Girls

U8

Warriors 6, Super Strikers 3: In a fast paced season opener, the Warriors came roaring out of the gate and jumped to a quick lead on goals from Charlotte Branchflower, Olivia Buchler, Emma Magazu and Katie Stan. The Super Strikers then mounted a tremendous comeback as Abby Stites and Julia Gerace combined for the three goals. Emi Rosenthal, Gabby Mogolonn and PJ Salva also delivered great efforts for the Super Strikers. The Warriors defense rallied with exceptional goal play from Emily Dunford and tenacious efforts from Elizabeth Cassetta and Alexis Woods. A second score from Branchflower and a goal from Sophia Bajcer capped the scoring for the Warriors.

Team Five 1, Lightning 1: For Team 5, Sanjana Vakacherla and Mia Hochstetler both played strong as goalies, while Ally McCarthy played extremely well at defense to keep the game close. Paige Farley contributed the lone goal late in the contest for Team Five. For the Lightning, Katie Viselli scored the lone goal on a nice breakaway play, and was assisted on the offensive side of the ball with great overall play by Elizabeth Teixeira and Catherine Teixeira and Rayna Toth. Madeline Patrick and Nicole Fisher played excellently on the defensive side of the pitch, with Patrick playing particularly well in net during the back and forth contest.

Lightning Bolts 2, The Lightning Strikes 1: In an electrifying start to the season, the Lightning Bolts jumped out to a two nil lead on goals by Tori Gioiele and Norah Kolb who were assisted by Erin Phaneuf and Ella Hage, respectively. The Lightning Strikes made it close with a goal by Becca Filiato but could not break through the strong defensive play of Isabella Butler and Molly Sullivan and goaltending of Madelyn Muller and Emma DiNallo. The Lightning Strikes had several good chances to score led by Olivia Cornett who rang one off the post and Caroline Drew. Shut down goaltending by Riley Burns and Kennedy Cope along with the stellar defending of Katie Larson and Siena Harper kept The Lightning Strikes close.

U10

Dynamite 4, Blue Jays 2: Carlie Smith and Sydney Howard contributed to the Dynamite’s offensive attacks, supported by a tough effort in the midfield by Rose Duval and Nicole Keeping. Piper Coleman and Emma DaSilva anchored the team’s defense. The Blue Jays fought back hard, scoring two goals of their own and stopping the Dynamite from widening their lead.

Wolfpack 7, Trumbull 1: Karsen Pirone and Sarah Tressler had two goals each. Hannah Groonell, Jackie Matthews and Laura Augenbraun added one each to drive the Wolfpacks offense. Kaitlyn King and Faith O’Hara played goal and had several good saves. Kaley Meisenheimer and Isabella Manfredi controlled the midfield. Hannah Daly, Colleen Phaneuf and Malia Gioffre were dominate on defense shutting down Trumbull’s ability to get any offense going.

Newtown Funky Monkeys 10, New Canaan Flash 1: The debut of the Funky Monkeys was pretty swinging as six Monkeys were able to find the back of the net. It started with Meghan O’Rourke on the first play of the game. Olivia Oltran followed her pretty quickly. Mary Celentano netted a hat trick, while Sage Karp, Simone Paradis and McKenna Cuomo also put the banana back in the bunch. Aniko Walsh played hard for the first game, but came away with an injury that will keep her off the vines for a few weeks.

Newtown Funky Monkeys 2, Ridgefield Sky Blue 2: In the home debut of the Funky Monkeys, the girls found themselves behind rather quickly. Not letting the deficit get them down, Mary Celentano wove her way to the box and tied it up. Olivia Cavallero and Holly Ankers tried to put a solid lead up for the Monkeys, but came out empty handed. In the second half, Maddie Stites hit her stride and netted the Monkeys the lead. It would not last as Ridgefield came back quickly to tie it up. Simone Paradis launched a blistering shot from the midfield but was also denied and the whistle blew this thriller to a close.

U11

Newtown Sparks 6, Greenwich Power 1: The Sparks traveled to Greenwich where they outplayed the Greenwich Power. Sparks’ Emma Curtis scored the first three goals of the game with an assist from Emily Celentano on her first. Curtis’s second goal was unassisted as she took the ball up the field and hit the net from the side. Carly Swierbut scored the next goal with the fifth coming from Sarah Widmann on her second attempt of the half to score. Sparks’ first half goalie, Jackie Seras had five spectacular saves keeping Greenwich from scoring. Defensive players Madi Ziperstein, Heidi Poarch, Veronica Vodola and Gabrielle Riesert kept the ball out of scoring position throughout the game providing stellar defense. The second half brought more attempts on goal from the sparks with two from outside the box by Izzy Mawdsley and another by Celentano, but Nathalie Schickendantz was the one who connected with a hard goal from outside the box. Greenwich scored on a penalty kick called for pushing against goalie Angela Vodola. Vodola also had three great saves in the second half.

Dynamites 1, Brookfield 1: Although the Dynamites controlled the pace of the game in Brookfield’s half of the field, neither team was able to net any goals in the first half. Brookfield struck first in the 65th minute on a penalty kick awarded for what was called tripping, despite what Dynamites’ team members said was a beautiful slide tackle by Grace Corcoran. Kristen Cirone was able to get a hand on the shot, but was unable to deflect it enough to stop it from giving Brookfield the lead. The Dynamite stepped up the pressure with Keeley Kortze, Rebecca Gavel and Jenna Lavelle providing a steady stream of shots at the Brookfield goalie, while Lindsay Merrifield, Lauren Adams and Grace Corcoran thwarted any attempt by Brookfield to cushion their lead. With time running out, Brookfield was called for a hand ball in the penalty box with 30 seconds remaining in the game. Lauren Carrino then stepped up in cool fashion and buried the penalty kick strong and low into the back of the net for the equalizer.

