Junior Blue Wins Stickfest Title

Newtown’s Junior Blue girls’ lacrosse team swept the competition in the fifth grade division to take home the Simsbury Stickfest championship this past week.

The girls beat Farmington 7-4, New Canaan 7-3, and Weston 4-2 to win their bracket, then knocked off a physically-imposing team from New London, 6-3, in the semifinals to reach the championship game. A tough Weston team, which Newtown beat earlier in the day, fought its way back to earn the right at another shot at Big Blue. The Newtown girls jumped out to a 4-0 lead and held on for another 4-2 victory.

As has been the case all season long the Newtown goalies rose to the occasion. Alex “Big Al” Futterman and Lizzie Hodge earned two victories each with Jenna Carvahlo earning the third. Lexi Leidlein, Julia Haskins, Dylan Zahansky, and Lauren Carrino played superb defense all day long.

Brooke Varnum, Olivia Hage, Rylee Mulligan, Cassidy Kortze, Katie Bassett, Carrino, Danielle Samson, and Rachel Tomasino won the ground ball battle and controlled the midfield. Kiernan Kelly, Romy Gold, Abby Pearson, Jemma Petit, Hayley Lambert, and Jenna Carvahlo manned the attack.

More important than the victory was the fact that these girls out-hustled each team they played and exhibited exemplary sportsmanship throughout the tournament, the coaches said.