Bears, Vikes reach ECC field hockey final
Coast Guard women win NEWMAC soccer tourney game for the first time
The top two seeds, fittingly, will play for the Eastern Connecticut Conference field hockey tournament championship.
Top-seeded Stonington, the defending champion, ousted No. 4 Fitch/Ledyard 2-0 at home on Tuesday night while No. 2 East Lyme outlasted No. 3 Waterford 2-0 at home.
The Bears (15-1-1) will host the Vikings (13-4) in Thursday's title game at 6:30 p.m.
Stonington won the regular-season title, but the two rivals split their regular-season series.
Against Fitch/Ledyard (8-9), Casey Boumenot and Maddy Russell scored unassisted goals for Stonington, both the results of rebounds off shots by Miranda Arruda. Abby Mann made three saves for the Bears, who held a 10-3 edge in shots, while Hallie Kesterson stopped six shots for Fitch.
In East Lyme's semifinal win, Morgan Crandall had a goal and an assist while Kristen Healy also scored a goal and Katie Durkee assisted on Crandall's goal.
Women's soccer
• The Coast Guard Academy won a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference tournament game for the first time, beating fifth-seeded WPI 1-0 in the quarterfinals. The Bears were 0-6 in their previous six conference tournament games.
Waterford's Claire Hurley scored the game-winner, lifting a wellplaced shot into the far upper corner of the goal at the 62:20 mark. Her team-leading 11th goal allowed Hurley to set the program's single season points record with 31. Sophomore Sabrina Robertson had the assist and freshman goalie Katharina Commins made five saves to earn the shutout for the fourth-seeded Bears (11-6-1), who extended their program record for overall wins in a season.
Coast Guard plays at top-seeded MIT in Thursday's semifinal in Cambridge, Mass. The time has not yet been determined. The Bears lost the regular season meeting 4-0 on Oct. 13.
Women's volleyball
• Coast Guard Academy's season ended in the NEWMAC quarterfinals for the fourth straight year as the sixth-seeded Bears lost to third-seeded Babson 3-0. Game scores were 25-19, 25-22, 25-23. Junior Angelou Dunton finished with 10 kills, eight digs and two blocks while sophomore Bridget Boyle and freshman Amanda Dake added six kills apiece for the Bears (18-12). Junior Makenna Martin dished out 27 assists and sophomore Heather Miller led all players with 16 digs.
H.S. swimming
• East Lyme clinched at least a share of the ECC regular-season title with a 112-67 win over Norwich Free Academy. The Vikings (9-2, 9-0) still have a makeup meet with second-place Waterford (8-1 in the conference) at a date to be determined. Katie Keating and Anna Lu each won an individual event and were part of a winning relay team for East Lyme. Lu won the 200-yard individual medley in 2:33.75 and joined Keating, Delia Lin and Nikki Hahn on the winning 200 medley relay (2:08.30). Keating edged NFA's Gloria Ng in a matchup of two of the ECC's top sprinters, finishing just one-tenth of a second ahead of Ng in 27.09. NFA finished 2-10, 2-8.
H.S. cross country
• For the second straight week, CIAC officials have opted to change the date of a major cross country event due to the forecast of day-long heavy rain. A week after rescheduling the state class meet, the CIAC announced it has moved the State Open championship races from Friday to Thursday at Wickham Park in Manchester. The boys' race will begin at 2 p.m. with the girls' race to follow at 2:45.
Two-time Class MM champion East Lyme will be the lone Eastern Connecticut Conference participant in the boys' race while six ECC individuals have qualified for the girls' race: East Lyme's Madison Sjostrom, Montville's Mady Whittaker, St. Bernard's Brigid Kunka, Bacon Academy's Jordan Malloy, Lyman Memorial's Jessica Carey and Woodstock Academy's Linsey Arends.