U13

Thunder 5, Fairfield Storm 0: Newtown debuted a new 3-5-2 formation and it worked to perfection, passing the ball wing to wing with ease and showing great discipline and communication. The team jumped out to a 4-0 lead after 15 minutes and coasted to a 5-0 victory. Hailey Conrad kept up her torrid scoring pace, as she recorded a hat trick. Stef Carr and Mia Katsuleres also added first half tallies. Middies Ali Manfredi and Kendra Dunnigan controlled the flow of the game, while defenders Emily Montoya and Grace Sandercox kept Fairfield from getting any penetration. The Thunder starts their State Cup run next week in Darien.

U14

Wild Animal Prints 4, American Eagles 0: There were many shots on goal that were well defended until Zoe Ivan drove a lightening kick into the bottom left hand corner of the goal. Additional powerful goals were made by Natalie Shaker, Lexie Badick, and Margo Elkins, to create a comfortable lead going into the second half. A solid defensive effort was made by Kiernan Kelly in goal, and solid fullback support by Madison Findley and Camryn Findley. For the American Eagles, Greta Capeci, Stephanie Haas, Allie Indelicato and Molly Begg all moved the ball well for the offensive unit during the opening contest of the season. On the defensive side of the pitch, Morgan Goldstein played well in the second half of the game, deflecting multiple attacks on net by an excellent opponent. Kaysie Fisher played well in goal, and Savannah Davidow and Arianna Della Corte anchored the balance of the Eagles defense

NoNames 2, Ninjas 1: Maddy Marlin and Jaclyn O’Leary scored to lead the NoNames to an exciting victory. Grace Frost and Emma Schmid-Tharnish played great offense for the NoNames, while Tessa Leon-Gambetta and Callie Kraushaar supplied a strong defensive effort. For the Ninjas, Katerina Ringes scored a beautiful game-tying goal after intercepting a pass. Emma Brantl controlled the midfield with her tireless play and accurate passing. Sarah Brittin and Jillian Milano led the team’s strong defensive play, while Haley Taylor and Jordan Williams made several outstanding saves in goal.

Boys

U8

Team Three 4, Team Eight 2: Tanner Trede and Jack Petersen both scored two goals and were set up by the great midfield play of Andrew Bazuro and Jake Mailloux. Team 8 rookies JJ Kanaan and RJ Figueroa played well in their U8 debuts. The Team 8 defense was led by Connor Dullinger, Ben Paley and Cameron Petrelli.

Team Four 3, Team Nine 2: Team Four started off strong with goals by Brendan O’Neill and Anthony D’Amico. Team Nine fought back to tie it up with goals scored by Neil Kalra and Dylan McDermott, the latter on a nice sliding effort. Jake Gonski provided the go-ahead goal late in the game.  For Team Nine, Colden Bobowick delivered a solid performance at midfield and was exemplary as keeper defending nine shots on goal in the third quarter. Matthew Weisgerber and Richard Guman put in strong performances for Team Four.

Kickers 3, Blue Thunder 1: The Kickers played a great first game for the win. The defense was very strong, led by Brandon Manka and Ryder Palumbo. CJ Cuomo scored the first goal, assisted by Ryder Palumbo. Ryan Poupon scored two goals. He was assisted by Sean Reilly and Brandon Manka. Newcomers to the team Nicholas Psichopaidas and Nick Mottola played well in their first game. The Blue Thunder team played a strong opening game and created a lot of scoring chances. The lone goal was scored by Markus Paltauf off a great pass from Ethan Appiah. Also creating chances with their passing plays were Michael Elston and George Sandercox. On defense, Drew Poseno and Calum Edmond held their ground and James Ciaramello had some strong saves in net.

U10

Striker Juniors, Express 2: Jack Stanton opened the scoring with the first of his three goals for the Strikers. Brandon Lutz scored to tie supported by Ryan Nolan and Tim White. Brandon Lutz scored again to go ahead 2-1. Steven Vournazos, Quinn McAndrew and Mark Maksel supported the midfield. Great efforts were made in goal by Ben Schmid-Tharnish and William Crebbin. Alek Budd and Mark Leonardi were both excellent in goal for the Strikers, while Rohan Mansukhani was strong in the field.

U12

Newtown 6, Westport 0: The Titans celebrated another win Sunday over Westport scoring six times before the half to take over first place in their league. Nicholas Weiland scored the first goal with a header off an assist by Thomas Skrelja. Thomas Skrelja went on to score the second goal and Silas Decker followed with the third goal of the game. Aiden O’Leary scored the fourth goal unassisted and Grant Moxam followed up with the fifth goal of the game. Jack Oltran scored the sixth goal with an assist by Santiago Forero. Christian Adam had several good attempts on goal aided by center William Skrelja. Defender Michael Greenspan had some strong kicks up the field and Jack Armstrong maintained strong defense as goalie and captain JT Lewis celebrated his second shutout of the season. Mid-fielder Henry Petrillo did his part by keeping pressure on the other team, while striker John Finnegan and midfielder Danny Arneth did a good job passing the ball. Erwin Grewal consistently crossed the ball in front of the opposing team’s goal. Wing Grant Larson also had some great crosses and James Barden was a brick wall and did not let anything through.

U14

Water Buffalos 5, DWP 1: Both teams played an outstanding game. For the Water Buffalos scoring, Jake Pirone, Dillion Palumbo, Andrew Janco, Robert DiSibio and Christopher Mok each scored. The defense was led by Lucas Palumbo and James Barry. For DWP, the lone goal was from Elliott Bennett. Thomas Shkreli and Chris Anesi played well on offense, while James Stiles and Lucas LaDestro played tough at defense.