On Thursday the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, which governs high school sports in the state, published its post-season podcast and yours truly was one of three guests with moderator and CIAC spokesman Joel Cookson. I spent about 20 minutes breaking down the CIAC boys and girls lacrosse tournaments (interview done just prior to the girls quarterfinal round games). Dave Ruden of the Stamford Advocate is another guest and tells the story of a generous baseball player and talks softball and baseball and Timothy Gaffney of Litchfieldcountysports.com breaks down the top teams in his region. Here is the link to the podcast:
ciacsports.com/site/?p=3182

The CIAC has released its pairings for the girls' lacrosse Class L, M and S tournaments and some local New Haven area teams appear poised to make a long post season run.
In Class L, Cheshire is the No. 1 seed and has the talent and depth to get to the championship game this season led on offense by Maria Blois, Emma Farrel, Kathleen Kallbian and Alyssa Hague among others. But it won't be easy for the Rams in the upper bracket who could potentially face No. 8 Ridgefield in the quarterfinals and No. 4 Staples in the semifinals. No. 2 Newtown and No. 3 Greenwich are the top challengers in the lower bracket.
In Class M, defending champion Darien, the No. 9 seed, is the is the team to beat. The Blue Wave have five losses but they are the result of one of the toughest schedules in girls lacrosse in the state.
No. 1 New Canaan, No. 3 Wilton and No. 6 Barlow are the top challengers for the Blue Wave.
Hand, led by goalie Christy Forrest, and Guilford, led by high scoring Riley Smith and Leigh Rooney, have the talent to advance in Class M. But Hand would have to get by New Canaan and Darien just to get to the semifinals.
In Class S, Shoreline Conference powers No. 1 Haddam-Killingworth and No. 12 North Branford have a solid shot to get to the championship game, but only one could do it since both would potentially meet in the semifinals. The Cougars are led on offense by Kiley Anderson and the Thunderbirds are led by high-scoring Emmy Dulak.
The top challengers for the Shoreline teams are No. 2 Granby and No. 3 Weston.

Recently, first-year UMass head coach Angela McMahon announced the signing of 10 newcomers to National Letters of Intent for the 2012 season. The class includes six midfielders, two attacks, one defender and one goalie.
"The 2012 freshman class is one of the strongest groups we have had in program history. They will add incredible depth to our midfield and outstanding talent in goal," said McMahon.
While none of the players are from the New Haven area, there are three from Connecticut and they could have an impact on local teams in the current Class L and M tournaments.
Among the signees are Ellie Bullitt of Darien, Lauren Freeland of New Canaan and Morgan Walker of Glastonbury.
If Hand advances to the CIAC Class M final on June 11, the Tigers would likely face Bullitt’s Blue Wave or Freeland’s Rams. If things break right for Cheshire in Class L and the Rams get to the final, there is the potential they could face Walker’s Tomahawks.
Other members of UMass’ incoming class are Jessica Daut (Pleasanton, Calif.), Cassie Raglan (Peterborough, Ontario), Mia Rapolla (Gorham, Maine), Erin Riley (West Nyack, N.Y.), Meredith Swagart (Washington, D.C.), Amy Tiernan (Deferiet, N.Y.), and Rachel Vallarelli (Hartsdale, N.Y.).

http://casciac.org/
It's amazing what a team can do when it enjoys double-digit scoring against opponents.
Thanks to double-digit scoring, the North Branford girls' lacrosse team has been one of the hottest teams in the Shoreline Conference the past three weeks.
The Thunderbirds head into today's game with Morgan on a six-game win streak.
One reason for the streak has been a balanced scoring attack. The T-Birds have outscored opponents 75-46 in the last six games.
North Branford's offense is led by Kirsten Kilburn (42 points), Sara Robertson (38 points), Kelsey Platner (31 points) and Kelly Martin (12 points).

http://www.casciac.org/
One of the most successful girls' lacrosse teams in the area lately has been Southern Connecticut Conference power Cheshire. Heading into Saturday's game with Southington, the Rams had won five games in a row and eight of their last nine. This includes wins over SCC foes Guilford (18-10 win), Branford (13-4), Amity (19-4) and Hamden (10-7).

Mercy snapped an eight-game losing streak with a 13-6 SCC win over Shelton on Thursday.

The Hamden girls had a three-game win streak snapped by SCC foe Cheshire on Thursday (10-7 loss to Cheshire).

http://www.laxpower.com/

Among the local boys' and girls' teams in the New Haven area, the Southern Connecticut Conference has the biggest presence in the boys and girls state rankings by Laxpower.com as of today (May 7).

Among the top 20 in the boys rankings, Fairfield Prep (10-1) is No. 2, Cheshire (9-1) is No. 6, Xavier (8-2) is No. 18 and Guilford (7-4) is No. 19. St. Joseph (8-2), which competes in the Fairfield County Interscholastic Conference, is No. 9.
FCIAC power Darien (10-2) is No. 1.

In the girls rankings among the top 20, Hand (9-2) is No. 5 and Cheshire (8-2) is No. 8. FCIAC power Darien (10-1) is No. 1