Cheshire Academy on rise

Playing amongst some of the best prep school teams in the country, Cheshire Academy is building a successful season, having won four of its last five games.

The team is 5-4-1 with three of its four losses being by one goal and two of those losses coming against teams ranked in the top 10 in New England.

“The majority of this team has been playing together for three years and now we are seeing the benefits of that,” Cheshire Academy coach Ed Banach said. “The schedule is what it is, but we know this is the best level of soccer you can play. We have a lot of kids who want to play at the next level and playing the teams we play helps prepare them for that.”

Players come from far and wide, including standout senior defender Will Tevie from Ghana who is getting Division-1 college looks. Tevie is among six seniors and four juniors currently being recruited to play in college from the team.

Luca Mazzella, from Cheshire, began playing on the varsity in eighth grade and this season became the school’s all-time leader in games played.

Fellow local players, Omid Azodi of North Haven and goalkeeper Owen Kempton of Cheshire have both been playing key roles.

Banach believes the years these seniors spent playing varsity soccer at such a high level as freshmen and sophomores, has prepared them to make a run in the playoffs this year.

The team takes on the No. 2 team in New England, Taft, Oct. 22.

SHOUTOUT TO SHUTOUTS

After losing 2-1 to East Hartford in the first game of the season, South Windsor has locked it down

Going into their game Friday, South Windsor has nine-straight shutouts behind a stellar defense and the outstanding play of goalkeeper Hunter Pasqualini.

According to Joel Cook- son at the CIAC, the last team to post nine straight shutouts was Avon in 2010. They had 10 in a row, one of which was a 0-0 tie.

Lyman Memorial also had nine including one tie in 2006 but the last team with nine or more wins was Farmington in 2005, who started the season with 10 straight.

That Farmington team was undefeated and untied, giving up one goal in the regular season.

They also had shutouts in their first four playoff games before losing to Glastonbury 2-1 in the LL final.