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10/24/2022 10:16 AM

North Haven’s Soccer Teams Prevail on Senior Night; Football Squad Notches 29-7 Win Versus Xavier


The North Haven girls’ soccer team celebrated Senior Night by claiming a 6-0 victory versus Career-Hillhouse on Oct. 22. Pictured are senior Samantha Adams, senior captain Giavanna Damone, Head Coach Gary Collins, Assistant Coach Jen Yokley, senior captain Ilana Blumenthal, and senior captain Aisling Pretty. Photo courtesy of Gary Collins
Senior Brian Lastomirsky caught a 25-yard touchdown pass to help the Nighthawks defeated Xavier by a 29-7 score last week, boosted North Haven’s overall record to 5-1 on the season. Pictured blocking on the right is senior Sal DeMaio. Photo by Wesley Bunnell/The Courier Photo courtesy of Wesley Bunnell
Senior Sarah Herrera and the North Haven girls’ volleyball squad improved to 12-5 on the year after winning two of their three matches in last week’s action. Photo by Wesley Bunnell/The Courier

Girls’ Soccer

The North Haven girls’ soccer team claimed a convincing victory versus Career-Hillhouse (C-H) on Senior Night last week. On Oct. 22, the Nighthawks hosted C-H and defeated the Panthers by the score of 6-0 at North Haven Middle School. The Nighthawks also took defeats against Mercy and Jonathan Law last week and have an overall record of 7-8 for the year.

North Haven took a 5-0 loss to Mercy in a road game on Oct. 17. Then on Oct 19, the Nighthawks traveled to Milford to face Jonathan Law and dropped a 1-0 decision to the Eagles. Three days later, North Haven played C-H for its Senior Night game and notched a 6-0 win in the contest.

Junior Rebecca Ford scored on an assist from fellow junior Cameron Ryan in the 2nd minute of the game to give North Haven a 1-0 lead over C-H. Four minutes later, senior captain Giavanna Damone scored from sophomore Andrea August to make it 2-0. Senior captain Ilana Blumenthal scored on an assist from junior Anna Mortali in the 21st minute to give the Nighthawks a 3-0 lead at halftime.

Mortali netted a goal off a helper from Ford to increase North Haven’s lead to 4-0 in the 50th minute of the matchup. Senior captain Aisling Pretty scored from Damone in the 60th minute to make it 6-0. Then in the 75th minute, senior Samantha Adams scored on an assist by Damone to cap off a 6-0 victory for the Nighthawks.

Junior Erika Fronte and freshman Alivia Garnett both saw time in net to combine for the shutout. Fronte made 2 saves in goal, while Garnett had 1 saves for Head Coach Gary Collins’s squad.

North Haven is hosting Hand for its regular-season finale this week.

Boys’ Soccer

The North Haven boys’ soccer team hosted Coginchaug for its Senior Night game and claimed a 4-1 win against the Blue Devils at North Haven Middle School on Oct. 22. The Nighthawks also lost recent contests to Fairfield Prep and Branford for an overall record of 2-13 this season.

North Haven took a 9-0 defeat at Fairfield Prep in its first game of the week on Oct. 17. The Nighthawks went on to host Branford on Oct. 19 and lost to the Hornets by a 3-2 score at North Haven Middle School.

North Haven finished off the week by hosting Coginchaug on Senior Night three days later and notched a 4-1 victory in the contest. Senior Jose Juarez netted an unassisted goal for North Haven’s first score of the game. Junior Alex Vaughan then scored from sophomore Kevin Parker for the Nighthawks’ second goal of the night.

Freshman Josh Joiner found the back of the net off an assist from junior Alex Morocho for North Haven’s third goal in the game. Later on, sophomore Jack Notaro scored from senior Lucas de Lencastre for the Nighthawks’ fourth score of the contest. Sophomore Joe Morocho made 4 saves in goal for Head Coach John Parisella’s squad.

The Nighthawks will close out the regular season by playing a road game versus Hamden this week.

