Christensen named NE Coach of the Year

East Lyme — Paul Christensen, the head coach of the East Lyme High School boys’ soccer team which won the Class L state championship recently, was named the New England Region Coach of the Year for large public schools by the United Soccer Coaches.

The award will be presented at the annual High School Coaches’ breakfast on Jan. 12 at the Marriott Platinum Ballroom in Anaheim, California.

Christensen led East Lyme to a 211-1 record, including the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I regular-season title, the ECC tournament championship and the school’s first outright Class L state championship. The Vikings beat Notre Dame-West Haven 3-2 to win the L title on Nov. 18 at Trinity Health Stadium in Hartford.

He has a career record of 405-19167 over his 36-year tenure as head coach.

H.S. boys’ basketball

• Juan Morel had 15 points and 11 rebounds as Waterford opened the season with a 55-32 victory at Woodstock Academy. Parker Spencer (12) and Quinn Speller (10) also had double figures for Waterford and Jordi Cassar had nine points and seven rebounds.

• Eddie Fiske had 20 points for Old Lyme in a season-opening 38-36 win over Portland. Aidan Peterson finished with 11 points for Portland.

• Jace Kobyluck scored 18 points for Montville in a 56-49 loss to Killingly. Johnny Kazantzis led Killingly with 17 points and 14 rebounds.

• Windham Tech outscored Norwich Tech 31-14 in the decisive fourth quarter on the way to a 73-50 win over the Warriors. Nate Lazourack led Norwich Tech with 12 points and five rebounds and Collin Schulze and Connor McRae each had eight points and three steals. Lorenzo Terraco had 24 points for Windham Tech.

• Zane Brewer led Wheeler with 14 points and Jason Krysiewicz added 10 in a 57-54 loss to New Milford in overtime. Wheeler led 41-30 after three quarters, but New Milford rallied to tie the game at 50-all after regulation.

H.S. girls’ basketball

• Ava Roth had 13 points, seven rebounds, four steals and a pair of assists as Old Lyme opened the season with a 37-33 victory over Portland. Sybil Neary added nine points and 12 rebounds for Old Lyme, which led 1916 at halftime, and Kanon Oharu had seven rebounds and a team-best six steals.

• Ada Ellis had 12 points, 11 rebounds and five steals for Fitch in a 44-37 victory over Killingly. Gabby Dimock added a team-high 13 points, seven rebounds and three steals and Mariette El Khoury had 11 points and eight rebounds for Fitch (2-0). Molly Crabtree had 11 points for Killingly.

• Selia Atchinson had 14 points for Norwich Free Academy in a 54-27 win over East Lyme in ECC Division I. Emily Orcutt added 12 points for NFA (1-1, 1-1). Freshman Cailin Delaney had 10 points for East Lyme (0-2, 0-2) and Rilynn Pollard had nine.

• Maggie Dykes had 13 points for Ledyard in a 48-40 victory over Waterford in ECC Division II. Helena Robinson added 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Colonels (2-0, 2-0). Lucy Walker had 20 points for Waterford (0-2, 0-2).

• Freshman Maya Stimson scored eight points and Abby Ulrich had seven in Norwich Tech’s season-opening 40-28 loss to Windham Tech. Julia Phouanghiaith had 16 points for Windham Tech.

H.S. football

• Griswold/Wheeler’s KinKade Rubino was named to the Connecticut High School Coaches’ Association Class SS/S all-state defensive team as the punter. Rubino was the ECC Division

II Player of the Year for the Wolverines, earning all-league honors as a running back. Griswold/Wheeler finished 9-2 with a berth in the Class S state tournament.

H.S. riflery

• Vinal Tech edged Grasso Tech 886-884, handing the Eagles their first loss in two seasons. Despite the loss, however, Grasso improved its season-opening score 40 points from last season, according to coach Shawn Carpenter. Logan Gurchik fired a perfect score of 50 from the prone position and a personal-best 180 overall for the Eagles, followed by Chase Beattie (178), Charles Goede (177), Elora Loos (176) and Gavin Jameson (173).

H.S. wrestling

• Waterford used seven pins to hold off Griswold/Wheeler 42-39 on Wednesday night. Camden DelGrosso (106 pounds), Riley Montana (113), Jacob Racicot (138), Lucas Gannotti (150), Lucas Bourez (165), Devon Powers (175) and Zachary Ruest (190) had pins for the Lancers.

Griswold/Wheeler got pins from Seth Christie (120), Vincent Andreozzi (126), Caleb Christie (132), Russell Stewart (157) and Jonathon MacFeat (215) and Jesus Busanet (144) and Andrew Rosekrans (285) also picked up wins.

• NFA had six pins in a 48-18 win over Windham on Wednesday night. Landon Herdic (106), Dugan Marsh (138), Dylan Vanegas (150), Logan Jenkins (175), Zaire Wallace (190) and Jess Tingley (285) recorded pins for the Wildcats. Jackson Sorel (126), Edward Lavoie (132), John Dexter (144) and Nasim Wallace (157) also picked up wins for NFA.

H.S. boys’ hockey

• The Eastern Connecticut Eagles opened their season with a 4-2 loss to Suffield/Granby/Windsor Locks on Wednesday night. Ethan LoVetere and Aidan Toennes each had a goal and an assist and Gavin Bessenaire had an assist for the Eagles.

Men’s hockey

• UConn sophomore Matthew Wood has earned a spot on the final roster for Team Canada for the 2024 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Junior Championship.

Wood is the sixth Husky in the program under head coach Mike Cavanaugh to compete at the World Juniors tournament, and the first Husky to make the final roster for Team Canada. The tournament is scheduled to take place Dec. 26- Jan. 5 in Gothenburg, Sweden.