Old Saybrook Field Hockey, Girls’ Soccer Lose in Class S Quarters
Field Hockey
The Old Saybrook field hockey team won its opening game in the Class S State Tournament before taking a loss in the quarterfinal round last week. The Rams finished their campaign with an overall record of 12-6-1.
No. 6 seed Old Saybrook hosted No. 11 New Fairfield in the first round of the Class S bracket on Nov. 9. The Rams earned a 2-1 overtime victory against the Rebels to advance into the quarterfinal round, winning the game on a goal by senior MacKenna Cooke.
Cooke scored the first goal of the game off a corner on an assist by fellow senior Alexa Coty with 7:42 left in the second quarter. New Fairfield came back with a goal four minutes later to tie up the game.
Old Saybrook and New Fairfield stayed tied at 1 through regulation, sending the game to a 7-on-7, 10-minute, sudden-victory overtime period. Old Saybrook worked the ball down into the circle and New Fairfield committed a foul, awarding a corner to the Rams. Senior captain Grace Adams inbounded the ball to Cooke, who hammered it into the back of the cage to win the game for Old Saybrook with 5:51 remaining in the first OT.
Junior goalkeeper Kate Molesky turned in a sensational effort in net for the Rams. Molesky made 17 saves to help the game stay tied and give Old Saybrook a chance to win it.
Head Coach Nancy Gatta also noted the strong defensive play of senior Chelsea Heinke, junior sweeper Shelby Dorothy, and junior Kaylin Laskowski as a huge factor for Old Saybrook in the win.
Two days later, the Rams played a quarterfinal game on the road versus No. 3 seed Thomaston. Old Saybrook took a 1-0 defeat to the Golden Bears at Watertown High School.
Thomaston scored the lone goal of the game during the first quarter and then held on for the one-goal victory. Coach Gatta said that the Rams controlled play for most of the game and had many scoring chances in the circle, but were unable to get one past the Thomaston goalie. Gatta added that Molesky played another fantastic game in goal, and the Rams’ coach went on to praise everyone on her squad for playing their hearts out in the game.
Cooke, Adams, and Heinke earned All-Shoreline Conference First Team recognition for Old Saybrook this season. Coty, Molesky, and senior captain Libby Stuart made the All-Shoreline Second Team. Dorothy and sophomore Amelia Sigersmith received All-Shoreline Honorable Mention.
Girls’ Soccer
The Old Saybrook girls’ soccer team earned two victories in the Class S State Tournament before taking a loss in the quarterfinal round last week. The Rams notched shutout wins over Ellis Tech and St. Bernard in the first two rounds of the tournament and then took an overtime defeat to Somers in the quarterfinals to finish at 8-6-6 for the year.
No. 19 seed Old Saybrook started off states by claiming a 6-0 victory at No. 14 Ellis Tech in the first round of the draw on Nov. 8. Two days later, the Rams played a second-round road game against No. 3 seed St. Bernard and won the contest by a 1-0 score to move on to the quarterfinals. On Oct. 12, Old Saybrook faced No. 6 Somers on the road for a Class S quarterfinal matchup and took a 1-0 loss in overtime.
Football
The Old Saybrook-Westbrook football squad hosted Valley Regional-Old Lyme for a Pequot Conference Sassacus Division matchup on Saturday, Nov. 13. The Rams took a 41-7 loss versus the Warriors at Old Saybrook High School to move to 0-7 on the season with a record of 0-5 in the division.
The next game for the Rams is against the Coventry-Windham Tech-Bolton-Lyman co-op team (2-6) at Coventry High School on Friday, Nov. 19 at 6:30 p.m. They will finish the season by playing Morgan at the Peters Complex in Clinton on Wednesday, Nov. 24 at 6:30 p.m.