Football

The North Haven football team claimed its fifth win of the season by earning a 29-7 home victory versus Xavier in an SCC Tier 1 game last week. On Oct. 21, the Nighthawks hosted the Falcons at North Haven Middle School and won the contest by the final score of 29-7 to improve to 5-1 overall with a divisional record of 2-1 this fall.

Senior Jeffrey Karavas ran the ball 31 times for 213 yards and 2 touchdowns and also threw a TD pass for North Haven in the win against Xavier. Junior Adam Pandolfi had 11 carries for 114 yards and a score. As a team, the Nighthawks rushed 57 times for 403 yards on the night, averaging 7.1 yards per clip.

Karavas scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with 5:56 remaining in the first quarter to give North Haven a 6-0 lead over Xavier. Senior Declan Finkle kicked the extra point to make it 7-0.

The Falcons came back with a 54-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 7. However, the Nighthawks responded 3 minutes later when Karavas connected with senior Brian Lastomirsky for a 25-yard TD strike to give North Haven a 13-7 lead after the first quarter.

North Haven recorded the only points of the second quarter on a safety. Xavier snapped the ball out of its own end zone with 7:42 to play in the first half, giving the Nighthawks a safety and a 15-7 advantage at the break.

Pandolfi broke off a 64-yard touchdown rush for North Haven with 10:06 left in the third quarter. Finkle’s PAT increased the Nighthawks lead to 22-7 through three.

Karavas gave North Haven more insurance when he ran for a 5-yard touchdown with 8:52 left in the game. Finkle’s third extra point of the night capped off a 29-7 victory for Head Coach Anthony Sagnella’s squad.

North Haven will be on the road to face SCC Tier 1 opponent Cheshire on Friday, Oct 28. The game kicks off at 7 p.m. at Cheshire High School. Like North Haven, the Rams enter the matchup with an overall record of 5-2 and a mark of 2-1 in SCC Tier 1.

Girls’ Volleyball

The North Haven girls’ volleyball team improved to 12-5 on the season after winning two of its three matches last week. The Nighthawks netted victories against Branford and Jonathan Law and also took a loss versus Mercy in their recent contests.

North Haven kicked off last week’s action by posting a 3-0 shutout over Branford in a home match on Oct. 17. The Nighthawks swept the Hornets behind set scores of 25-14, 25-16, 25-23.

Senior Sarah Herrera posted 25 assists to go with 3 digs, 2 aces, and 1 kill for North Haven in the victory. Sophomore Alyssa Ferriouolo had 10 digs, 7 aces, and 1 kill for the Nighthawks. Junior Chandler Morris finished the match with 6 kills to help North Haven prevail.

Two days later, North Haven hosted Mercy on Senior Night and took a 3-1 defeat to the Tigers. Mercy won the matchup with scores of 27-25, 27-25, 25-27, 25-20.

Herrera handed out 38 assists and also had 4 digs for the Nighthawks in the match. Senior Kayla Balisciano recorded 19 digs, 19 kills, and 3 aces for North Haven. Morris had 7 kills with 2 blocks.

North Haven closed out the week by earning a 3-1 victory at Jonathan Law on Oct. 20. The Nighthawks defeated the Eagles by the final tally of 25-23, 19-25, 25-22, 25-18.

Balisciano finished with 12 digs, 12 kills, and 9 aces to get the Nighthawks get the win. Herrera had another big match with 30 assists, 5 digs, and 1 ace in the victory. Junior Avery Berney had 10 kills, 3 digs, and 2 aces for Head Coach Brianna Kleckner’s team.

North Haven is playing a road match against Amity in its regular season-finale this week.

Boys’ Cross Country

Junior Nico Boyle earned All-Southern Connecticut Conference First Team honors when he represented the North Haven boys’ cross country team at last week’s SCC Championship meet. North Haven scored 343 points and finished 14th as a team when SCCs were hosted at East Shore Park in New Haven on Oct. 19.

Boyle finished in 12th place while competing for the Nighthawks at the conference meet. Boyle clocked in with a time of 17:05.0 for the 5K race on his way to making the All-SCC First Team.

