edition and field hockey on Tuesday, which is the opening day for the season.

 Tonight (online) and Friday (newspaper) begins our previews for the fall sports season.

Pictured above, captains Rebecca Ligi, left, and Eryn Dorsey will lead the Cheshire girls volleyball team in the Southern Connecticut Conference. Can the Rams win a state title? Henry Chisholm takes a look at Cheshire's title aspirations. After the article online, check out Henry's 10 area players to watch.

Up next:
Girls swimming - Saturday
Soccer - Sunday
Cross country - Monday
Field hockey - Tuesday.

The regular season begins on Tuesday. Good luck to all teams.