Sophomore Matthew DeNardis finished in 68th place with a time of 18:47.2 for North Haven. Senior Tyler Wurm ran a time of 18:58.6 and finished in 76th place.

Junior Anthony Signor came in 90th place (19:44.5) on behalf of the Nighthawks at SCCs. Junior Jack Greene finished in 97th (20:04.0), senior Tai Moffat finished in 101st (20:17.6), and junior Luke Reilly finished in 117th place (22:14.9) for North Haven in the meet.

Next up for North Haven is the Class MM State Championship that’s taking place at Wickham Park on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 3:50 p.m.

Girls’ Cross Country

The North Haven girls’ cross country team hit the trails to participate in the SCC Championship at East Shore Park on Oct. 19. The Nighthawks finished in 12th place as a squad by posting a team score of 332 points at the conference meet.

Senior Julia Cannon finished in 38th place overall for North Haven at SCCs. Cannon crossed the finish line with a time of 22:11.9 on her way to taking 38th place.

Senior Payton Orosco ran a time of 23:30.6 to finish in 61st place for the Nighthawks. Sophomore Amalia Morizio came in 71st place by completing the course in 24:07.9.

Freshman Lily Mineur finished in 88th place (25:59.2) for North Haven at the SCC Championship. Sophomore Grace DeNardis finished in 97th place (27:16.4), senior Carina Esposito came in 100th place (27:32.3), and junior Jade Lewis finished in 101st place (28:42.3).

North Haven will be competing in the Class MM State Championship meet this weekend. The state meet takes place on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 3:15 p.m. at Wickham State Park.

Field Hockey

The North Haven field hockey team lost a pair of road games last week to move to 4-11 for the 2022 season. The Nighthawks took a loss to Sheehan and then dropped a contest against Mercy in recent action.

In its first game of the week, North Haven took a 2-1 defeat at Sheehan on Oct. 18. Junior Catherine Bianchi scored the goal for the Nighthawks on an assist from senior Summer Mastriano. Junior goalie Nola Coyle made 10 saves in net for North Haven.

Then on Oct. 21, the Nighthawks traveled to Middletown to face Mercy and lost to the Tigers by a 2-1 score.

North Haven will play a home game against Hand in its regular-season finale this week.

Girls’ Swimming and Diving

The North Haven girls’ swimming and diving team finished its regular season with a record of 6-5 after taking losses in its two meets last week. The Nighthawks lost contests against Cheshire and Jonathan Law during the final week of the regular season.

North Haven took a 107-68 loss to Cheshire at the Cheshire Community Pool on Oct. 18. Sophomore Giada Garofalo finished first in the 100 backstroke (1:14.70) for the Nighthawks. Senior Mikayla Rapuano took first place in the 100 breaststroke (1:12.95). North Haven’s 400 freestyle relay of senior Victoria Pachnik, senior Tara Stoeffler, freshman Julia Scalmani, and junior Madisen Karavas also finished in first place (4:40.09).

Three days later, the Nighthawks hosted Jonathan Law for their regular-season finale and lost the contest by a 96-90 score at the Walter Gawrych Community Pool. Rapuano claimed first place in the 200 freestyle (2:09.11) and the 100 butterfly (1:01.45) for North Haven. Senior Alice Scalmani finished first in the 200 individual medley (2:20.85) and the 100 breaststroke (1:12.95).

Senior Makenzie Alogna swam to a first-place performance in the 100 backstroke (1:10.13) for the Nighthawks against Jonathan Law. Junior Meghan DeRubeis finished first in the diving competition (197.70). North Haven’s 200 medley relay of Alogna, Alice Scalmani, Rapuano, and Garofalo also took first place (2:05.11).

North Haven will be participating in the SCC Championship this week. The SCC Diving Championship takes place at Sheehan High School on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 10 a.m.; the Swimming Qualifier is at Cheshire Community Pool on Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 4 p.m.; and the SCC Swimming Championship will be hosted at Southern Connecticut State University on Thursday, Nov. 3 at 5 p.m.